Coaches devise plan for backup QB battle

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Seventeen players were stuck on the elevator for approximately one hour starting at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday after practice.

Kevin Richardson streamed it live on his Instagram account. They missed team and position meetings. Head coach Bret Bielema was watching on someone’s live feed at one point, and fire trucks were on the scene.

The following 13 players were known to have been on the elevator. Their combined weight equals 3,116 pounds. Assuming the other four players met the average weight of the other 13 (240 pounds), that’s 4,075 pounds before accounting for personal items like backpacks, phones, shoes and clothing. The max capacity of the elevator is believed to be 4,000 pounds.

Kevin Richardson (185), Briston Guidry (279), McTelvin Agim (286), Frank Ragnow (317), Korey Hernandez (174), Deion Malone (304), Armon Watts (309), De’Andre Coley (211), Nate Dalton (193), Daulton Hyatt (188), Will Gragg (254), Tobias Enlow (202), Koilan Jackson (214)

This is believed to have been the first time key members of the team were stuck in an elevator since Arkansas’ coaches in the booth, including offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, were stuck in the elevator at halftime of the season opener against Auburn back in 2014.

Saturday, Bielema said he was going to give both backup quarterback candidates Ty Storey and Cole Kelley their ‘moment’ to see if they could separate themselves. So far, both seem to have a either a good day or a bad day on the same days.

Bielema called both players into his office Tuesday morning and informed them that on Tuesday Storey would take all the second team reps at quarterback. And then on Wednesday, it would be Kelley’s turn.

“Going in four reps and then sitting out 16 and then going four is kind of hard. Today Ty got all the two reps and tomorrow I will and we’ll see how it goes,” Kelley said. “It’s just a really healthy competition…I had a meeting with Coach [Dan] Enos after the spring, and he told me I just needed to focus on me and not the battle, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

“You don’t really get that rhythm with the guys, but when you’re out there all day – especially in ‘move the ball’ situation, and it feels really good,” Storey said. “It feels good kind of getting tin the rhythm, especially in move the ball situations. Just being in the huddle every single rep and looking the guys in the eye an letting them know you’re the guy today.”

Kelley said Storey was consistent on ‘his day,’ just like he has been all camp. Storey apparently performed well in red zone work, too. He hit receiver Jonathan Nance for a touchdown in team blitz pickup and also dropped a fade to him in the back of the end zone.

Jordan Jones described the two players as Storey sometimes being too conservative and Kelley not being conservative enough.

The coaches encourage the players to stand up and speak to the team after practice. Bielema calls it a ‘cheer.’ Saturday after the scrimmage, Storey stood up and spoke.

“It was talking about people and peoples’ perspective on us,” Storey said. “A lot of people have said stuff this year that has really meant a lot, so I thought it was kind of my turn to share my thoughts.”

Storey said he is more comfortable than ever after being in the system for nearly three years. He also appears to have fixed the hitch in his throwing motion. He has worked with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dan Enos of course as well as former Oklahoma State and New England Patriots draft pick Zac Robinson on various drills to fix his throwing motion.

“It has been a process, it definitely has,” Storey said. “It’s just more consistent, I think. Every day I know what I expect, what I need to feel like throwing the ball.

“It was kind of a long, slow release. I don’t know where I picked it up. I don’t know if it was some drill I was doing but something just got out of whack,” Storey said. “In high school I just threw it. There was no thinking about it, and I think I started thinking a little too much about it.”

Jones was really the talk of the team after the first week of practices, but he isn’t getting as many opportunities to run past defenders on deep routes anymore.

“They’re starting to back up a lot more,” Jones said. “They’re kind of honoring my speed, so I guess that’s a good thing. Now I’m just working on getting out of my breaks and my other routes. Once I master that I think I’ll be a pretty good player.”

Kelley did fire one deep to Jones in the scrimmage, but true freshman cornerback Korey Hernandez grabbed onto him and was hit with multiple flags.

“Yeah, yeah. I would have gotten it. Me and him joked about it in the locker room. He told me he didn’t want me to get by him,” Jones said. “It’s just friendly competition.”

"Oh absolutely, no doubt about it," Kelley said. "He's too good of an athlete."

No offense to the freshman, but Jones seems to take preseason All-SEC cornerback Ryan Pulley a little more seriously.

“He raises my competitiveness every day. Me and him, we’re pretty good friends off the field, so when we’re going against each other it’s all business.”

It’s friendly competition with Hernandez. With Pulley, it’s all business...

There was talk of Jones possibly playing as a true freshman last season, but a minor injury made the decision to redshirt him easier. And while he could have helped, Jones admits he wasn’t able to get locked in like he can now with a solid year under his belt.

“When I first came in, I really wasn’t used to practicing as much and everything was doing kind of fast to me and I wasn’t able to lock in,” Jones said. “This year, one of my main things has been preparing. If you can prepare, you can go out there and play fast…Just going in, getting scripts and knowing what to expect when practice starts.”

Enos went over a concept with the players before preseason camp started that they have tried to implement in practice with hopes it carries over to games. The goal is obviously perfection, but at the end of the day they want fewer than 12 percent of the snaps to result in negative outcomes that usually stem from mental errors – things like penalties, sacks, drops, interceptions and hits on the quarterback.

“It’s just a way to keep the whole offense accountable,” Jackson said. “Based on the numbers that we did from last year, when we were below a 12 percent we just won the game. We use that a lot in practice, try to be under that 12 percent range.”

Jackson said based on the scrimmage, the offense needs to start faster and do better run blocking. He said they finished strong and performed well in pass protection. On a personal level, Jackson feels like he is a smarter, stronger player and he prefers playing on the left side.

“I’ve noticed a lot of improvement lower body wise,” Jackson said. “I’ve noticed a lot more power coming off the ball, in pass blocking, holding guys up and stuff like that.”

Bielema, Enos and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoades will meet with the media at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.