The Impact Of Losing Alex Collins and Hunter Henry (Roundtable Discussion)

[Aaron Peters]

The Razorback football team is losing some key pieces to the offense including running back Alex Collins. That and Arkansas basketball is the focus of the Razorback discussion. Mike Irwin and Bo Mattingly join our Aaron Peters for this segment.

http://www.nwahomepage.com/razorback-nation/the-impact-of-losing-alex-collins-and-hunter-henry-roundtable-discussion

[DeltaBoy]

Another 7 win season.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

The Razorback football team is losing some key pieces to the offense including running back Alex Collins. That and Arkansas basketball is the focus of the Razorback discussion. Mike Irwin and Bo Mattingly join our Aaron Peters for this segment.

http://www.nwahomepage.com/razorback-nation/the-impact-of-losing-alex-collins-and-hunter-henry-roundtable-discussion

One cannot dismiss the contributions of Hunter Henry. Great player, great play maker, all Hog! But as good as he has been, Sprinkle stands just behind him and will pick up the slack going into 2016 with the addition of a combination of Gragg, O'Grady, Cantrell and Kraus, not to mention some contribution by Antwine.

[HiggiePiggy]

Another 7 win season.

Pretty much what I was expecting for this up coming season.   This season was more of a disappointment because I was expecting 9 regular season wins. 

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Another 7 win season.

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

Pretty much what I was expecting for this up coming season.   This season was more of a disappointment because I was expecting 9 regular season wins. 

Identical to me.
Bought into defense won't drop off too much and figured 9 wins this year.
With all these losses, probably a 7 win season next year.

[Murr]

You lose talent, you replace it with talent.  We'll be fine.  Only big question is QB play, but there's like five guys competing for that spot.

[rtr]

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

And with a break or two maybe one or two better.  After all the injuries we are due some luck.

[majp51]

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

Muskogee I love you optimism, but from whence does it come?

Starting Fullback, Gone.
Starting QB, Gone.
Top WR, Gone
3out of 5 Starting OL, Gone.
Top TE, Gone.

OF the above, the only player you should have any confidence won't be missed too much is the TE, because Sprinkle has proven consistently that he is an outstanding TE in his own right.

I'm not saying Arkansas couldn't win 9, but with those challenges plus the challenge of improving the abysmal defense, it just seems like expecting 9 wins is a setup for disappointment.

[Bowfishinghogfan]

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

Not a snowballs chance in heck.
The qb spot is more than just next. We may be lucky to win 6 next year. How many teams lose what we do and win 9 games. It amazes me that people think with a sr qb, stud TD, fantastic O lineman, record setting RB we barely won 7 regular season games but we will beat that record breaking in a lot of new and very critical pieces to the puzzle.

[Potosihog]

We do have a lot of good tightends on campus but to think we won't notice the difference is probably naive.  HH didn't drop a single pass this year.  Tell me the last time that happened.  His blocking was also much improved this year. 

Hopefully our defense improves enough to balance the offensive loses.

[hogcard1964]

Has to progress. Anything less than 9 wins would be a failure.

[HiggiePiggy]

Considering just about every team we are facing has some turnover also could be a good reason for some to think 8 or 9 wins.

Mississippi State, Texas A&M, TCU, maybe Ole Miss, I believe Alabama also are all breaking in new qbs.  Florida, LSU, and Missouri have pretty bad qbs.

It's really not that hard to see 8 or 9 wins next year.  I am going with 7 just because I am unsure of how our defense will be and I believe it might be a little let down on offense because of the overall lack of experience on the offense as a whole.   If qb and rbs pick up everything real quick I can see another slow start out and another strong finish with expectations being at 9+ games again in 2017 season.   

[hawgbawb]

Defense will be better, offense not as good.  If we can stay healthy, 8 wins.

[Augustus]

Muskogee I love you optimism, but from whence does it come?

Starting Fullback, Gone.
Starting QB, Gone.
Top WR, Gone
3out of 5 Starting OL, Gone.
Top TE, Gone.

OF the above, the only player you should have any confidence won't be missed too much is the TE, because Sprinkle has proven consistently that he is an outstanding TE in his own right.

I'm not saying Arkansas couldn't win 9, but with those challenges plus the challenge of improving the abysmal defense, it just seems like expecting 9 wins is a setup for disappointment.

Top WR, gone? ? ?

Who? Our top WR of 2015 in terms of yardage & TDs was Drew Morgan, who I believe is returning?

Also, we're returning Keon Hatcher, Dominique Reed, and Jared Cornelius?

We may very well have the best WR Corps in the SEC next year... which is good, because there are many questions at QB & RB.

[moses_007]

Another 7 win season.

With a green quarterback and green freshmen running backs, we may be lucky to win 5 games. 

[Southpointhog]

Muskogee I love you optimism, but from whence does it come?

Starting Fullback, Gone.
Starting QB, Gone.

Top WR, Gone
3out of 5 Starting OL, Gone.
Top TE, Gone.

OF the above, the only player you should have any confidence won't be missed too much is the TE, because Sprinkle has proven consistently that he is an outstanding TE in his own right.

I'm not saying Arkansas couldn't win 9, but with those challenges plus the challenge of improving the abysmal defense, it just seems like expecting 9 wins is a setup for disappointment.

Do you have any idea what your talking about....top receiver?

[hogblitz]

The thing that bothers me most is the lowered expectations of much of the fan base. If Petrino were still here the expectations would still be high.  Everyone EXPECTED to win with Petrino.  We hope for 7 wins now?  Everyone loses players every year! We are in year 4 of Bielema's system!     We should expect great things this year!  No excuses! Particularly if we believe he is a top notch coach. Finally, all his players and player development.  We should have a great season, I hope. 

[PorkRinds]

Top WR, gone? ? ?

Who? Our top WR of 2015 in terms of yardage & TDs was Drew Morgan, who I believe is returning?

Also, we're returning Keon Hatcher, Dominique Reed, and Jared Cornelius?

We may very well have the best WR Corps in the SEC next year... which is good, because there are many questions at QB & RB.

I'm not sure who the FB he's talking about is either.  Kendrick Jackson played FB last year and he's a freshman.

[3kgthog]

8+ wins? Y'all are out of your minds. No truly proven returning RBs, new QB, only one instant impact defensive recruit, big losses on the o-line.

We'll be fine at TE and WR, but we're in trouble in several other places.

[Torqued pork]

8+ wins? Y'all are out of your minds. No truly proven returning RBs, new QB, only one instant impact defensive recruit, big losses on the o-line.

We'll be fine at TE and WR, but we're in trouble in several other places.

Don't worry. Most of those predicting 8+ wins next year will be echoing your post if anyone dares to question the progress of the program next season.

[bennyl08]

I think RB is a bigger question mark than QB... that and the OL. 

The schedule is favorable next year... we're loaded at TE and WR, and defense should be experienced.

Find an effective run game and a pass rush.  Biggest question marks to me.  Too many quality QBs competing for the gig not to find one leader among them.

RB's can excel with no experience though. QB is much harder to accomplish that with.

[KennyForAD]

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

Finally, someone who sees the light.  We'll be fine at RB.  Sprinkle is no drop off from Henry.  Losing 2 O linemen... just how it is.  Our line will be great.  On D, we lose what, one player?   The only question is QB, and that doesn't worry me much.  Hogs will be great next year. 

[hawgmasta]

QB is the most important position by far and it's hard to imagine they're going to have one better than BA was this year right away. If they can keep defenses honest I'm not terribly worried about the blocking or run game. The defense and special teams HAVE to step up next year if were going to go bowling.

I think most are comfortable saying 6 wins if we don't gel quickly offensively, defense/ST stay as bad as '15 and we get the injury bug.

I'm thinking around 8 wins if we stay healthy and improve in facets of the game that we DO have guys coming back.

[sickboy]

Muskogee I love you optimism, but from whence does it come?

Starting Fullback, Gone.
Starting QB, Gone.
Top WR, Gone
3out of 5 Starting OL, Gone.
Top TE, Gone.

OF the above, the only player you should have any confidence won't be missed too much is the TE, because Sprinkle has proven consistently that he is an outstanding TE in his own right.

I'm not saying Arkansas couldn't win 9, but with those challenges plus the challenge of improving the abysmal defense, it just seems like expecting 9 wins is a setup for disappointment.

Our starting FB and top WR are both back. We're losing our top RB, TE, QB and three offensive lineman.

The good news is that we're deep at TE and QB. I have faith that one of our QBs will step into BA's shoes. Plus our WR corps is extremely deep next season. And between RWIII, Kody Walker and Devwah Whaley -- and hopefully Juan Day... we'll be fine at RB.

Now, the offensive line stuff is worrisome. Tough to lose three guys who started, essentially, for the last few seasons. Thats going to be tough. The new offensive line coach has his work cut out.

[FANONTHEHILL]

As far as the OLine is concerned, next fall we will likely have:
LT - RS Soph Brian Wallace ESPN ****
LG - RS Fr Jalen Merrick ESPN ****
C - Soph Zach Rogers ESPN ****

I'm not as worried as some. 

[Pork Twain]

I believe we will be as good or better in every area of the game next year

[jkstock04]

I expect the offense to struggle this season, especially early on. Not surprising that our fan base will expect us to pick up where we left off without missing a beat despite the player losses. People had themselves convinced the loss of Johnathon Williams wasn't even a bump in the road and look how that turned out.

There are gonna be question marks all over the offense with new guys stepping in. Austin Allen is so far ahead of the other qbs there is zero question the job is his minus injury....But, his experience is extremely limited and I'm sure there are going to be growing pains.

This isn't even mentioning the losses at tight end and the O-line. I've not seen evidence that we recruit to the level we can just plug another guy in and not miss a beat/get better. I think we will see a year somewhat similar to what we have seen the past couple of years...start off slow and improve as the season progresses. Realistic goal should be to become bowl eligible.

[TNhawgfan]

You guys arguing over how many wins we'll have next season crack me up. There's no way to determine that. We don't know who the QB will be. We're not sure who starts on the line and in what position. And for RB, good grief, we're not sure if one of the guys we need will be healthy, one may not even come back, and another is still in high school. Wait until after spring ball to make a prediction cause it's impossible to know in January.

[Kevin]

I hope we get 6 wins, and a bowl game

[SuperSid4Ever]

Another 7 win season.

I think 7 wins is overly optimistic.

Nothing about the UA defense excites me at all.  The TTU and MSU losses exposed that.

On offense, far more questions than answers in what amounts to a rebuilding year by anyone's standards, and playing in a league like the SEC.  The two just don't add up to even 7 wins worth of success, at least in my mind.

[urkillnmesmalls]

You guys arguing over how many wins we'll have next season crack me up. There's no way to determine that. We don't know who the QB will be. We're not sure who starts on the line and in what position. And for RB, good grief, we're not sure if one of the guys we need will be healthy, one may not even come back, and another is still in high school. Wait until after spring ball to make a prediction cause it's impossible to know in January.

True, but that's what the board is about in the off season.  Analyzing.  Without that, there is no MMQB is there? 

Thing is, QB is huge, and while there are other concerns on offense, to have the balance that we had the last half of last season, that position has to perform.  To me, it's still the biggest wildcard. 

We could get a Jeremy Johnson type of performance.  Or, we could get a Chad Kelly type performance.  There's just no way to know, but for those thinking an average QB will get it done in the SECW with the talent we have, they better be hoping for drastic improvement on defense.  It took one of the best QB performances ever over the last half season for us to even be in a position to win some of those games. 

I am befuddled by those who say they aren't worried about the QB position, just because we have 5 highly rated ones on campus.  One of them still has to be a difference maker, and we have no sample to gauge by.  The combination of poise, decision making from experience, and accuracy that BA showed will not be easy to duplicate, but it is absolutely what we need to over achieve next season.  That's WITH the assumption that the defense will improve, or all bets are off.   

[code red]

Think again. 8 to 9 win regular season despite our losses.

I don't see how.  Really I think we need to pump the breaks on next season.  We are upgrading our out of conference schedule and adding UF.  It's going to be tough to win 8...I am think more along the lines as 8 wins is the ceiling.

[OS2 (SW) Razor Back]

We just gonna reload baby!!!!
:razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:
:razorback:

[hogcard1964]

We just gonna reload baby!!!!
:razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:
:razorback:

Kind of hard when we're finishing in the bottom quarter of the SEC in recruiting. 

Btw, Carmouche just de committed.

[urkillnmesmalls]

I don't see how.  Really I think we need to pump the breaks on next season.  We are upgrading our out of conference schedule and adding UF.  It's going to be tough to win 8...I am think more along the lines as 8 wins is the ceiling.

I'm sure there were similar concerns when Manning left and Tee Martin was the starting QB at Tenn too, and we just saw Chad Kelly step in at Ole Miss and light it up.  There's definitely room to hope.  It could be much worse...we could be starting over across the board, and at least we're not doing that.  I still remember how every other year was billed as a "rebuilding year" under HDN, and we appear to at least be past that major concern. 

I still think pumping the brakes is prudent because of unknowns at QB, RB, and fill-ins on the O-line.  I still don't think we need to pump the breaks though...seems a little desperate.     

[DeltaBoy]

I am sticking with 7 wins until we see what comes out of the Spring Game.

[hogcard1964]

I am sticking with 7 wins until we see what comes out of the Spring Game.

You have to remember, every season he's going to lose 2 or 3 games he shouldn't and win a few he's not expected to win.

[Arthur pigby sellers.]

The problem at Arkansas has and always will be that we can get  talent to compete with the top flight schools, but we can't get enough of it to have depth. When this many kids leave is early, it is devastating. We just lost 90 percent of our offense and our defense sucks donkey balls. 6 or 7 wins IS being optimistic.

100% correct
If DK, HH and AC decided to stay and we brought in that big time juco from Utah, this would have been a possible 10 win team. With those losses I predict about 6-7 wins.  Our O line depth is super thin right now and an injury or two in that area would shut down our offense completely.  People predict Wallace to step right in and pick up where DK left off, but outside of a few snaps against Tenn we really have no frame of reference on how good he is.  Nor do we know how good Merrick of Allen are.  We still have people on this board asking when Reeve Koehler is going to start beacuse he was a 4 star, not realizing he was a bust and is in training to be a state trooper. 
I got burned last year thinking our defense would eventually be as good as the year before and we could just plug in replacements for our big three. 
    What everyone needs to remember is that 8 wins in today's sec west makes you a top 25 team.  My goal for the Razorbacks is to stay in or around the top 25 most years.  I just think the sec west is to hard these days and any team deficiencies are exposed.  Someone remarked about Petrino teams  being so much better. Obviously he is a  great coach, but we need to remember this is not Petrinos SEC west.  Bama and LSU are similar, but Ole Miss is on a whole different level then when Hootie was there.  Mullen has finally built his team the right way.  A and M received a huge momentum boost from joining the sec and having Manziel. 
Anyway I hope I'm wrong about next year.  I hope Enos is the coordinator we thought Smith was at  the end of last year.  I hope we can plug in 3 OL a QB , FB, TE, several RB with no experience and not miss a beat.  But it's kind of unrealistic and sets you up for disappointment. 

[ChitownHawg]

One cannot dismiss the contributions of Hunter Henry. Great player, great play maker, all Hog! But as good as he has been, Sprinkle stands just behind him and will pick up the slack going into 2016 with the addition of a combination of Gragg, O'Grady, Cantrell and Kraus, not to mention some contribution by Antwine.

The one thing I worry about with any of the TEs are their hands. HH had soft hands and if he got his hands on the ball it was caught. The stat during the bowl was that 97% of his 3rd down catches were first down or touchdown.

That is hard to replace.

[DeltaBoy]

You have to remember, every season he's going to lose 2 or 3 games he shouldn't and win a few he's not expected to win.

I really hoping Coach gets that fixed !

[longpig]

I believe we will be as good or better in every area of the game next year

Same here, because
HC - staying
DC - staying
OC - staying

[Pig in the Pokey]

RB's can excel with no experience though. QB is much harder to accomplish that with.

it's ok, we have a 5* ready to step in there.

[longpig]

100% correct
If DK, HH and AC decided to stay and we brought in that big time juco from Utah, this would have been a possible 10 win team. With those losses I predict about 6-7 wins.  Our O line depth is super thin right now and an injury or two in that area would shut down our offense completely.  People predict Wallace to step right in and pick up where DK left off, but outside of a few snaps against Tenn we really have no frame of reference on how good he is.  Nor do we know how good Merrick of Allen are.  We still have people on this board asking when Reeve Koehler is going to start beacuse he was a 4 star, not realizing he was a bust and is in training to be a state trooper. 
I got burned last year thinking our defense would eventually be as good as the year before and we could just plug in replacements for our big three. 
    What everyone needs to remember is that 8 wins in today's sec west makes you a top 25 team.  My goal for the Razorbacks is to stay in or around the top 25 most years.  I just think the sec west is to hard these days and any team deficiencies are exposed.  Someone remarked about Petrino teams  being so much better. Obviously he is a  great coach, but we need to remember this is not Petrinos SEC west.  Bama and LSU are similar, but Ole Miss is on a whole different level then when Hootie was there.  Mullen has finally built his team the right way.  A and M received a huge momentum boost from joining the sec and having Manziel. 
Anyway I hope I'm wrong about next year.  I hope Enos is the coordinator we thought Smith was at  the end of last year.  I hope we can plug in 3 OL a QB , FB, TE, several RB with no experience and not miss a beat.  But it's kind of unrealistic and sets you up for disappointment.

And we do have a frame of reference for how good that "big time juco from Utah" is?

[NaturalStateReb]

Another 7 win season.

I'd agree with that.  Everyone discounted the defensive losses last year.  It's hard to replace major players. 

[hogsanity]

Next year was going to hinge on QB play, no matter who the Rb was. Yes, AC is a special back, not so much in speed, but in vision, also in blocking to keep his QB upright. With a good OL, and decent Qb play, the Rb's should still get their yards just because the defenses, at some point, are going to quit run blitzing and stacking 8 in the box against the hogs.

[GolfnHog]

I suspect we have slight improvement again next year(8-9 wins) as this has been the trend each year. Going into this past season the majority felt it was a 7-8 win season and that was before the injury bug was in the conversation.

What gives me optimism is that Enos can and will get the next QB ready and mechanically sound; add to this is that we now have 3-4 WR's that weren't in the conversation this time last year. Yes, defense still makes me take antacids but I suspect there will be improvement in that area as well.

The key: start faster and stronger in OOC games and win the damn things going forward.

[duckman]

For all the doom and gloomers, take a look at two things with an open mind.   Look at our schedule and look at the other schools on the schedule and their issues.  Not cut and dried...  We have issues but there are others losing more and with problems worse than ours.

[longpig]

For all the doom and gloomers, take a look at two things with an open mind.   Look at our schedule and look at the other schools on the schedule and their issues.  Not cut and dried...  We have issues but there are others losing more and with problems worse than ours.

Exactly, Ole Miss is taking the biggest hit even if Swag stays and we won't know how many are leaving Bama (probably A LOT) till after tonight.

[Grizzlyfan]

Just like everyone assuming the 2015 defense would be the strength of the team despite losing the top 5 playmakers from the great 2014 team.  You just can't assume Arkansas is in plug and play mode just yet.  Some of these new guys (in terms of starting and major playing time) have to prove themselves before you can assume 8-9 wins.  You can have 4 losses before these new guys gel, especially the O-line.