Team leaders not OK with booing of Kelley

Cole Kelley, Arkansas quarterback, reacts after throwing an interception in the 2nd qaurter vs North Texas Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ quarterback play was, to say the least, shaky again against North Texas in the Razorbacks’ second disappointing loss in as many weeks.

Sophomore Cole Kelley, who provided Arkansas a second-half spark on the road last week at Colorado State with touchdown passes on his first two throws, put forth the worst performance of his career in his sixth start, completing 16 of 35 passes and throwing four interceptions in North Texas’ 44-17 win.

Those in the stands and watching at home likely thought Kelley’s day was done when Arkansas entered the halftime locker room down 34-10. Surely Ty Storey, who earned his first career start in Week 2 and starred in the season opener, would enter the game. It had been Arkansas’ forte the first two weeks to alternate quarterbacks after a shoddy start.

Razorbacks coach Chad Morris, though, elected to stick to his guns and send Kelley back out to begin the third quarter. The decision brought about a chorus of boos from those still in the seats at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The boos did not sit well with senior receiver Jared Cornelius.

Following the game, he had to get something off of his chest. That, the booing of his teammates, is not going to be the standard, he said.

“I think it’s really easy to pick one guy to point a finger at, and for the majority of the first half, I think that guy was Cole – at least by the outside world,” he said. “Like Hjalte (Froholdt) said, the receivers could run better routes. The offensive line could protect better. The running backs could get out on the checks and chip the defensive ends.

“When you come out of the locker room in the second half and your starting quarterback is getting booed? By the home team? When is that right? How is that right? And I feel like I've been kind of holding this in for a minute, but at the end of the day, that’s somebody’s son, that’s somebody’s brother. That’s my brother. And I’m not going to sit around like that’s going to be OK. When a guy comes out after the first half and we’re in middle of the football game — at that point we’re still in the game — and you’re booing him.”

Senior defensive back Santos Ramirez, who finished with four tackles in the loss, called the booing “disrespectful,” and added the team needs support from the fan base now more than ever as it prepares to enter conference play with its back already against the wall. The Razorbacks open Southeastern Conference play next weekend at Auburn.

“He’s out there giving his heart out for this team,” Ramirez said of Kelley. “Regardless of if he had a bad game or not, for people to boo him? They don’t understand what the game of football really is about. They aren’t on the field playing. That’s something that we can’t have. That just shows that when things hit the fan, everybody is ready to tap out. That’s all that shows and we can’t have that.

“That’s our leader right now and we have to make sure we stand behind him at all times, regardless of the game he has.”

Morris said keeping Kelley in the game after halftime was the plan all along, to stick with one quarterback. Kelley had the better week of practice, Morris added. He wanted to see if Kelley could rally the team back from a deficit. He kept Storey out of the game because of the large deficit.

Part of Arkansas’ issue, and a reason North Texas felt little game pressure in the second half, was inefficiency on third down. It converted just 4 of 16 third-down chances. Arkansas was 7 of 17 through the air on third downs entering Saturday, and a 3 of 12 performance against the Mean Green didn’t help matters. Kelley alone was 2 of 8 passing for 18 yards on third down, completing one ball to Cornelius - a 14-yarder - for his first reception of the season.

Offensive lineman Hjalte Froholdt said he subscribes to Cornelius and Ramirez’s line of thinking in terms of Kelley, and Morris' decision to remain with him, receiving boos.

“The score was not what we wanted it to be, of course. We didn’t play up to what I believe that we can play at, the level that we can play at,” he said. “For your quarterback to be booed, I mean… I don’t know if you’re a real Hog fan. I don’t know. I know you want some controversial comment out of us and what not, but I don’t think that’s acceptable.

“At the same time, I’m happy for all the people that stayed and kept cheering on and have our back even in the worst of times, which is right now. We have to look ahead and we’re still undefeated in the SEC. I know people are probably going to bring that out and say something about that, but in the end, we have to move ahead.”