Will the role for QB this year be like '98 or '01?

[Feralhog]

The QB's role depends largely on HDN and our defense.  One things for sure.  You gotta figure opposing D's, at least early on,  will be stacking the line, forcing the QB to beat them with his arm.  I think HDN would be smart in reverting back to shorter drops, much like he did with Stoerner in 98. 

Bottom line, for Arkansas to be successful, one of these QB's has got to step up their game and make D's pay for overloading the line of scrimmage.  People who think the role of the QB this year will be to simply hand the ball off or play in such a manner as to not get us beat, may very well be on the same page as our coach, but imo, that strategy will result in the same type numbers we put up in the first half of  01.  (ea, avg. less than twelve points a game and sucking wind just to make a first down.)

IMO, an overall philosophy must be to force D's to play us straight by utilizing formations that would allow us to dictate how the D lines up, not the other way around.

We have to be of the mindset that we will call at least 20 pass plays per game and it will be vital that an incomplete pass be the worse possible result.  We can't afford to have any of these guys trying to be heroes by forcing throws into coverage and /or taking a lot of sacks.  We have to utilize quick reads and if the receiver isn't open, these guys need to be instructed to throw the ball in the friken stands. It might help HDN to open things up a bit If he absolutely knew in his own mind that the risk of calling a pass is reduced to simply an incompletion and that needs to be explained in no uncertain terms, to whomever the QB will be. 

When we do call a pass play, we need to flood the secondary with receivers, (be it TE's, WR, or RB's) and imo, it wouldn't hurt matters if we did this while lining up in a run formation.  This is an awesome strategy that can result in keeping D's honest, and Nutt often does this, unfortunately, since Stoerner left, we don't want to flood the secondary with receivers anymore, we take a more conservative approach and send one or two receivers in the route in hopes that passing from this formation will catch the D off guard, however, a well coached and disciplined D will have the numerical advantage against 1 or 2 receivers in that situation, even if they put 7 or 8 in the box to stop the run.

The season's getting close and as always, I'm excited about the prospects and opportunities that lie ahead.  Will our approach this season be the same as in '98,or will Nutt be of the same mindset as he had in the early part of the season in '01?  I have a sinking feeling I know the answer!

[bigred7987]

I can really see this season playing out like the 98 season when everyone wasn't ready for the change of style.  With a new defensive coach who looks to have invigorated our defense that should give us an edge when playing teams who have become accustomed to our ole hectic style of D that gives up too many big plays...We are no longer limited in our passing attack because regardless of who the new QB is they wil have a better arm than MJ.  If its Johnson like most of us expect...he has good mobility which will keep defenses on their toes when pinnning their ears back and trying to get back their to put pressure on him early on. 
What happened in '01 exactly need a liil refresher on that?

[HornetHog]

The QB's role depends largely on HDN and our defense.  One things for sure.  You gotta figure opposing D's, at least early on,  will be stacking the line, forcing the QB to beat them with his arm.  I think HDN would be smart in reverting back to shorter drops, much like he did with Stoerner in 98. 

Bottom line, for Arkansas to be successful, one of these QB's has got to step up their game and make D's pay for overloading the line of scrimmage.  People who think the role of the QB this year will be to simply hand the ball off or play in such a manner as to not get us beat, may very well be on the same page as our coach, but imo, that strategy will result in the same type numbers we put up in the first half of  01.  (ea, avg. less than twelve points a game and sucking wind just to make a first down.)

IMO, an overall philosophy must be to force D's to play us straight by utilizing formations that would allow us to dictate how the D lines up, not the other way around.

We have to be of the mindset that we will call at least 20 pass plays per game and it will be vital that an incomplete pass be the worse possible result.  We can't afford to have any of these guys trying to be heroes by forcing throws into coverage and /or taking a lot of sacks.  We have to utilize quick reads and if the receiver isn't open, these guys need to be instructed to throw the ball in the friken stands. It might help HDN to open things up a bit If he absolutely knew in his own mind that the risk of calling a pass is reduced to simply an incompletion and that needs to be explained in no uncertain terms, to whomever the QB will be. 

When we do call a pass play, we need to flood the secondary with receivers, (be it TE's, WR, or RB's) and imo, it wouldn't hurt matters if we did this while lining up in a run formation.  This is an awesome strategy that can result in keeping D's honest, and Nutt often does this, unfortunately, since Stoerner left, we don't want to flood the secondary with receivers anymore, we take a more conservative approach and send one or two receivers in the route in hopes that passing from this formation will catch the D off guard, however, a well coached and disciplined D will have the numerical advantage against 1 or 2 receivers in that situation, even if they put 7 or 8 in the box to stop the run.

The season's getting close and as always, I'm excited about the prospects and opportunities that lie ahead.  Will our approach this season be the same as in '98,or will Nutt be of the same mindset as he had in the early part of the season in '01?  I have a sinking feeling I know the answer!

I agree pretty much to your offensive outlook....however what does our D. have to do with our Offensive strategy?

[Feralhog]

I can really see this season playing out like the 98 season when everyone wasn't ready for the change of style. With a new defensive coach who looks to have invigorated our defense that should give us an edge when playing teams who have become accustomed to our ole hectic style of D that gives up too many big plays...We are no longer limited in our passing attack because regardless of who the new QB is they wil have a better arm than MJ. If its Johnson like most of us expect...he has good mobility which will keep defenses on their toes when pinnning their ears back and trying to get back their to put pressure on him early on.
What happened in '01 exactly need a liil refresher on that?

In 01, we had very good running backs, a  solid OL, what was believed at the time to be a solid receiving corp. and huge question marks at QB.    Nutt's approach was to go ultra convservative, utilizing max protection on just about every passing down.  The result, remember UNLV in Little Rock?  Our average scoring was a little more than a touchdown per game the first half of the season.     

[Feralhog]

I agree pretty much to your offensive outlook....however what does our D. have to do with our Offensive strategy?

If our D steps up and keeps opposing teams from lighting up the scoreboard, we could afford to go with a ball control / field position approach on offense. 

[hogsanity]

You must remeber that alot of the pass plays, especially the big ones in 1998 were checkoffs by Clint.  He was a Jr with TONS of experience.  THis years QB, whoever it is, has no experience so dont look for an O like 1998. 

[Feralhog]

You must remeber that alot of the pass plays, especially the big ones in 1998 were checkoffs by Clint. He was a Jr with TONS of experience. THis years QB, whoever it is, has no experience so dont look for an O like 1998.

if you remember, Clint spent most of his sophmore season looking at the sky so labeling him a veteran QB in '98 wouldn't be my first description.  Regardless, I doubt his confidence level was sky high.  People often claim that Stoerner's check offs were the reason for our offensive success, however, there were several games his Senior year where his checking off hurt us.  The Ole Miss and Kentucky games are two that come to mind. 

[bigred7987]

for all we know one of these guys could be the next great star and all of this talk about worrying about QB will look stupid....I just wish it would hurry up and get here so we can get some answers

[Feralhog]

for all we know one of these guys could be the next great star and all of this talk about worrying about QB will look stupid....I just wish it would hurry up and get here so we can get some answers

Explain where my post in anyway is WORRYING about the QB!  I think the role the QB plays or is allowed to play will be paramount to the success or failure of this season.  I think any one of these three kids have the talent to step up and do a great job, the question posed in this thread was, what approach would HDN USE!!! 

[bigred7987]

whoa wasn't trying to attack ya or anything... that didnt correlate to ur post at all...I was talkn about in general about how everyone is worried about who the new QB will be

[Feralhog]

No problem.  However, I think it's pretty obvious the success or failure of this years team is centered aroun the QB's role. 

[Thehammer]

The QB's role depends largely on HDN and our defense.  One things for sure.  You gotta figure opposing D's, at least early on,  will be stacking the line, forcing the QB to beat them with his arm.  I think HDN would be smart in reverting back to shorter drops, much like he did with Stoerner in 98. 

Bottom line, for Arkansas to be successful, one of these QB's has got to step up their game and make D's pay for overloading the line of scrimmage.  People who think the role of the QB this year will be to simply hand the ball off or play in such a manner as to not get us beat, may very well be on the same page as our coach, but imo, that strategy will result in the same type numbers we put up in the first half of  01.  (ea, avg. less than twelve points a game and sucking wind just to make a first down.)

IMO, an overall philosophy must be to force D's to play us straight by utilizing formations that would allow us to dictate how the D lines up, not the other way around.

We have to be of the mindset that we will call at least 20 pass plays per game and it will be vital that an incomplete pass be the worse possible result.  We can't afford to have any of these guys trying to be heroes by forcing throws into coverage and /or taking a lot of sacks.  We have to utilize quick reads and if the receiver isn't open, these guys need to be instructed to throw the ball in the friken stands. It might help HDN to open things up a bit If he absolutely knew in his own mind that the risk of calling a pass is reduced to simply an incompletion and that needs to be explained in no uncertain terms, to whomever the QB will be. 

When we do call a pass play, we need to flood the secondary with receivers, (be it TE's, WR, or RB's) and imo, it wouldn't hurt matters if we did this while lining up in a run formation.  This is an awesome strategy that can result in keeping D's honest, and Nutt often does this, unfortunately, since Stoerner left, we don't want to flood the secondary with receivers anymore, we take a more conservative approach and send one or two receivers in the route in hopes that passing from this formation will catch the D off guard, however, a well coached and disciplined D will have the numerical advantage against 1 or 2 receivers in that situation, even if they put 7 or 8 in the box to stop the run.

The season's getting close and as always, I'm excited about the prospects and opportunities that lie ahead.  Will our approach this season be the same as in '98,or will Nutt be of the same mindset as he had in the early part of the season in '01?  I have a sinking feeling I know the answer!

No.  In 1998 we had a salty returning qb in Clint Stoerner and a Danny Ford and Mike Bender toughened O-line led by Brandon Burlsworth.  No correlation at all.  In 2001,  Nutt tried every qb but Matt in the most anemic offensive display I've witnessed since The Citadel back in 1992.    Let's pray to the Man Upstairs that we don't have a 2001 season. 

[Biggus Piggus]

1. You gotta figure opposing D's, at least early on, will be stacking the line, forcing the QB to beat them with his arm.

I think they will do more than stack the line.  They will try to overwhelm the protection in a kind of run-pass blitz.  Force the QB to make snap decisions.  Try to catch our big, rumbling runners in the backfield.  Dictate play calls and substitutions.  If Nutt responds by reducing risk, we'll see a lot of punts.

2. I think HDN would be smart in reverting back to shorter drops, much like he did with Stoerner in 98. 

Stoerner's success hinged on his ability to take a basic setup and change the play into something advantageous.  We may be a year away from being able to do that.

3. Bottom line, for Arkansas to be successful, one of these QB's has got to step up their game and make D's pay for overloading the line of scrimmage.

Quick and correct decisions.  And our receivers have to beat press coverage.

4. People who think the role of the QB this year will be to simply hand the ball off or play in such a manner as to not get us beat, may very well be on the same page as our coach, but imo, that strategy will result in the same type numbers we put up in the first half of  01.  (ea, avg. less than twelve points a game and sucking wind just to make a first down.)

If we lack home run hitters, we cannot afford to play for the three-run homer.

5. IMO, an overall philosophy must be to force D's to play us straight by utilizing formations that would allow us to dictate how the D lines up, not the other way around.

Yup, same as it ever was.  MJ was best out of the shotgun.  After a while, the shotgun was a running formation for us.

6. We have to be of the mindset that we will call at least 20 pass plays per game and it will be vital that an incomplete pass be the worse possible result.

We better call more than 20.

7. When we do call a pass play, we need to flood the secondary with receivers, (be it TE's, WR, or RB's) and imo, it wouldn't hurt matters if we did this while lining up in a run formation.

Don't have to flood the secondary, but do have to get several receivers into well-targeted patterns.  We have been too easy to cover.  And yes, I am all with using the tailback as a receiver.

8. we take a more conservative approach and send one or two receivers in the route in hopes that passing from this formation will catch the D off guard, however, a well coached and disciplined D will have the numerical advantage against 1 or 2 receivers in that situation, even if they put 7 or 8 in the box to stop the run.

It is not a hope of catching the D off guard.  It was an attempt to minimize risk.  Max protect reduced the odds of tackles in the backfield.  The plays asked the D to cover run threats inside and out.  Jones rarely hoped to catch the receiver on his first break.  He'd keep the play alive and hope for a receiver to come back to the ball.  You'd see the occasional post, but often it was sandlot.  Relied on Jones to make something happen.  Go back over last season's stats and see how often something good happened.  Was not a great plan.

[bigred7987]

We def have the receiving corps

[Feralhog]

1. You gotta figure opposing D's, at least early on, will be stacking the line, forcing the QB to beat them with his arm.

I think they will do more than stack the line. They will try to overwhelm the protection in a kind of run-pass blitz. Force the QB to make snap decisions. Try to catch our big, rumbling runners in the backfield. Dictate play calls and substitutions. If Nutt responds by reducing risk, we'll see a lot of punts.

2. I think HDN would be smart in reverting back to shorter drops, much like he did with Stoerner in 98.

Stoerner's success hinged on his ability to take a basic setup and change the play into something advantageous. We may be a year away from being able to do that.

3. Bottom line, for Arkansas to be successful, one of these QB's has got to step up their game and make D's pay for overloading the line of scrimmage.

Quick and correct decisions. And our receivers have to beat press coverage.

4. People who think the role of the QB this year will be to simply hand the ball off or play in such a manner as to not get us beat, may very well be on the same page as our coach, but imo, that strategy will result in the same type numbers we put up in the first half of 01. (ea, avg. less than twelve points a game and sucking wind just to make a first down.)

If we lack home run hitters, we cannot afford to play for the three-run homer.

5. IMO, an overall philosophy must be to force D's to play us straight by utilizing formations that would allow us to dictate how the D lines up, not the other way around.

Yup, same as it ever was. MJ was best out of the shotgun. After a while, the shotgun was a running formation for us.

6. We have to be of the mindset that we will call at least 20 pass plays per game and it will be vital that an incomplete pass be the worse possible result.

We better call more than 20.

7. When we do call a pass play, we need to flood the secondary with receivers, (be it TE's, WR, or RB's) and imo, it wouldn't hurt matters if we did this while lining up in a run formation.

Don't have to flood the secondary, but do have to get several receivers into well-targeted patterns. We have been too easy to cover. And yes, I am all with using the tailback as a receiver.

8. we take a more conservative approach and send one or two receivers in the route in hopes that passing from this formation will catch the D off guard, however, a well coached and disciplined D will have the numerical advantage against 1 or 2 receivers in that situation, even if they put 7 or 8 in the box to stop the run.

It is not a hope of catching the D off guard. It was an attempt to minimize risk. Max protect reduced the odds of tackles in the backfield. The plays asked the D to cover run threats inside and out. Jones rarely hoped to catch the receiver on his first break. He'd keep the play alive and hope for a receiver to come back to the ball. You'd see the occasional post, but often it was sandlot. Relied on Jones to make something happen. Go back over last season's stats and see how often something good happened. Was not a great plan.

Can't argue with your reply to line 1

Line 2, Stoerner didn't do much audibilizing in 98.  HDN did utilize a three step drop, in '97 we had Stoerner taking a 5 step drop and we gave up a ton of sacks. 

We seem to agree about line 3.

Line 4, I'm not calling for the home run ball.

Line 5, again I agree.

Line 6, I said at least 20 times.  IMO, the closer we get to thirty passes a game the better I like our chances offensively, unless of course, we our chucking the ball because we are down by a big margin. 

Line 7,  I guess technically, saying flood the secondary was incorrect, what I was trying to say was have more than 1 and 2 receivers in our pass routes, so I agree with you here. 

Line 8,  The overall premise behind showing run and then pass is to catch the D off guard.  By the same token, it's obvious why HDN would show run and then utilize 1 and 2 receivers.  He wants to have his cake and eat it.  Unfortunately, a good SEC defense can play the run as our formation would suggest and still protect their backside and blanket our small number of receivers with numbers.  And Nutt started doing this crap long before Jones started taking snaps. 

[Feralhog]

No. In 1998 we had a salty returning qb in Clint Stoerner and a Danny Ford and Mike Bender toughened O-line led by Brandon Burlsworth. No correlation at all. In 2001, Nutt tried every qb but Matt in the most anemic offensive display I've witnessed since The Citadel back in 1992. Let's pray to the Man Upstairs that we don't have a 2001 season.

Maybe I lived on a different planet than the rest of you guys, but an offense that ranked near the bottom nationally in '97 certainly had me questioning our ability to move the ball before the '98 season.  It's easy to look back and see why the '98 campaign was so strong, but I doubt too many here was very optomistic  in July of '98.  I sure as hell wasn't. 

[bigred7987]

I hate those damn 1 receiver routes that Nutt had Jones on last year....rarely did anyone get open on their intended route

[Turnberry]

I hate those damn 1 receiver routes that Nutt had Jones on last year....rarely did anyone get open on their intended route

Nutt is the king of mass protect.  As far as us running 3 WR sets or even 3 receiver patterns (2WR's & TE), I'll believe it when I see it.

[Dances With Hogs]

I can really see this season playing out like the 98 season when everyone wasn't ready for the change of style. With a new defensive coach who looks to have invigorated our defense that should give us an edge when playing teams who have become accustomed to our ole hectic style of D that gives up too many big plays...We are no longer limited in our passing attack because regardless of who the new QB is they wil have a better arm than MJ. If its Johnson like most of us expect...he has good mobility which will keep defenses on their toes when pinnning their ears back and trying to get back their to put pressure on him early on.
What happened in '01 exactly need a liil refresher on that?

[Dances With Hogs]

Big Red, Not all think it will be Johnson, I think it will be the BB player.

[bigred7987]

BB PLayer??

[VoR]

BB in this case I believe means base ball as in Cole Barthel, that's who my hopes are on as well, there's alot of maturity (as well as soul searching) that is gained on those long bus rides. My hope for the coming year for the QB and receivers is that we learn the little 5-7 yr passes and throw in an occasional screen pass or 3 a game because if the defense plays tight on the line then if you get past your man then you stand a great chance breaking 1 for a nice gain, also they are nice high percentage passes, yeah it's nickle and dimeing them to death but with the speed we have with our receivers eventually we'll break 1, also gives tremendous confidence to whoever the QB is. I never thought of Joe Montana as 1 of the greatest passers in the game, but I always said and felt he was the smartest and best quarterback in the game, he always put the ball in his receivers hands and forced the defense to tackle.

[razorback44]

I can really see this season playing out like the 98 season when everyone wasn't ready for the change of style. With a new defensive coach who looks to have invigorated our defense that should give us an edge when playing teams who have become accustomed to our ole hectic style of D that gives up too many big plays...We are no longer limited in our passing attack because regardless of who the new QB is they wil have a better arm than MJ. If its Johnson like most of us expect...he has good mobility which will keep defenses on their toes when pinnning their ears back and trying to get back their to put pressure on him early on.
What happened in '01 exactly need a liil refresher on that?

We were essentially horrible until they finally realized MJ could play some ball.  We barely beat UNLV in LR in perhaps was one of the ugliest sporting events that I have ever witnessed.

[Biggus Piggus]

Feral, Stoerner did not audible as much as he did checkoffs.  There's a difference.  Basically HDN gives him choices, and the check allows a response to defensive alignment.  Several of the great TDs and big plays that year came off checks.

[bigred7987]

I think the 85+ yd TD vs. Tennessee that year was a checkoff....I remember that game on ESPN and thinking how ugly it was until MJ came in and saved our asses

[Feralhog]

Feral, Stoerner did not audible as much as he did checkoffs. There's a difference. Basically HDN gives him choices, and the check allows a response to defensive alignment. Several of the great TDs and big plays that year came off checks.

Your absolutely right, and after reading the first reply regarding checking off, and some of my responses, it appears that I tried to jumble the two together.  That was not my intent.  Clint did a very good job of checking off, but in '98 he seldom checked off into a bad play and he didn't do it all that much.  Llet's also not forget he was going to the options that Nutt wanted.  The point I was trying to make was, people seem to think Stoerner audibilizing was the reason for our success.  Fact is, he did very little of that in '98.  In '99, Stoerner did a lot more than just check off.   Nutt loosened the reins and, it appeared to me In the Kenutcky game, he was audibilizing and checking off damn near every play.  Hampton came in and basically ran the offense and for a few moments, we came to life.  After the Kentucky game, it appeared that Clint either toned it down or Nutt reeled him in, regardless, people have it in their head that Stoerner was all but calling the plays, thus the reason for our success in '98.  Bottom line is those people are simply wrong.  

[CorningHog]

I for one am excited that our QB's this year are better fitted for hitting the quick routes and multiple receiver sets.

If Nutt runs the power formations in the running game and has 1 or 2 receivers split wide to catch the flat passes, I will be disappointed.   I still thought that Baker and Washington were are only real threats at stretching the field against Auburn in Fayetteville in '03 and I even told my friends prior to the game that we had better do that given Auburn's great defense.

Well, the passing game with Matt was helter skelter at times and some acrobatic catches by his WR's mostly were the result of the sandlot plays you guys mentioned.  Rarely did he just take the snap, either from shotgun or under center and see the field and the defense and pick it apart.  He did improve over the years and had games where he was effective, but overall the arm strength and velocity on his ball were suspect.  I anticipate with high hopes that RJ and CB as well as AM should deliver the ball more on time and with greater velocity so as to not have the defense correct and catch our WR's because of a poorly thrown pass.

The offense will be helped I hope, by the addition of some speed in the backfield with the frosh rb's.  PLUS, Monk, Hillis, Baker, Washington and Company give us a lot more weapons than I can ever remember on a Razorback team at the skill positions.

IT could still be a bust if the defense is not much better at keeping the homerun ball down.  Too many times we got stuck in the whole with long TD passes that put us down 14-0.  Also, we need the LB's and whole defense to wrap up better, which should happen under General Patton (I mean Herring).

I predict we move the ball better than even '98!

GO HOGS!

Wincing in Mediocrity!

[Feralhog]

The offense will be helped I hope, by the addition of some speed in the backfield with the frosh rb's. PLUS, Monk, Hillis, Baker, Washington and Company give us a lot more weapons than I can ever remember on a Razorback team at the skill positions.

I predict we move the ball better than even '98!

GO HOGS!

Wincing in Mediocrity!

I share your enthusiasm, but let's not forget, with the exception of Monk, all we can really say about our wideouts right now is they have potential.   

[Biggus Piggus]

HDN plans to anoint a starter fairly early in August.  I hope that means the starter gets real starter reps in practice.  If they do it well in practice, and do it enough in practice, then HDN will call it in the game.

Gosh, I want to see some deception in our offense.  I don't care if the plays are simple or complex.  I want to see defenses getting fooled, having to guess at what we're doing and guessing wrong.

Don't get your hopes too high on Baker.  I'm afraid he will never be the savior people expected.  He may never start.

The running game does not have to be fantastic, does it.  Madre and Chukwuma were good but not great backs.  Our running stats were basically competent in 1998.  It was the balance that was so deadly.  We do not have as many receivers as we had that year.  Nutt's first team had four solid wideouts plus a very good tight end and a good backup tight end and a couple of fullbacks who were versatile and could catch.  We're several short of that total.  Not enough receivers, not enough fullbacks, probably plenty in the backfield.  And maybe a year early at QB.  This team will have to run the ball more than the '98 team did.  I hope we can do that and not use up our Oline.

I say not enough receivers, not enough to throw the ball 30 times a game.  Enough for 20.

Some people want to compare this team with 2000 or 2001 or whatever.  We haven't had a team like this one.  The Oline depth chart is thin (like 2000) but more talented.  The receiver corps is thin (like 2000) but more talented.  The QBs are unproven (like 2000-01) but not unheralded, and unlike 2000 we have options.

The defense is thinner at LB than I've seen in a long time.  Who knows what we have at DE, but it's no worse than 2002-04.  Longstanding problem.  If our 17-man pileup in the secondary doesn't work out, somebody oughta get fired--wait, he already did.  If the Dline doesn't come through, I'll be wondering what Rocker does for a living.

The formula here is to keep opponents on a long field.  Force early punts, control the football on offense, get early points, kickoff, force punt.  Force a turnover or two and add to the lead.  Gain the emotional upper hand and pound those (I am going to be banned, because I use profanity) with our big darned backs and toughass blockers like Roper, Felton, Garner, Parker and Tubbs.  Extend the lead and make 'em predictable.  Then tee off.  Most of the offenses we play are going to be vulnerable to this approach.  As for serious run killers, not too many of those on our sked either.