FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas senior receiver Deon Stewart noted the octane graduate transfer quarterback Ben Hicks brought to the first day of spring drills Friday.
Hicks was clearly in a leading role in the quarterback group, at times dancing and seemingly in constant motion, whether it was due to reserves of energy or trying to stay warm in the cold weather on the outdoor practice fields outside the Walker Pavilion.
"He's got so much energy," Stewart said. "He reminds me of Baker Mayfield Jr. kind of. I love him, though. He's cool."
Hicks had to laugh when told about Stewart's reference to Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Oklahoma who is now with the Cleveland Browns.
"I don't know about all that," Hick said. "Again, I just love playing football. I've been playing for a long time. I'm just passionate about the game and love playing."
Hicks said he was ready to start actual practice after a winter of player-led drills and conditioning.
"It's just good to be back out there," Hicks said. "This is going to be my last go-around, so I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as possible and enjoy the guys. That's kind of my goal for the spring is just to enjoy it, have fun and take it one practice at a time."
Sophomore linebacker Bumper Pool noted Hicks' demeanor across the line of scrimmage.
"His confidence is like no other when he steps on the field," Pool said. "He knows the offense. He knows what those guys are doing, and he coaches the receivers to run the routes the correct way and get after it. He has a confidence about him, and he's brought that confidence to the whole quarterback room."
Redshirt freshman quarterback John Stephen Jones said Hicks' arrival was welcome.
"It was fantastic," Jones said. "Honestly, he came in day one and helped me a lot since he's been able to play for this offense for three years. Telling me what it's like and what he sees on each play and how it was for him."
Harris' return
Veteran linebacker De'Jon Harris chatted with defensive coordinator John Chavis after the regular season and took that dialogue into consideration when he decided to return for his senior year after requesting a draft evaluation from the NFL advisory board.
Chavis mentioned recently that Harris' importance in helping teach the schemes to younger players would be a key role this spring, and that he wouldn't "beat up" the linebacker with overuse in full-contact work.
"It feels good," Harris said of Chavis' plan."We had a talk after the Missouri game and went out to eat. He told me if I was to come back how the spring would go for me. Less contact and more work on the things I got back from the league."
Harris said his decision was pretty hard.
"It was close," he said. "It was either I was all in to come back or I was all in the league. I was pretty all in to come back."
Harris said the recommendation from the NFL board was to work on speed, pass coverage and pass rushing skills.
Coach Chad Morris said Harris' presence is critical for the Hogs.
"He's taken on a leadership role he's been challenged with through Coach Chavis and myself to understand that you are a returning player that's an all-conference guy, and now we need you to elevate everything you do," Morris said. "He gets it and he understands it. Not only that but he's moving better than I've ever seen him move right now."
Buy in
Senior defensive end Dorian Gerald said the team's offseason workouts -- in which the players had to "earn" wins each week through conditioning standards, showing up on time for everything from breakfast to weightlifting sessions, and performance in mat drills -- proved to him there is more buy in with Coach Chad Morris.
"You've got to buy in," Gerald said. "You have to. That was a big thing last year, people not buying in. Everyone wasn't on the same page.
"I believe we've got more guys on the same page and more guys bought in because of that, because of having to earn everything."
De'Jon Harris said the players have earned back their Razorback shorts, sweatshirts and sweatpants. Still to come, the locker room at the Smith Center and its freshly renovated lockers.
"We've gotten sneak peeks at them," Gerald said. "I haven't seen the finished product. But they're very nice. Very nice. Way better than last year's."
Chad in gray
Coach Chad Morris said he and his coaching staff were all in on their offseason theme of earning everything, and he showed it in one way by wearing an all-gray cotton ensemble for Day One of practice, rather than upscale coaching gear, with "Morris" written on the back of his sweatshirt.
Linebacker De'Jon "Scoota" Harris said seeing Morris in the drab gray was good.
"It keeps us motivated," Harris said. "When everybody out there is getting tired, just think back to when we didn't have nothing. We had to earn everything. It keeps us motivated and going through those tough times."
Morris pointed out how the "earn it" mindset was widespread this winter.
"From coaches to trainers to water girls, water guys, equipment staff, everybody, and to watch these guys earn it back and see guys like Kam Curl and Scoota tweeting out to everybody to come to breakfast because we get points," Morris said last week.
Touting Soli
Defensive end Dorian Gerald said he's been evaluating the newcomers on the defensive front, and his eye has been caught by Mataio Soli in particular.
"Oh, he stands out to me a lot," said Gerald, who mentioned he and defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell were talking about Soli while coming off the practice field Friday. "I think highly of all of them, but Soli definitely stands out."
Gerald was asked what about Soli made him take notice.
"His urgency," he said. "When he comes off the ball, he comes off the ball quick, hard. Real, real hard. I really like him."
McDonald aboard
The Razorbacks' new director of recruiting Larry McDonald attended Friday's spring practice opener.
McDonald replaced Taylor Edwards, who held the title of director of player personnel and departed earlier this winter to take a similar position at the University of Maryland.
McDonald had been working as assistant director of recruiting at Texas A&M.
Tempo uptick?
Chad Morris said an increase in offensive tempo is on the agenda for 2019. However, picking up the offensive pace will be a process, he reminded.
"Yes it will, but like I said our main, No. 1 focus right now is the fundamentals," Morris said last week. "Now when we get to the fastball, or what we call the red ball, yeah we'll get there. But we don't want to hurry up to mess up.
"I don't want our players to lose focus of the fact that we've got to play so fast that we lose focus of the fundamentals. Let's get the fundamentals down, and then we'll increase the speed of which we play."
Upcoming schedule
The Razorbacks will hit the field for spring practice No. 3 on Tuesday, followed by workouts on Thursday and Saturday. Practice No. 6 will take place March 11, which is also the Razorbacks' annual Pro Day, and the last workout before spring break starts March 13.
After spring break, the practice schedule will feature Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday work, culminating with the Red-White Game on April 6. Practice No. 15 is slated for April 8.
Practices are closed to the public unless otherwise noted.
Sports on 03/04/2019