Arkansas Football: New Coordinators have Biggest Challenges in 2016
By Cory Thone
The Arkansas Razorbacks have some fresh faces on the sideline this year, and all three of them have to either replace some superstars or create a new unit from scratch. Arkansas football has a lot of players returning, but they lost some big names, and some big coaches as well.
Going into this last offseason, I thought that there was a chance that the Arkansas football coaching staff would see some shakeups. I did not, however, predict that three coaches would be leaving the Hill.
Bret Bielema took his time, and found 3 new guys to fill these vacant positions, and he thinks that he’s found exactly the right people to keep building the Hogs up. All of Bielema’s assistant coaches that he’s brought in so far have had more successes than failures in Fayetteville, which has Razorback fans optimistic about the new staff.
Kurt Anderson came to Arkansas from the Buffalo Bills, where he spent some time as the teams primary offensive line coach. He has been successful everywhere he’s been, and he’s rising fast though the coaching ranks.
However, he has a bit of a tough task ahead of him right now. The offensive line lost 3 starters from last year’s team. An All-American, and All-SEC’er, and a 30 career starter. Those guys are going to be hard to replace. Not to mention that the previous offensive line coach didn’t exactly set the world on fire recruiting in his last season in Fayetteville.
Anderson has maybe the toughest task in front of him of all the new coaches. The offensive line is absolutely critical to a Bret Bielema/Dan Enos offense, and the Hogs will need to be able to run the ball effectively. Anderson has moved some players around, and is filling the gaps as best he can. With the addition of Jake Raulerson from Texas, Anderson can hopefully find 5 guys that can keep the momentum going in the run and pass game for the Hogs.
Reggie Mitchell came to Arkansas after spending the last forever at Kansas. He was the only coach to be retained after a recent coaching change, largely because he was the only guy that was doing his job in Lawrence. He was the best recruiter on the team, and as the running backs coach for the Jayhawks, his unit was the lone bright spot on the offense most years.
In his 30 years as a coach, he’s recruited 33 NFL draft picks, 6 of which went in the first round. And he did the majority of that work at Kansas and Illinois. He is going to continue to be an asset for the Hogs on the recruiting trail for some time.
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His biggest obstacle is replacing the most dynamic running back duo in the SEC since Mcfadden/Jones. Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins will forever be slightly overlooked by Hog fans because of their proximity in time to Dmac and Felix, but make no mistake about it people…those two are irreplaceable.
Mitchell has a group of talented athletes, lead by returning 6th year senior Kody Walker and Sophomore Rawleigh Williams. But Walker has been unfortunately injury prone his entire career, and Williams missed the last half of 2015 with an injury as well. Damon Mitchell has moved to running back from receiver, but he has limited experience as a back. Incoming 4 star running back Devwah Whaley has the potential to be a break out star, but you can’t count on freshman, especially in the SEC. The competition is just too fierce.
Mitchell is a great coach, but he’s got a group of backs that are all unproven, and none of which have completed a full season as even a backup splitting time in the SEC. He’s got a lot of work to do if the Hogs want to keep the “Running Back U” title.
Lastly, Paul Rhoads has taken over as defensive backs coach, and fans are SUPER optimistic about his addition to the defense. The secondary was absolutely awful last year, finishing last in the SEC and in the bottom 10% of the NCAA in pass defense.
Rhoads comes to Arkansas after being the head coach at Iowa State, and has a background as a superstar defensive coordinator. His football knowledge and experience make him one of the best looking assistant coaches in the conference on paper.
The good news for Rhoads is that everyone is back from last year except for Rohan Gaines. The bad news is that all those guys played terribly last year.
Honestly, Rhoads has maybe the easiest job of the three coaches. If he can get this secondary unit to just an average group, then he’ll have made a big impact for the program. He’s got a lot of upper classmen and experienced players on his squad, so I’m expecting the secondary to be markedly improved in 2016.