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The Time Is Now By Ron Jumper The Arkansas Razorbacks have never needed a confidence boost more than they do now. Winning against USC on September 2 would do more for the fans, the coaches, and the players than words can really describe. The future of the Arkansas program, in more ways than one, could really change for better or worse depending on the outcome of this first game. The stability of the coaching staff and the ability to recruit big time athletes depends on a strong showing in the season opener. Starting with the fans, this season is no different than any other in that the expectations are for a winning season. The fans love their Razorbacks and expect victories. With the announcement that they are going to start Robert Johnson for the season opener, fans began to grumble and lose their enthusiasm before the season even started. Personally, I thought Johnson got a raw deal last year. It wasn't his fault for the start to the season the Razorbacks had. Johnson was benched and Casey Dick took over to lead the Razorbacks to a couple of victories, keep in mind those victories were to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. I'll bet if Johnson would have started, the results would have been very similar. There was another turning point that had nothing to do with Johnson that occurred in the second game of the season against Vanderbilt, Arkansas had the ball at the 1-yard line and Peyton Hillis couldn't get in the endzone on 4 straight carries. At the time, the Razorbacks were up 7-0 and looked really sharp. After that momentum changing play, the swagger seemed to be gone from the Razorbacks and they would go on to lose to Vanderbilt 28-24. Johnson will do a solid job at quarterback in the opener and the offense will be able to move the ball. If you are a true Arkansas fan, you will give Robert Johnson a loud cheer when he runs out onto the field. He deserves it more than any other Razorback. Johnson has shown maturity beyond his years. He didn't get mad and transfer when he lost his starting job, instead he went to work and got better. Don't you dare boo for a young man who has done nothing but his best.  The coaches at Arkansas need this big victory to assure themselves that they are both qualified for the job and going to keep their jobs. Gus Malzahn has a tough way to begin his collegiate coaching career by taking on the mighty USC. He is already under the microscope due to the thought that he might have been hired solely to get highly touted recruits Mitch Mustain and Damian Williams. If the offense comes out flat and doesn't move the ball, the criticism will start from the fans and could even come from inside the team. If your quarterbacks coach Alex Wood, you don't like taking orders from a high school guy since you have NFL coaching experience. The best cure for these kinds of things is just simply winning, but if they don't win the wheels could come off real fast. That also goes for Houston Nutt... Nutt, as we all know, has a great deal of pressure to win this season. If I had the power to choose the head coach at the University of Arkansas I would be torn. If you fire Nutt this season, the new coach will take the already established talent and win games just like Nutt did with Danny Ford's talent, which puts you where you were to start with. However, I don't feel like Houston Nutt is the guy that can get Arkansas to that elite level the fans so badly want. So what do you do? Keeping Nutt virtually means you settle for being just slightly above average because you don't want to risk getting any worse than you are now. At the same time, do you feel a school like Arkansas is capable of reaching that level of success? It is a tough call to make. In a way, winning 7 or 8 games could possibly be the best a school like Arkansas can do on yearly basis. Sure there will be years where you win more or you win less, but do you really feel Arkansas can become a school that wins 9 or 10 games every year? I really don't know if that is in the cards or not. Am I big Houston Nutt fan? No, not really. Do I think another coach could do a whole lot better? Maybe, but probably not much different. I kind of like how well Nutt has done breaking into Texas for recruits and keeping the Arkansas recruits in state.  As for recruiting, Arkansas needs to win the USC game to get a boost in recruiting. As of right now, Arkansas' commitments for the class of 2007 aren't that highly touted. The Razorbacks are usually in the middle of the road as far as SEC recruiting classes, but so far this class is more along the lines of a Vanderbilt or Kentucky incoming class. With so much young talent on the roster, it is hard to get players because they don't feel they will play early. Beating USC would make Arkansas a much more desirable school despite the abundance of youth already in place. Right now, the most important thing the Hogs need to do is land Lee Ziemba out of Rogers, Arkansas. He is the best player in Arkansas and it would really hurt if he chose the Auburn Tigers over the Razorbacks. Kodi Burns, even though he is a quarterback, is such a spectacular athlete that it would be huge to get him on campus. If Burns redshirted, he could have his junior and senior seasons to start at quarterback for the Hogs, assuming Mustain doesn't redshirt. I feel like they made a mistake letting Josh Trezvant get away, the young man committed to Duke. He could have been an excellent cornerback for the Hogs. Trezvant got tired of waiting for an offer and took the one from Duke. Some would say he should have waited to get one from Arkansas, but I disagree. Going outside the state borders can work out for you, take D'Angelo Williams as an example. Williams was a standout at Wynne High School and decided to take his talents to Memphis. He would go on to be a first-round pick by the Carolina Panthers. Right now at the University of Iowa, Herb Grigsby has made his way up the depth chart to starting wide receiver and starting punt returner. Grigsby is originally from Mayflower, Arkansas and decided to take his ability to Iowa after not being that highly recruited by Arkansas. If you are a high school stud in Arkansas and you don't get the much attention from the Hogs, don't worry about it and go do your thing somewhere else. Recruiting, even as the spectacle it has become, still makes mistake after mistake in evaluating talent. The fate of the football program could change after the season opener against USC. That doesn't mean the next day these things will happen or even that they will happen at all, it just gives you a look at some scenarios that could take place. One thing is for sure though, the Razorbacks will find out a lot about themselves after the first game. August 26, 2006 |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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