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FAYETTEVILLE — Despite not having any non-conference games to pad its stats, Arkansas has made significant strides on defense this season.
A year after fielding the worst statistical defense in school history, the Razorbacks have shaved more than 10 points and nearly 50 yards off its scoring and total defense. Through six games, they are middle-of-the-pack among SEC teams in those categories after ranking dead last in both last year.
It’s a remarkable turnaround, especially considering Arkansas had to replace key players at all three levels of its defense. The credit, according to defensive end Zach Williams, belongs to defensive coordinator Barry Odom and the other assistants.
“I feel like we're just coached well,” Williams said. “It's really the coaching, and when players like their coaches, they do a little bit more.”
One of the biggest ways the new coaching staff has impacted the defense has to do with trust, as it was a key thing brought up by Williams and fellow second-year defensive end Eric Gregory in interviews this week.
From Gregory: “This year, I just felt like the coaches trusted me a lot more with this staff and that I had a big role to fill and a lot to look forward to and stuff like that. It gave me a lot of momentum to come into this season with a coaching staff that trusted (me) and the chemistry that we’ve built in here is amazing.”
From Williams: “I feel like the coaches trusted me enough to put me in and I didn't really get that experience last year. I just feel like it's making me a lot better and I give the coaches props for that because they put me in. They had enough trust in me which other people didn't last year.”
Although the improvement has surprised most fans and media, it wasn’t much of a shock to those inside the building.
The players said they knew they weren’t as bad as the numbers - 36.8 points on 450.7 yards allowed per game - showed last season.
“We’re better than what we put out,” Gregory said. “They’re giving us a lot of confidence and the coaching staff stresses stuff like that. We trust them, we love them, so I feel like that’s given us a huge motivation.”
Here are a few other notes, tidbits and stats from the week leading up to Saturday’s game at No. 6 Florida, which will kick off at 6 p.m. CT and be televised on ESPN…
Health Update
Head coach Sam Pittman will not be with the team this weekend after testing positive for COVID-19. He is in the midst of a 10-day quarantine and won’t be able to rejoin the Razorbacks until Wednesday.
In the mean time, Pittman said he’s received numerous well wishes from people around the country via test and tweets.
Although described as asymptomatic in press releases from the UA, the first-year coach said he’s been walking 20 minutes in the morning at 20 minutes in the afternoon between other duties - like staff meetings, media sessions, etc. - done virtually from home. He’s also drinking a vegetable mix in the morning and the evening that “almost instantly helps” him feel better.
“I think I’m better than I have been during this,” Pittman said. “I feel like every day I just get a little bit better, a little bit better. I’m excited to hopefully be through the worst part of it.”
