Fall camp is the time for players to take advantage of their opportunities and that couldn't be more true for Arkansas redshirt freshman offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee.
Redshirt sophomore Devon Manuel was playing the majority of first team reps at left tackle until a recent injury left him on the sidelines and made Chamblee the new first team left tackle. The Maumelle native has stepped up and he played well during Arkansas' first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday, according to head coach Sam Pittman.
After three practices with the first team offense, Chamblee has earned the confidence of offensive line coach Cody Kennedy. The 6-foot-6 offensive tackle has learned that you can't always rely on raw athletic ability — technique is important too.
"In all honesty, after the three practices that he's been there, I feel exponentially more confident in Andrew Chamblee," Kennedy said. "He's done a really, really good job filling that role, but that goes to hats off to the D-line and those guys too. He can't make the mistakes he makes with the twos with the ones and it flies. You know what I'm saying?"
"There's a level of error there when you get up to the ones where you can't get by. There are some things where your athletic ability can take over when you're a little bit more athletic than they guy, but when everything is even you have to trust in your training and you have to trust your technique."
Some of the credit for Chamblee's growth as a player has to go to veteran offensive linemen Beaux Limmer and Brady Latham. They set an example of what you're supposed to do and how to handle the high-level talent in the SEC.
"He's learned that going up to the ones and playing next to guys like Brady and Beaux and seeing how they handle their business and how he kind of has to transform into that and step up to that level," Kennedy said.
Limmer and Latham understand that the SEC is a different animal. They've taken their roles as leaders seriously to help prepare the younger offensive linemen like Chamblee for what's in front of them.
"We’re the old guys now," Latham said. "We’re the two guys in the middle who’ve been here and done it before. We’ve kind of taken it as our job to show the new guys this is what you need to do, this is how you need to prepare.
"The SEC is a different animal and whatever you expect college football to be, the SEC is a whole other level. They’re doing a great job doing that. We’ve got a lot of really good young guys with a bunch of talent — not just on the O-line, but everywhere."
Getting playing time with the first team is great, but Chamblee has his eyes set much higher. He wants the starting job, but he'll have to continue performing at a high level and working on is technique to do it.
"He's doing a really, really good job in there filling that void while Devon is out, and going after the spot," Kennedy said. "That's the conversation we had. You go in there and perform at an elite level and you might not have to give it back. That's the thing for him. He's done a good job transforming his body in the weight room as well in terms of being able to handle power rushes and utilize his hands better."
"Those are things he's working on. He's playing strong with his hands and obviously with the frame he has he's playing long. That's one big thing we talk about with his strike and his hand usage is being able to play long and utilize that frame that he does have."
Having a competition at the left tackle spot is a good sign for the Razorbacks. Competition breeds excellence, and Arkansas needs excellent play to protect quarterback KJ Jefferson's blind spot in the SEC West.
The Razorbacks have 15 fall camp practices left ahead of their season opener against Western Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 2 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
