Bret Bielema’s misuse of T.J. Hammonds shows why Arkansas is in crisis

[jm]

The offense and special teams stink too.


No one unit operates in a vacume from the others

Defense has to operate in a vacuum. The defense has to want to be put in bad situations. They have to have delusions of grandeur as a unit.  If they don't truly desire that challenge, you end up with a D that can't stop anyone.

[Sed76]

So the guy who was "injured" managed to get in a play or two every game. Yet after every game the coaches would say stuff like "we have to find a way to get him into the game". Something seems off there but that's just my opinion.

[Ex-Trumpet]

So the guy who was "injured" managed to get in a play or two every game. Yet after every game the coaches would say stuff like "we have to find a way to get him into the game". Something seems off there but that's just my opinion.

This

[razorbackfaninar]

Because it's nonsense. There are a bunch of problems with the coaching job this staff has done. This ain't one of them. Hammonds was a running back his freshman year. He looked okay in a limited role but he wasn't off the charts good.

They needed receivers last spring so they decided to have him split time at receiver. He was never moved there full time. In fact he had carries before the Ole Miss game this season but no pass receptions. Hammonds himself confirmed after the Coastal Carolina game that he had been hobbled by various nagging (but not serious) injuries until the week before the Ole Miss game. He said he had not been full speed.

This is a case of retro second guessing. It's easy to see the kid should get more touches now. Where were the complaints earlier in the season?

Mike I am going to respectfully disagree with you on this point. Hammonds in limited touches averaged 5.9 yards a carry as a freshman which would put him ahead of both of our starters ( i know that was a very limited sample size).  We had 16 receivers on the roster at that time. It was my opinion at the time that moving Hammonds to receiver was not a great move.  Not that he couldn't potentially flourish there, he may have.  I mostly based that on the fact that the history of this staff moving skill position players to new positions seems to rarely work out. 

Perhaps I am second guessing, but I can't see why a kid that showed real promise in very limited use as a freshman was not given a shot at running back, particularly since Williams was injured and retired.  It is not clear, to me any way, why when Chase Hayden, a very talented back in his own right had a great game against Florida A&M it was thought that he was a breakout star worthy of a more featured role, and Hammonds did similar things but did not warrant additional touches.  In my opinion there has been a lack of clarity and forthright discussion when it comes to Hammonds.  He's hurt, but then he plays, they want to work him, but then they don't.  There is a lot of information we aren't privy to and that could be what causes the confusion, but it was my opinion last year that Hammonds was deserving of more touches based on what he had done on the field.  The argument at the time was that he lacked ball security, that might be true although I can't recall any fumbles that he had in any of the 7 games he played as a freshman.

[razorbackfaninar]

So the guy who was "injured" managed to get in a play or two every game. Yet after every game the coaches would say stuff like "we have to find a way to get him into the game". Something seems off there but that's just my opinion.

This has been puzzling to me as well.  If he is injured why play him at all?  If he is injured, but still able to go in a limited capacity then why not say that instead of "we are trying to work him in and need to do a better job of working him in" If an injured TJ Hammonds is thought to be our best option then that is not a ringing endorsement of the coaches opinion of our players, if he isn't then he is taking away touches form someone who is 100% healthy who can go, even if for only one or two plays.

[Ex-Trumpet]

Because it's nonsense. There are a bunch of problems with the coaching job this staff has done. This ain't one of them. Hammonds was a running back his freshman year. He looked okay in a limited role but he wasn't off the charts good.

They needed receivers last spring so they decided to have him split time at receiver. He was never moved there full time. In fact he had carries before the Ole Miss game this season but no pass receptions. Hammonds himself confirmed after the Coastal Carolina game that he had been hobbled by various nagging (but not serious) injuries until the week before the Ole Miss game. He said he had not been full speed.

This is a case of retro second guessing. It's easy to see the kid should get more touches now. Where were the complaints earlier in the season?

Some have said he had meniscus surgery...is this true?  If so, is that one of the nagging but not serious injuries? 

Seems that if that were the case CBB should have just said so from the get go.