FAYETTEVILLE — As a former Arkansas quarterback and current high school head coach, Casey Dick has a unique perspective on how both levels are dealing with the covid-19 pandemic and its guidelines.
Dick, whose prep program sports two Razorbacks 2022 recruiting targets in junior linebacker Kaiden Turner and wide receiver Isaiah Sategna, believes Arkansas and Fayetteville are doing the best they can to protect their athletes.
“I can speak obviously from the precautions and procedures having played in college,” Dick said. “I don’t have first-hand accounts of what is going on, but I would assume that the protocols and testing and all the things they have to do are being done at a first-class rate.
“I would suspect that the players would be safest where they are at.”
Dick played for the Razorbacks from 2005-08 and led Arkansas to a 31-30 win over LSU in his final game with a fourth-down touchdown pass to London Crawford with 22 seconds left.
He is impressed with new Arkansas coach Sam Piitman, defensive coordinator Barry Odom and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.
“I think Coach Pittman, Coach Odom and Coach Briles and the other coaches that he has surrounded himself with are top notch,” Dick said. “He has done a great job of building a staff that cares about players, and he is genuine, especially with the circumstances he has had to do it.”
Fayetteville will host a scrimmage with Greenwood on Aug. 20 and open the season at Conway on Aug. 28.
Dick and his Purple'Dogs have been steadfast in making sure they practicing safely.
“We are following all the recommendations and the guidelines that were sent down from the Department of Health and Gov. (Asa) Hutchinson,” Dick said. “Those groups have done great job advising us on how to proceed and how to do this safely.
“We screen each and every day before they come to practice and we make sure the kids are socially distanced at practice and make sure they are in a mask when they are in our facility. We also only allow a certain amount of players in the locker room at one time and in the weight room at one time and are continually sanitizing the equipment.”
Fayetteville, which went 6-6 last season in Dick’s first year and closed by winning five of its last eight games, has 125 players out for football.
“We have been very successful since June 1 to where we are at now with our kids being in here and being safe and having a great time doing it,” Dick said.
He believes his squad is more energized because of kids enduring the pandemic and the changes it brought about in their lives.
“Any time that you have a group of 16-18 year olds who had something taken away from them - and it continues all way up to college - they have a new found passion for the game and energy that comes with it,” Dick said. “We try to be real with them and they have social media at their fingertips, so they know what is going on.
“We tell them that this could obviously be the last time you step out here at any moment, so we need maximum effort and we are going to go and make the most of it. That’s our job, to be realistic with the players and get out everything we can out of every day we are given.”
Turner and Sategna are two of nine in-state juniors Arkansas has offered. They are expected to be key players this season on their respective sides of the football.
Turner (6-2, 218) finished with 95 tackles last season, 16 coming in his team’s game against Springdale Har-Ber.
“Both of those guys have ultra-high ceilings,” Dick said. “Kaiden has really developed into our defensive leader and he has taken that role since (University of Central Florida linebacker signee) Quade Mosier was here. He helped bring Kaiden along and showed him things that he has bought into like transforming his body.
“He is about 218 right now and still able to move side to side and do a lot of positive things for us. He is bringing game-time experience back that is irreplaceable.”
Sategna (5-11, 170), who has 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash, caught 31 passes for 519 yards and six touchdowns last season.
“When you look at Isaiah, there are a lot of players that have speed, but Isaiah has elite speed,” Dick said. “We are proud of his work ethic. The biggest difference that you can see in Isaiah is that he has improved his route running and understanding.
"But probably the biggest improvement has been in his ball skills from his sophomore to his junior year.”