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FAYETTEVILLE — Sam Pittman and his staff breathed a sigh of relief when Ty Clary announced he would return for a super-senior season back in December.
The Fayetteville High product made his mark on the program as a true freshman and has been a foundational piece of the interior offensive line since.
Splitting his time between center and guard over the past four years, Clary entered the year with an opportunity to lock up the starting job at right guard. When preseason All-SEC center Ricky Stromberg went down with a knee injury early into camp, though, he was reunited with his old position.
“It’s like I never left,” Clary said. “You know, it’s like riding a bike.”
After leading the Razorbacks’ offensive line with a career-high 71.7 PFF grade in his 461 snaps at the guard spot, Clary has once again readjusted his mentality to fit the center position.
“Definitely it’s a little bit more different because guard you can be a little more violent, a little more physical and I like that,” Clary said. “Center you have to make the calls and you’re at the front of the line, so you have to be ready to take some hits and also just get back off the line so you don’t get picked.”
The previous experience certainly helps with fine-tuning the playbook and adjustments necessary to be successful, but the center has one responsibility that isn’t found anywhere else on the field.
Struggles with snapping the ball date back to that first stint at the position, so after a full transition to guard this offseason, it’s safe to say the move back came with its hiccups.
“The first couple of days, it got to him a little bit,” offensive line coach Cody Kennedy said. “But like with anything, you settle into it and you’re able to build that consistency with it.
“I’ve snapped the ball and played that position, it’s not near as easy as what you think. It’s really cool when you can sit out there in pregame and snap it when you don’t have a 300-pound guy in front of you, but when we’re able to simulate that in practice, his consistency has gone up.”
With Stromberg’s return looming, Kennedy doesn’t see this as a permanent move. He instead believes this is a barometer for how healthy the offensive line ecosystem will be throughout this season and beyond.
“In the long term, it's going to really help the offensive line,” Kennedy said. “Especially Coach Pittman, obviously with his offensive line background, he's always on me with how many guys you got who can snap the ball. Because obviously, you can't operate his offensive line if you don't have a center. So we're trying to be deep at that position.”
Clary is expected to move back over to right guard before the Sept. 4 opener against Rice, which has a 1 p.m. CT kickoff and will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus and ESPN-Plus.
