State of the Hogs: Did Hogs find some offseason magic?

Trumain Carroll, Arkansas head strength and conditioning coach, during warmups before the game vs vs Auburn Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.

There were some moans from some as the email came in last week that detailed the setup for the annual media-coaches golf tournament at Paradise Valley Golf & Athletic Club. Chad Morris would not speak.

Instead of hearing the Arkansas head coach, media would first get a summer update from Trumain Carroll, the strength and conditioning coach. Assistant coaches would be available for group and one-on-one interviews before pairing with media for golf.

Suited me fine. Carroll is articulate and professional in the way he breaks down what's going on with the team as far as conditioning. Certain topics like injuries are off limits, but he will say if a player is full speed and in his workouts.

For instance, Carroll painted a promising picture on the health of several players coming off knee surgeries like true freshmen Treylon Burks and Jalen Catalon. Both are four-star prizes and far enough along in their rehab to safely predict playing time for this season.

Carroll detailed some breakthroughs over the last year, most notably the development of Jonathan Marshall. The defensive tackle was throwing around weight this summer short of his probably max lifts – because there is not enough room on the bar much past 600 pounds.

It was my question about who is the most “freakish” athlete on the team that produced info on Marshall as “hands down the strongest on the team.” Carroll apologized when numbers were requested, “I can't tell you his max because we don't put that much on a bar.”

Defensive end coach Steve Caldwell likes the look of his guys as practice gets started this week. He marveled at the way Dorian Gerald is moving after one full year with Carroll.

"What you get with the added strength and speed is confidence," Caldwell said. "I see all of my guys - and that goes for Jamario Bell and Gabe Richardson - with more confidence. They are stronger and they know the system. They are better with their technique.

"I don't have Marshall. He's inside, but I see those guys in some of our drills. What you see with him is just incredible strength. Coach Carroll has got those guys right. Now, I always say that gives you a chance, then you have to learn to play with proper technique. I see that coming with all of our guys up front a lot better in our second year.

"You have the strength and then play with the right technique, it's different. They are all a lot better in both areas."

Sosa Agim popped a 30-inch vertical jump at his new weight of 296 and did 9-6 on the standing broad jump. Those are explosive number for a big man.

Then, Carroll detailed the number of players who had stepped forward as leaders over the course of the summer. It was a long list.

Without question what happened over the winter, spring and summer was partly designed by Morris to bring leadership out of his young team. Remember this when you watch them this fall: 52 of the 85 on scholarship are freshmen or redshirt freshmen. That's an incredible number.

Identifying leaders in a young bunch is sometimes difficult, but it can be done if you work on bonding and team building exercises through tough conditioning. Morris had that in mind when he brought in Navy SEALs two weeks ago for a 48-hour training session.

I got more details during the golf sharing a cart with offensive coordinator Joe Craddock. There is a fascination and great respect with Craddock over both Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, the elite branch of our military.

“I have relatives from both SEALs and Rangers,” Craddock said. “So I've heard the stories of what they do in training and their missions. They do what they do so we have great freedoms and can enjoy a game like football.

“I was excited when we set up the SEAL training sessions on leadership. But I also was scared that we might have three or four guys quit. It's that intense.”

Interestingly, Craddock thought he was watching some about to shuck it all during some pool activities the first day, but they pulled through it and it became just the kind of leadership situations that will help the Hogs this season.

“They took turns putting different players as the leaders within the position groups,” Craddock said. “I was paying particular attention to our quarterbacks. They all did so well as leaders. Ben Hicks and Nick Starkel were excellent, as were all of them.”

The SEALs running the event picked the two top leaders at the end of the 48 hours of training. Craddock didn't argue, either. Wide receiver Michael Woods and linebacker Grant Morgan were awarded T-shirts, the first prize from either side of the ball.

“It was obvious,” Craddock said. “They both did a heck of a job. I was proud of both of them.

“Those T-shirts are special. The SEALs told them straight up, 'These have our shield on it and come from us. No one can give you one of these but us. Fallen soldiers have worn these shields.' It was an incredible time for our guys.”

Craddock became emotional as he detailed some of the drills.

“There was a time in the pool that it became pretty heated,” he said. “And, I thought here you go, some guys are going to fall out and leave. They didn't. They pushed through it. They tell you they are going to put you in an adverse situation so you can see how to lead. Our guys bonded.

“I've read a lot of books and watched documentaries on SEAL training and what they've done in combat. They put you through the training so that you know how it's going to be when bullets are hitting beside your head and how you are going to react.

“I sent out tweets recently after watching Hornets Nest, a documentary on the SEALs. You learn about someone who gives up his life with three or four kids at home and they are willing to give their lives for their country.”

It reminded me of the stories of the conditioning drills that I heard about from dozens this summer during research for a high school picture book being produced by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I'm working on the chapter about Little Rock High with particular attention to how Wilson Matthews coached the Tigers to 10 state titles in 11 years as head coach.



Wilson Matthews coached Little Rock High to 10 state titles in 11 years as head coach.

Matthews was also a part of the coaching staff under Raymond Burnett the previous two seasons when Little Rock won state titles. The 1946 and 1957 teams also were named national champs.

There were no Navy SEALs in World War II, but Matthews was a coach for the Marine-Navy V-12 program at Monticello A&M, then served in World War II with the marines.

No doubt, it's not the same thing, but any player who toiled under Matthews at Little Rock High, or later as the right-hand man for Frank Broyles at Arkansas will tell you it made many a player give up football.

Matthews coached the ends and linebackers for Broyles in 1964 when the Hogs won their only national championship. But what he did that was most crucial was run the offseason conditioning in the winter and spring that was called “fourth quarter.” It was the life blood of the program.

“We had great coaches,” Jim Lindsey said. “You can go down the list of Frank's coaches and they were all outstanding, but Wilson was at the top of the list.”

If players put on weight during the season or over the Christmas break, Matthews took it off. There wasn't much weight lifting, partly because it wasn't needed.

“What we did under Wilson was the key to our success,” Harold Horton said. “You lost weight in the offseason. He made us tough and that's why we were successful.

“We ran conditioning in Barnhill Field House on the saw dust. We went out there the first day and there were trash buckets everywhere. You puked in the bucket. He said we better not put any on his saw dust.

“We respected him and held him in high esteem, but really we were just plain scared of him.”

There was a horizontal ladder on one wall of Barnhill. Players swung down the rungs like a monkey bar.

“You see my hands, I'm surprised you don't see scars,” Horton said. “We did that ladder over and over and my hands bled. You didn't stop. I did have scars for years on my hands and fingers.

“There was a rope to the ceiling. We climbed it and had to get past a knot. I'm not sure I ever got past the knot. You'd slide back and your hands were bleeding. You kept going.

“We ran the bleachers in the stadium. It was close to 60 rows. He'd go with you and we'd run them until we puked. You might crawl through the puke. And, he'd yell, 'You don't puke on my time.' We had it all over us.”

Richard Bell started at Little Rock High for Matthews in 1953-54. He would later be on the first Broyles team at Arkansas in 1958, elected captain with Billy Michael. They would also become Division I head coaches, Michael at Texas-El Paso, Bell at South Carolina.

Of course, Matthews had the saltiest of language on the field, but made players feel loved off of the field.

“We all hated him,” Bell said. “But we had a great deal of respect for him, too. We just knew it was his way or the highway.

“What we got from him was that we were so afraid to lose because Monday would be just so brutal if we didn't win.”

Bell still can see the faces of Arkansas teammates in the locker room at Barnhill when it was announced that Matthews was coming to Arkansas in the winter of 1958 to join Broyles.

“Of course, many had played for him from around the state in the all-star game, or heard of him,” Bell said. “It was legendary. One by one, the guys would say, 'He's not going to cuss me, or I'll whip his butt.' I started laughing. I told him I wanted to see it. Of course, Frank immediately put him in charge of our offseason program.

“I can't tell you how many said they were going to stand up to him and fight him. I knew better.”

In a few days, they hit the practice field and the first day mainly consisted of running around the corners of the field.

“I got out front because I knew what he would do to me,” Bell said. “I was going to lead. The guys trailed out behind me pretty quickly. And, boy was he on them. He'd run beside them and they were throwing up, but they eventually all caught up to me and we finished all together.

“It wasn't much different than what he did to us in high school at Little Rock. There was no resistance to his way.

“We got back to the locker room and I reminded every one who said he couldn't do that to them, they were just like we were in high school. They told me to shut up.”

Horton played for Matthews in the all-star game, actually the second ever played in Arkansas.

“We went to Little Rock High two weeks ahead of the game and he had cots for us to sleep on under Quigley Stadium,” Horton said. “We practiced twice a day. It was the most miserable two weeks of my life.”

Bell wasn't exactly excited to be reunited with Matthews with the Razorbacks.

“When I heard he was coming with Coach Broyles, I said, 'Oh, now, I got away from him once and now he's coming here.' I thought someone was joking at first. I was so upset that I didn't go to class for two days.”

Horton said the fourth quarter class was brutal, but there could be good days.

“I think it was beyond what Coach Broyles wanted at times,” Horton said. “It only lasted for one hour. Coach Broyles might come out of his office and down the stairs to watch us maybe 30 or 45 minutes into it. It would stun him and he would call us up and that would be the end of it.

“It got to the point when we saw Coach Broyles coming, it picked us up. We started getting excited because we knew he'd stop it. It was that intense, that awful. You really didn't need an hour of it. It worked. The players from that group would eventually win three straight Southwest Conference titles.”

Lindsey, in a video stored online at the Pryor Center, said Matthews would pick his spots for brutal workouts, but also knew when it was time to scoop up a player nearly broken.

“Wilson could take it from you, then give it back,” Lindsey said. “You always had the idea that he was trying to make you better and he loved you. I don't mean he liked you, he loved you. He just had the gift.

“I always had the idea that if he'd gotten a break to be a head coach in college, his record would be better than what Bear Bryant did at Alabama. Wilson had that gift to motivate you to do your best. It was like he could say, 'I'm going to adjust your kaleidoscope,' and he could do it. He'd maximize your capabilities.”

Lindsey's best line about Matthews still resonates with many of his former players.

“Wilson had the ability,” Lindsey said, “to reach into your chest and massage your heart.”

Hated, loved and respected would be the ideal way to describe an offseason conditioning coach. It's the magic way of pushing buttons to keep a player developing.

Matthews was coaching the B-team and freshmen by the time Louis Campbell got to Arkansas in 1968. Matthews was in administration when Campbell returned to coach for Jack Crowe, Joe Kines, Danny Ford and Houston Nutt.

“Former players would come in the Broyles Center during all of those years and it was always the same, they were looking for Coach Matthews,” Campbell said. “That's who they wanted to see first. They all would come to thank him for pushing them to the maximum.”

I don't know that what Matthews ordered in offseason workouts can be replicated these days, but I do like what I hear about Carroll. He is demanding and respected. Players are given scientific data to support development. Body fat data is always available, along with nutritional tools. Measurement of speed comes in mph not 40-yard dash times.

Would Matthews be able to do it now? Current players got a little taste of it with Navy SEALs training if only for a couple of days.

I've watched the current Arkansas staff figure out ways to pull this team together after some tough seasons. Morris thinks he can pull off something great, if not this year, then soon. He gave his staff a big copper coin with the inscription, “Year of the Boar.” It's part of the Chinese calendar.



The copper 'Year of the Boar' coin Arkansas coach Chad Morris gave each member of his staff.

I wouldn't object if the players got a copper coin with a picture of Wilson Matthews. Some old Razorbacks would like it, or their stomach might get a little queasy. There will be a faint memory of that famous line from Matthews, “Not on my time.”