Razorbacks report

Vikings land, get pep talk

Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum looks at the scoreboard during an NCAA college football game against Oregon in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Thomas Boyd)

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Portland State football team got a pep talk from a former Vikings player during an hour-long appearance at Reynolds Razorback Stadium after the team flew in from the Pacific Northwest on Thursday.

The Vikings decided to arrive two days prior to Saturday's season opener against the University of Arkansas to acclimate themselves to the weather. Coach Bruce Barnum originally thought his team would be able to practice at the stadium, but since the field was being painted, the Vikings had to settle for roaming the visitor's sidelines for a while before hearing a speech from Marine Maj. Michael Dorsey.

The Vikings are scheduled to conduct their walk-through today at the 76,000-seat stadium.

Dorsey was a safety at Portland State (2003-07) who is now stationed in Dallas.

"He talked about the team and being great in life," Barnum said. "You can't do it by yourself. It was centered around team and how 11 do it and not one. Don't be out there being a renegade trying to win the game with one hit or one carry and make mistakes. It was solid.

"They needed to hear that and see this [stadium]. You get them out of the fiefdom of Portland State, and now they come down here and we're in Arkansas ... and you've got an alum. So that's cool."

The Vikings had six motorcycles and two SUVs them from the airport and were then escorted to the Catfish Hole restaurant after Dorsey's talk.

Portland State has played big guarantee games at Oregon, Oregon State, BYU, Nevada, Washington and Washington State the last four years before its first SEC game against Arkansas.

"It's beautiful," Barnum said of Razorback Stadium. "I love it. The outside is impressive. Everything's impressive.

"It's bigger than most Pac 12s. Autzen [Stadium, at Oregon] is different. Autzen is like a tub, a bathtub, and you're down in the middle of it. ... It's impressive with the height. BYU we've been at lately. It's the most impressive stadium they've played at since I was the head coach."

'Funky' style

Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock knows the Razorbacks will have to adjust to some of the alignments the Portland State defense will present.

"They play a little bit of a funky style of defense in terms of you don't see it a whole lot," Craddock said. "So we've got to do a good job ... Like I've always said, in first games you've got to make a lot of adjustments. There's probably going to be something they're going to show in Game One this year that they didn't show all of last year."

Legacy man

McTelvin Agim is motivated this season by the kind of name he'll leave behind at Arkansas.

"No doubt, everything about my legacy," said Agim, who contemplated an early departure for the NFL Draft before returning to play defensive tackle. "My kids come back, what are they gonna say about me? I don't want them to follow an average player. I want to leave a legacy, be legendary, so they can say, 'I followed a beast. He did this, this and this.'"

Hogs vs. Vikings

Saturday's season opener in Fayetteville will pit a pair of teams with rare mascot names. Arkansas, of course, is the home to the only Razorback mascot in the college ranks.

Portland State has the only Vikings mascot in Division I football. There are other colleges who sport Vikings mascots, such as Cleveland State, Western Washington and BYU Idaho, but those schools either don't sponsor football or are in Division II or lower.

Lid lifters

The Razorbacks have a 98-23-4 record in all-time season openers, including a four-game winning streak and victories in 11 of their last 12.

Arkansas' last season-opening loss came in a 45-21 setback at Auburn on Aug. 30, 2014. Before that, the Razorbacks' last loss in a lid lifter was 50-14 against Southern California in 2006.

The Razorbacks' last victory over a current Power 5 team to open a season came in a 31-10 decision versus Ole Miss in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 12, 1987.

Arkansas has 43 shutout victories to its credit in season openers, the last a 38-0 rout of Missouri State on Sept. 2, 2000, and a 66-11-2 record in games played in Fayetteville.

Double training

Arkansas' cornerbacks are taught to play on the right and left sides of the formation rather than the field and boundary spots.

"The offenses go so fast now, it's hard to run those corners across the field," defensive backs coach Mark Smith said. "So we do play all of our corners right or left. But we also cross-train them where they're used to playing both sides. That way if somebody gets dinged, you want to put in your next best guy, and he needs to be comfortable playing right or left."

Burlsworth on GameDay

ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi was in Harrison this week to work on a story about Brandon Burlsworth, the offensive lineman who began his Razorbacks career as a walk-on and ended it as an All-American in 1998, which will air on GameDay on Saturday, according to Marty Burlsworth, Brandon's older brother.

Brandon Burlsworth died in a car accident in the spring of 1999 after being a third-round NFL Draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts. His legacy includes the Burlsworth Trophy, presented annually to the nation's top college player who began his career as a walk-on, and the movie Greater.

First glance

The eagerly anticipated series of documentaries made by ESPN to celebrate the 150th anniversary of college football did not get off to a rousing start for the Razorbacks, who are certain to be featured prominently as the series goes along.

In the opening documentary on Saturday night, the first appearance by the Hogs looked to be as vanquished foils for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel as he scrambled for a score during the Aggies' 52-10 victory in College Station, Texas, in the 2012 game. The second clip shown in the documentary was quarterback Clint Stoerner's lost fumble in the 1998 game against Tennessee, a critical play in the Vols' run to the first BCS national championship.

The Hogs' season-opening opponent, Portland State, received more favorable coverage, as former coach Mouse Davis appeared in a few clips and was credited for his role in pioneering the Run and Shoot offense. Former Portland State quarterback Neil Lomax also had a small clip in the show.

The Razorbacks' football history as a 1964 co-national champion -- which caused a change in how the Associated Press chose its national champion -- the Hogs' Big Shootout vs. Texas in 1969, the career of legendary Coach Frank Broyles, former Coach Lou Holtz, standout players such as Darren McFadden, the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up, Dan Hampton, and the program's role as a cradle for coaches, such as Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Majors and others, are all likely to be explored in the series.

Big man on campus

Portland State reserve tackle John Krahn would stand out not only on his or any college campus, but also on a grown man football team.

Krahn is a 6-10, 410-pound junior-college transfer from Riverside, Calif.

McTelvin Agim, the Hogs' 6-3, 294-pound defensive tackle is aware of Krahn's dimensions.

"I'm not shying away from anything at all. If he comes to me I'm going to handle what I need to handle. But no, I'm not shying away at all."

On the Vikings

Portland State holds a place in the college football universe as the laboratory for Coach Mouse Davis, widely regarded as the godfather of the Run and Shoot offense, who led the Vikings to a 42-24 record from 1975-80.

Both June Jones and Neil Lomax played quarterback at Portland State and racked up big passing numbers in the system.

The school also hired Jerry Glanville, the long-time NFL defensive coordinator and head coach of the Houston Oilers (1985-89) and Atlanta Falcons (1990-93) as head coach in 2007. Glanville spent three years at the helm and compiled a 9-24 record. After eight years away from the game, Glanville resurfaced as defensive coordinator with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 2018, and is now listed as defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Vipers of the upcoming XFL for 2020.

Extra point

• Arkansas freshman defensive end Eric Gregory, who returned this week in a green (no contact) jersey from surgery to repair a high ankle sprain won't be ready for the opener. "I think he's ahead of schedule," Coach Chad Morris said. "I don't know if we'll see him on Saturday, but he's definitely going to be in the mix before it's over."

Sports on 08/30/2019