gohogs14 wrote:Timothythegreat wrote:Rebel10 wrote:As soon as he gets some players I think he will do well.
How is t you have come to think that he doesn’t have good players at Arkansas?
By watching the games. But, there are a lot more issues in the locker room right now than just talent too. Arkansas’ WRs are significantly worse than what he had at SMU last year...that doesn’t show up on recruiting rankings. Mike Woods pretty much became an instant starter the minute he got to campus. Last year was the worst OL in Arkansas history and they lost first round pick Frank Ragnow from it, so it’s hard to do much on offense when your OL is a sieve.
Time will tell if his recruiting will pay off but having more talent can cover up a lot of questionable coaching - just ask Orgeron.
There are two things to keep in mind when looking at his team.
1) The philosophy is athletic linemen who can move and redirect rather than physically dominant linemen. When you get into the SEC, that doesn't work because they will get bullied around. I've said this from the moment he was hired is that the philosophies of the Morris system are not a good fit for the SEC on both sides of the line This will be at the heart of the inconsistencies on offense and struggles on defense for as long as he is there. It doesn't matter how many 4 star receivers you have if you are getting killed at the line of scrimmage. At some point in the SEC you have to be able to run for a first down on 4th and 1 and Morris' teams have never been able to do that.
2) Morris comes from the coaching trees that don't allow a lot of hitting in practice because they prioritize keeping the skill position players and offense healthy. Van Malone was not a good defensive coordinator, no question about it. But you look at the hitting and activity in practice now as compared to Morris, it is night and day. Sumlin had to adapt his style at A&M. Herman and Orlando changed to more hitting half way through the season this year at UT and it improved things drastically. Dykes changed his system after a year at TCU.
The question is whether or not Morris will alter his style to allow his teams to compete physically at the line of scrimmage and allow his defense to actually practice defense at practice. That is going to drive his success at Arkansas over anything else.