FAYETTEVILLE — Sophomore Chris “Pooh” Paul came to the Arkansas Razorbacks with a load of leadership qualities and now they will be more widely on display during Liberty Bowl preparations.
Paul will start his second consecutive game in place of fifth-year senior Bumper Pool on Dec. 28, but he will not have the support of junior Drew Sanders against Kansas. Suddenly, Paul is the most experienced player and the elder statesman in the University of Arkansas linebacking unit.
“It’s kind of different out there,” Paul said on a video conference Saturday. “With me playing a bigger role now with Drew Sanders and Bumper Pool gone and things like that, I feel like I have to put more emphasis on leadership. … So I’ve been trying to do that throughout the last few practices and things like that.”
Paul made good use of his work behind Pool this season, racking up 50 tackles to rank sixth on the team, as well as 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 2 quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Paul will be joined in the starting lineup by freshman Jordan Crook.
Fellow freshman Mani Powell, who has recovered from knee surgery, and Jackson Woodard move up to the second unit with playing time expected in the bowl game.
“Crook, playing with him in the bowl game, I think that these guys have really been waiting on their opportunity to shine,” Paul said. “They’ve been putting the work in. So I’m very confident in those guys, knowing they’re going to play their best and go out there and give it their all.
“These past two practices, just seeing Crook fly around, seeing Woody and Mani Powell fly around and letting their voices be heard and things like that, it’s made me very confident in them.”
Coach Sam Pittman was asked about the crew of linebackers behind Paul for the bowl.
“I think Mani Powell would be a guy, certainly,” Pittman said. “Brooks Both is a guy as well. Woodard has played special teams all the time, so he’ll have to move up to that three or four linebacker spot. So you’ve got Pooh and Crook and those two guys, and with Mani Powell and Woodard, those would be probably your guys there. And of course Kaden Henley’s going to have to step up as well.”
Trump moves up
Jake Trump, who had been a quality control assistant on the University of Arkansas defense, has been activated to serve as a 10th member of the on-field coaching staff for bowl preparations.
Trump, a Missouri graduate (2019) from Kahoka, Mo., has been working with the defensive backs during the open viewing portions of practices on Friday and Saturday.
He takes up the coaching spot held by defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who took over as head coach at UNLV on Dec. 6.
Trump played linebacker at Missouri from 2015-18, overlapping two seasons with Arkansas linebackers coach Michael Scherer, an Odom protege who will call the defensive plays against Kansas in the Liberty Bowl.
“Coach Trump’s a great guy,” linebacker Chris Paul said. “He’s just like Coach Scherer, in my opinion. He knows the defense. He actually played it with Coach Scherer at Missouri and things like that.
“Coach Trump is the type of guy you can go to him and ask him any question. It doesn’t matter the position. I’ve seen D-linemen go into his office and talk to him, and of course linebackers and some DBs and things like that.”
Criswell in attendance
Former Morrillton High and North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell attended Friday’s practice inside the Walker Pavilion.
Criswell, a 6-1, 225-pounder who originally signed as an early enrollee with the Tar Heels in December 2019, has committed to the Razorbacks from the transfer portal.
The 2019 Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year, Criswell was a four-star prospect and the No. 2 player in the state in that recruiting class. He was also rated the No. 11 dual-threat quarterback in the nation in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Odom’s exit
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom took the head coaching job at UNLV just a few days after Pittman said he expected his coordinators to be available for Liberty Bowl practices.
Pittman made the remark with Odom sitting with him in a car, preparing to go in for a home visit on a recruiting trip in Texas.
Pittman explained his thoughts on Odom’s departure on Friday.
“I was really happy for him, and I’m happy for UNLV,” Pittman said. “They got a really good coach, a really good man.
“Catch me off guard? UNLV did. I knew about Tulsa and all that kind of stuff. Not a whole lot about UNLV. But no, I was kind of prepared for that because I knew that he had opportunities. Certainly if he wanted them, I wanted him to get them. So no, not really.”
Pittman explained it was difficult to talk about his coordinators on the brink of a home visit with Odom.
“You’re getting ready to go into a home visit, you know you’re going to lose him, so how are you going to talk to the kids?” he asked. “What I did was, I took the parents aside and just said, ‘Hey, tomorrow, coach is going to be the new head coach at UNLV, and they want to keep it quiet.’
“You worry about other programs. You’ve got to worry about your own first.”
Pittman added that tight ends coach Dowell Loggains’ departure to become offensive coordinator at South Carolina was not necessarily a surprise, as Coach Shane Beamer had reached out to him to express his interest.
“I had talked to Shane,” he said. “He had called me, and I talked to him. That wasn’t really a surprise.”
Swift season
The sixth season for veteran offensive tackle Dalton Wagner felt like the fastest for the fifth-year starter.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt as fast of a season as this one went by,” Wagner said Saturday. “This one was gone in a blink of an eye.
“You know, everyone preseason is always telling you, ‘Oh hey, this one’s gonna go by fast,’ and everything, and you’re like, ‘Ah, whatever,’ and then it actually does go by fast. And all of a sudden, we’re sitting here — what is it? — 11 days from the bowl game and 11 days left as a Razorback. It definitely went by real fast.”
Wagner has accepted a spot in the East-West Shrine game on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas, along with teammates Jadon Haselwood and Ricky Stromberg.