The past couple of years when teams got ready to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in football you knew what to expect.
Yes, the Razorbacks had good running backs like Knile Davis, Ronnie Wingo Jr. and Dennis Johnson, but mostly you knew you were going to get a lot of Tyler Wilson throwing the football. And throwing and throwing and throwing.
In the past two seasons, Wilson threw for 7,025 yards and 45 touchdowns. But that was under the coaching regimes of Bobby Petrino and John L. Smith. More to the point, that offense was under offensive coordinators Garrick McGee in 2011 and Paul Petrino in 2012.
But all that has changed. Wilson is off to the NFL, and the Petrino brothers are gone as is Smith and McGee. They have been replaced by former Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema and, maybe just as important, by former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.
Now with Bielema and Chaney running the Arkansas show, there is change coming to Fayetteville. The pass-happy days are gone and the Big Ten-style ground-and-pound offense that Bielema brought to the Wisconsin Badgers will now take its shot at Southeastern Conference defenses.
But don’t think the Razorbacks will abandon the passing game completely. The burden for that air attack will fall on the relatively inexperienced shoulders of quarterbacks Brandon Mitchell and Brandon Allen.
Mitchell is a 6-foot-4, 239-pound senior from Amite, Louisiana, and Allen is 6-3, 214, from Fayetteville. Between them they have completed 45 collegiate passes for 499 yards and four touchdowns. Mitchell spent last season as a wide receiver before moving back to quarterback this spring.
The two have competed for Wilson’s vacated starting quarterback position through the first two Arkansas scrimmages of the spring.
“From scrimmage one to scrimmage two the errors were down considerably,” Chaney said after Monday’s workout. “We didn’t have as many false starts or misalignments.
“We’re a long way behind in the passing game; we’ve got to continue to work on that. It showed up again today in team pass period, trying to block the pressures and things we’re struggling a little bit. But it’s a process and we’ll continue down that path.”
Chaney compared the work of both quarterbacks thus far in spring practices.
“I thought they both competed hard,” he said. “We didn’t throw the ball up very much. I think we had one interception. I think Brandon Allen threw an interception on a deep ball when we were a little late getting it out of our hands.
“For the most part we protected the ball pretty well. Brandon and Brandon Mitchell did a nice job with that. I’d say that Brandon maybe threw the ball a little bit better, Allen than Mitchell. But for the most part they are still competing and keep on rolling through the process.”
Although the quarterbacks have been basically even in the first two scrimmages, Chaney admitted there are still problems with the passing game.
“I think what you are dealing with are some different protections up front which are a little bit unique to what we like to do and the kids’ familiarity with it is not where you want to be,” he said.
“Then you add in the different looks and the blitzes that we’re seeing from the defense and then you add in the difference in schemes and concepts and the way we prefer to read them over previous staffs and it all adds up into slowing down the brain and feet. We’re not going as fast as we would like to.
“It takes a long time. I think you see a lot of teams that pass the football. Even in my past, when we threw the ball proficiently, it was game three or four before we got rolling. I feel like we’re still in the infant stages of the passing game.”
Changes in the Arkansas offense effect more than just the quarterbacks, Chaney is looking for more out of his receivers.
“We’re trying to get them to be a little more physical,” Chaney said. “They are buying into that for the most part. Not all of them. The young kids still struggle. They come here to catch the ball and we’re asking them to block a little bit. Sometimes it’s a little tough on them. The ball — we can’t give it to everybody. They think every play ought to be a pass play, but there isn’t but one ball but we can’t give it to everybody.
“I feel like the kids are buying into being more physical. They are trying to do that. We are trying to make those inside run periods as physical as we can. I guess it’s a lot of clichés, but we are getting better at doing that but we are not advancing as fast as I like in the passing game.
“If you ask what is the difference between last year’s offense and what we are doing right now, it is being more physical,” said the offensive coordinator.
Chaney, who has also coached at Purdue and with the St. Louis Rams, came to Arkansas after four years at the University of Tennessee. The reason for his move was the opportunity to work for Bielema.
“I enjoy Coach,” he said. “I trust him and everything he’s trying to do philosophically with this football team. It’s all about character and people. That’s what does it for me.”
Coming off a disastrous 4-8 season in 2012, the Razorbacks are taking to the new coaching staff.
“It’s been fantastic. I can’t say enough good things,” said Chaney of the player’s attitude. “These kids have come here hungry. They’ve been open to change. They are embracing it. They’re like us. Young men adjust to change quicker than we do at our age.”