2010 NCAA Football Preview: Arkansas
It is always tough for a new coach to come in and replace a popular one that has been successful and around for many years like Houston Nutt, who was 75-48 from 1998-2007 for Arkansas. After the end of the 2007 season the team was able to lure Bobby Petrino away from the NFL ranks.
Two years later the team has gone from being a sub-.500 team to going 8-5 and winning a bowl game, the 2010 Liberty Bowl, a 20-17 win over East Carolina.
With a couple of his own recruiting classes under his belt, Petrino has the team primed to make a move in 2010. Back is his quarterback, Ryan Mallett, whom he has molded into one of the better quarterbacks in college football and a potential Heisman trophy contender.
The team will get tested early with games against Georgia and Alabama in the third and fourth weeks of the season. However, with the starters that are returning to Fayetteville in 2010, 10 on offence and seven on defence, it may very well be teams like Alabama and Georgia that will need to look out for them.
Offence
When your quarterback is being talked about as an early contender for the Heisman trophy then you know you must have something pretty good. In Ryan Mallett the team had hoped to find the next greatest thing and they might have succeeded. Whether he’s looking to make his case for early departure to the NFL or just wants to win, he will put up some great numbers in 2010.
It helps that he has most of his unit coming back from 2009; everyone will be pretty familiar with the offense. Back will be all of his skill position players in junior running back Broderick Green and wide receivers (all juniors) Jarius Wright, Greg Childs, and all-conference player Joe Adams. He did not make many more catches from 2008 to 2009, but he did figure out how to do a lot more with the catches he did make (from 377 yards in ’08 to 568 in ’09; one touchdown to seven).
Running back Green will love to have his line back intact. With limited carries in 2009 he was able to accumulate 442 yards on the ground (in 104 carries), but did contribute 11 touchdowns. If he is able to do better he may not end up sharing carries as much as did in 2009 with Ronnie Wingo Jr. and Dennis Johnson.
Defence
While the offense will win games it will be the defence that wins championships. The question remains as to whether the Razorbacks will have enough defence to do that though. Seven starters return, but none were all-conference selections from 2009.
The front four will look to be a mixture of youth and veteran leadership with Damario Ambrose and Zach Stadther returning on one side of the ball and sophomores DeQuinta Jones and Tenarius Wright penciled in to start on the other side. Neither the team’s rush defense (73rd) or sack production (46th) were the greatest in 2009, something that the team hopes will improve going into 2010.
Where the unit needs the most help will be where it is returning the most starters, in the secondary. Senior cornerbacks Ramon Broadway and Rudell Crim return along with junior safety Elton Ford. As a unit, the pass defense finished the season ranked 99th in the nation in 2009. Looking to pick up time will be Anthony Leon and Tramiain Thomas.
Arkansas will be able to put up lots of points on offence in 2010, however, unless the defense miraculously gets better or some talented players come out of nowhere they may find themselves in many shootouts during the 2010 season. Coach Bobby Petrino will have a few weeks to mold his defense into a better unit before they get faced with their first passing team (Texas A&M, 16th in the nation in 2009).
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