Despite Injuries and Youth, Arkansas’s Defensive Depth in Good Shape
After resting several veteran Razorbacks in Saturday’s closed scrimmage, Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis was not overly pleased with what he saw from his team. However Saturday’s performance, tackling in particular, was an anomaly according to Chavis, and with a little over a week until the Hogs’ first game of 2018, the defensive depth is in better shape than it’s been in a while.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement, but after Wednesday’s practice, Chavis spoke to his growing confidence in the position groups all over the field.
“We’ve seen guys improve and that’s what you’ve got to do if you’re going to building depth,” Chavis said. “And certainly, particularly at my position, linebackers, I feel better about the depth right now than I did the last week of spring practice.”
Walk-on linebacker Grant Morgan also spoke to the confidence around the linebacker depth and noted when sophomore linebacker Dee Walker shakes off the cobwebs post-injury and true freshman, early enrollee Bumper Pool gets more reps the group will be solid.
“There’s no drop in confidence, I think we have just as much confidence with the second guys as we do in the first,” Morgan said. “Scoota and Dre are a different breed because they’ve been in it so long. But I’ve got a lot of game experience and Bumper is going to get a lot of reps.
“I think the depth is coming on really well. Like what Chief is always preaching about, it’s the next guy in and I think it’s going to show.”
As for the defensive line, the unit is still waiting to get a fully healthy senior, Randy Ramsey, back into the rotation, but his absence has been a big opportunity for growth for his teammates, and now, Chief says he’s comfortable in their depth as well.
“I feel better in terms of number and depth that we have, and certainly if we can keep our guys healthy up front then we’re going to be able to play five defensive tackles, we’re going to be able to play at least six defensive ends,” Chavis said. “The guys behind Randy, it gives them an opportunity to get better. It’s been good for Dorian [Gerald] because we’ve been able to give him as many reps as he can handle.”
The Hogs have strength at safety with Santos Ramirez healthy and Kamren Curl having a solid pre-season. Not to mention, safeties coach Ron Cooper has two very talented true freshman making strong arguments for early playing time this season. Former 3-star recruits, Myles Mason and Joe Foucha have received praise from the coaches nearly every day of fall camp.
“They’ve impressed us all,” Chavis said. “They’ve been quick to learn. We knew they were talented when we had the opportunity to recruit them. Certainly, I think both of them will be really, really fine players in the SEC.”
The Razorbacks also have a solid, healthy number of corners ready to go for the season. Chevin Calloway, Ryan Pulley, Britto Tutt and Jarques McClellion have all been consistent in pre-season practices and Arkansas native Montaric Brown is getting plenty of second-team reps as well.
“We’ve got four that we feel real good about, and then we’ve got some other guys that are coming,” Chavis said. “There’s no doubt we’ve got four corners that we feel comfortable playing in the game.”
The defense will need to stay healthy if they want to reach six wins this season, that’s for sure, but the current depth and youth that’s showing quick improvement bodes well for 2018.
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