Razorbacks doing best to block out negativity

Arkansas defensive lineman Gabe Richardson (6) reacts after a fumble recovery Saturday, October 12, 2019 during the first quarter of a football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the game.

— Many Razorbacks football fans have made their displeasure with the team’s 2-4 record this season and last season’s 2-10 mark well known on social media, internet message boards and sports radio talk shows.

While Arkansas players no doubt have heard and seen some of that criticism, many of them said after Tuesday night’s practice that they are doing their best to block out the beating are taking from a vocal segment of the fan base.

Treylon Burks, who has combined with fellow freshman wideout Trey Knox to catch a Power 5 freshman-duo best 38 catches for 578 yards and two touchdowns, said it is easy for him.

“I’m not a big social media guy,” Burks said. “I don’t even get on Twitter. I don’t do none of that, so it’s not a problem for me.”

Sophomore safety Joe Foucha says the team is focused on itself as Arkansas (2-4, 0-3) prepares for Saturday’s 11 a.m. game with No. 11 Auburn (5-1, 2-1).

“We don’t really entertain the noise,” Foucha said. “People are going to say what they want to say. That’s really inevitable, so we just really don’t look into that and try to get into that. I really stay off Twitter. If you’ve noticed, I haven’t tweeted in a couple of days because I’m still locked in on the main goal.”

Foucha stressed that this year’s locker room is different than last year’s, which reportedly splintered amid a losing season.

“I mean, it’s a big difference,” Foucha said. “We are still committed to winning. We haven’t given up. We still come together as a whole, even after the game Saturday we got in Sunday. We practiced hard, and Tuesday we practiced even harder.

“In the locker room, it’s the same vibe. We are still brothers, no one is fussing at each other. So we’ve grown a lot in that area also.”

Senior tight end Cheyenne O’Grady echoed that sentiment.

“The locker room, like I said before in past interviews, we’re a whole different team this year,” O’Grady asserted. “Last year at this time we’re 2-4, starting off like we did last year. Last year we would have had people blaming, complaining, talking just bad noise.

“This year, everybody, they are still coming together and we’re being the same people, bringing it every day. Right after the game Saturday we came in Sunday and we came to practice and we practiced hard and stayed consistent. Just like today, we did the same thing. We had great energy and everybody was flying around and it was positive energy all around.”

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Jarques McClellion, who made it clear he appreciates the fan support when it is there, is another Razorback doing his best to block out the negativity.

“I just tune it out,” McClellion said. “I really just don’t think about it. I don’t pay it no attention at all. I look at it as y’all are giving me comments and y’all are not waking up at 5:30 in the morning and coming to 6 a.m. workouts, why should I listen to what you have to say? I just make sure I listen to my coaches and my teammates and not anyone else that is not in this facility, so I shut out the noise.”

McClellion believes fans who are thinking the players are not giving their best effort and don’t care about losing are wrong.

“The fans think we might not be giving our best, but at the end of the day we are competing in practice and making sure we have each others backs in 1-on-1s, drills and making sure we are competing regardless,” McClellion said.

“So whatever the fans have to say, we really don’t listen to it. We are all we have whether we win or lose. If we win, the Hog fans from Cali(fornia) to New York are all going to cheer for us. If we lose, it’s just us.

“It’s a big family at the end of the day. We make sure we’re not breaking apart. We’re making sure we just stick together, regardless. This is family at the end of the day.”

McClellion knows everyone loves a winning team and criticizes a losing one.

“I appreciate them (the fans) at the end of the (Texas) A&M game when they cheered us when we were going into the locker room,” McClellion said. “At the end of the day, we just need a win, just finish it out. This is football. This is a regular sport. Someone has to win, someone has to lose. The tables are going to have to turn sooner or later.”

While plenty of oddsmakers, college football experts and fans aren’t giving Arkansas a chance against Auburn, Razorbacks senior defensive tackle T.J. Smith is not hearing that.

“To be honest, if it's outside these walls, I haven't heard it,” Smith said. “I know when it comes to those guys in the locker room I feel like we've got a chance. Everybody in that locker room feels like we've got a chance, so we're going to go out there and do what we can.

Senior defensive end Gabe Richardson basically said the time for talking is over.

“Can’t talk about it, you've got to show it,” Richardson said. “Continue to push forward. Got to line up and play the best you can because if you don't that's what they're going to see. There's no quit in us.”

Arkansas has lost its last three games by a combined total of 15 points, including the last two by four points each.

Richardson notes it is frustrating for the coaches and players to preach finishing off a game and then not do it.

“Of course it is,” Richardson said. “We've been preaching finishing since I've been here. It's hard at times. It really is hard dealing with this, but you can't quit. You've got to keep going.”