Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast. And now here's your host, Matt Jones. A belated happy new year to everybody. Today on the show we talk about Razorback basketball and their big win over Tennessee on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. Also, the transfer portal is open. First word from Kendall King.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design.
We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox and Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: It is refreshing to start a new calendar year with Arkansas winning a basketball game. It doesn't happen a whole lot here lately. The Razorbacks their first season opening or SEC opening win since 2021 the other day over Tennessee, 86 to 75 at Bud Walton Arena. You think back to last year. They started 0 and 5 under John Calipari. Eric Musselman's teams were notoriously poor, poor starting teams. I mean, 1 and 3, 1 and 5. These teams, Arkansas as a program, it's been a while since they had a good start to the SEC season. And so they beat Tennessee the other day. And I don't know what the, what the correlation is between winning your first SEC game and winning the conference, but I would have to think that it's probably fairly strong. I mean, the teams that win the conference typically are doing so with about two and a half more wins than they have losses. And so Arkansas is off on a good foot. They beat a good opponent, Tennessee. I think they're awfully good this year. And you look at the SEC hierarchy right now, I think that Alabama is probably the favorite to win this conference.
I think Georgia and Vanderbilt are going to have something to say about it. Both of those teams look pretty good this year. I think that Tennessee might still have something to say about who wins the sec.
They're, all of them are kind of having a little bit disappointing seasons relative to the expectations. But, you know, I wouldn't sleep on Florida, I wouldn't sleep on Kentucky, I wouldn't sleep on Auburn. I think all of those teams, they kind of remind me of Arkansas a year ago in that you look at them and you say they could be playing a whole lot better than they are based on the talent they have. Maybe they put it together before the end of the season. We'll see. But I think you Take Arkansas right now, Ethan, and you say you put them head to head against anybody in this league and you say, I think you probably like that head to head comparison. If you're the Razorbacks, doesn't mean you're going to win every game. Certainly you're not going to do that. But I think you put Arkansas head to head against Alabama and you say that'd be a pretty good ballgame. Certainly they beat Tennessee the other day. I think that you feel good about them beating just about any team in the sec. And I certainly think, and the other day underscored this, that if you get Arkansas in Bud Walton arena against a big time opponent, the playing field tilts toward the Razorbacks. And so a great start for them to SEC play. They got Darius Acuff playing just as well as any freshman we've seen at Arkansas in a long time. He's named the Naismith National Player of the Week winner today, is also the SEC Freshman of the Week for the fourth week in a row. Malik Thomas is making plays. And really the thing that stands out to me about this team, Ethan, is they're getting contributions across the board from all of the eight players that are playing. Doesn't mean that all of them are contributing every game. And certainly you've got some players who, you know, they, they'll be in a funk for two or three games here and there. But I think that you look at this roster and you say every one of these guys could take over a game and impact it. Even Nick Pringle, who I think, you know, might be the weakest link right now in terms of he's just not playing very efficient basketball, getting a lot of fouls. They may have a bad loss on their resume if he doesn't take over the Winthrop game at the end of that game a month or so ago. So, you know, whether it be Thomas, whether it be Acuff, Brazil has been up and down. Carter Knox is coming on. I think you think D.J. wagner could take over a game. You could say this about every player on this roster.
This team's got a lot of potential, and I still think that they're just kind of scratching the surface of how good they can be.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, I think that it's hard to ask the two freshmen, Darius Akoff and Malik Thomas, to really play any better than they did against Tennessee. But I think from like pretty much everybody else, you could still say that. I think that's what makes Arkansas kind of scary, is like, we know Trevin Brazil's Better than he was against Tennessee. And that's not to say he was bad against Tennessee. It just wasn't his best. And Arkansas still beating this team by 11 just from their two freshmen playing out of their minds. And then, you know, getting some contributions from like Carter, Knox, Malik, you. And it's. We have. I, I still think we've yet to see Arkansas really come on as strong as they can is the thing. Like, I mean, this is a team that, I mean, you mentioned at the start all the teams that you think could win the sec. I think Arkansas is good of a shot as any of those. I mean, Alabama might be maybe the betting favorite right now, I would guess, but I think Arkansas is just as good a shot as them. I think that Vanderbilt, I still, I'm not trusting them fully. I get it. The metrics and stuff are great. They've had some good blowout wins and looked good along the way. They had a close call at Memphis. I know.
I just don't think they've been tested like Arkansas. I think that they could be in for maybe a little bit of a rude awakening if they. Once they hit a portion of SEC play, which that happens to almost every team, you hit a portion of the SEC play where you feel like you're really, you know, facing some adversity because maybe you lost a couple games in a row or whatnot. I think some teams like Vanderbilt, Georgia still might go through that. But I look at Arkansas and Alabama and those two tested themselves in the non conference big time to. I mean, I just think Arkansas right now, you put them on the court with any team in the sec. I mean, what a better start than Tennessee being your first opponent. But I think you throw them on the court with anybody and they aren't afraid, that's for sure. They've played everybody right now it feels like, I guess they haven't played the real two dominant teams in Michigan and Arizona. But I guess, you know, other than that, like they've gone up against Duke, Louisville, Michigan State, Houston, Texas Tech, now Tennessee. Like this is a tested team. I would feel good right now.
Like, honestly, I look at their SEC schedule, they have. Of all the ranked SEC teams they have left, they only get one of them at home, it's Vanderbilt. And I think they, I think they really could wipe the slate at home this year. I just think that Bud Walton's turned into that type of. Not turned into. It's been that type of venue. But with this team, the way that they've played this season in the Louisville Win and the Texas or in the Tennessee win.
It's a hard place to, to win this year with this team. They really feed off the energy of the crowd. And I think that Arkansas's got a team.
I mean, you look at their fast break numbers, they're near the top of the nation.
Good fast break teams. Home court advantage is really a thing, I think, because it's an exciting style where you're getting a lot of dunks and the place gets loud. Go on these scoring flurries. I just think Arkansas has right now the schedule where they could wipe the slate at home and then try and take care of, you know, a business on the road some, too, and you'll. You could win the SEC for sure.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: It feels like there could be a little bit of a snowball effect. You look at the schedule, the next three games to go to Ole Miss on Wednesday night, they're going to be favored to win that game in Oxford. Ole miss is 8 and 6 right now. They go to Auburn on Saturday. We'll see right there, Auburn, that's a very tough place to play. And then they get South Carolina here in Fayetteville next week. And you certainly would think that they would win that game.
So, you know, maybe you're three and one, maybe you're four, and oh, if you, if you, if you win both of your road games, maybe you're two and two, I don't know. But, you know, and then after that, that's when the schedule starts to get a little bit more challenging. You go to Georgia, got Vanderbilt and Fayetteville, end the month with LSU at Oklahoma and then Kentucky here at Bud Walton. Don't want to look too far ahead, but certainly I think you can see a scenario here where if they can keep this level of play that they had against Tennessee the other day where, you know, this could be a team again. I think they're going to be in contention for the conference title to a certain extent this year. Are they still in contention going into last week of March? I don't know, but I'm not going to be surprised if you look up, you know, say, six, seven weeks from now, and there's two, three weeks left in the season where they're right there, you know, and you could see that they've got a puncher's chance if some of these games break their way.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: Was that intentional? You're six, seven weeks.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Certainly it was not.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Let me tell you, I try to avoid saying that because I've got three kids at home, but no, you did it right there.
[00:08:22] Speaker C: I thought it was intentional. I was waiting on you to do the little hand gesture. But no, this team, I mean, you'll keep waiting.
I'll be more surprised than not if they're into I, maybe I'm too high on them right now. I'll be more surprised than not if they don't enter the last week of the SEC with a chance to win it. I just, I, it maybe that says more about how I view the SEC this year too.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: It's down.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: It's down and Arkansas is good.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: It would be hard to stay as up as it was last year. 14 teams in the SEC.
[00:08:49] Speaker C: It's just after you've played the schedule that Arkansas has played, I don't like going to Auburn. Like that's a great venue that they could lose that game. But it's just, it's not as intimidating as maybe it was this time last year. I know they, they challenged themselves with games against Baylor, Illinois and Michigan. Last year at this time they didn't have success in two of those and they got off to the poor SEC star. I just don't think they tasted enough success yet. And even in some of those losses playing, you know, like they had chances to be to win at Michigan State, had chances to win against Duke, like this team just. I have a lot more confidence in them right now and I don't have as much confidence in a lot of the rest of the sec. I just think Arkansas is built right now to like go into some of these road venues and not be as rattled. I just think that, I mean, I'm predicting it now. I think it'll be a two horse race between Arkansas and Alabama going down the stretch and you know, Arkansas plays at Alabama. That'll be a huge game and certainly could be one that I think dictates the conference race. But if I was sitting here to, you know, predict who wins the sec, I think Arkansas as good of a shot as anybody. I think them in Alabama are the clear favorites. I mean Vanderbilt, some people will hear that and be like, don't sleep on Vanderbilt. I just don't have that confidence in them yet until I see them really do it against a high level team. They've taken care of business. That's great. But just do it against somebody that Arkansas's played.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah, a cuff. What's making him so good?
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Everything. It's like, what do you say? Isn't. I think it's really telling. Whenever Rick Barnes sits there and he says the most impressive thing is demeanor because I think that what's so impressive about that? Obviously Rick Barnes has been coaching for five plus decades. I mean he's him and Caliperi tied the technical technicality, the NCAA wins, you know, most wins.
Rick Barnes is, I mean he coached. Kevin Durant is a freshman. He's seen in his time some really good freshmen. And he said the a cuff, it's the demeanor. And I see that too because I just sense this confidence that when the ball is in his hands, Arkansas, there's just, it's a calming factor. He's a true point guard. That's the thing. And he's mentioned before, like how he, you know, he wants to be his own player. Like a lot of times you'll ask a player like, who's your NBA comparison? Who's your one to one you want to be like. He says he doesn't want to like compare himself, he just likes to take aspects of it. But he has mentioned a lot that he likes to watch Chris Paul. And I sense that a lot with the way that whenever Arkansas it gets tight in a game and it's late. You saw it against Louisville, you certainly saw it against Texas Tech, and I think you saw it against Tennessee. You feel good with the ball in his hands and it's because you just trust that he knows how to make a play when you need to. Whether it's him shooting it or, or it's a pick and roll action where he's getting somebody else involved and he's. I talked to Matt Zimmerman. The, the, you know, everybody knows Matt Zimmerman.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Mr. Everything.
[00:11:41] Speaker C: Mr. Everything. Yeah, but he, he told me what makes Darius Akuff so good in his opinion is that he can really drive it. And I mean I, I'd say he's like a bully guard who's kind of also super skilled and that's rare. I just think that he's got the, the intangibles that make him who he is. He's, he's the best, I think freshman I've at least seen in my lifetime at Arkansas. I mean, I, there's probably been some that I was. While I was, I guess, a baby. I didn't get to watch Joe Johnson play.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: Yeah, but like Joe only played half a year as freshman year too.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: I actually had this thought the other day, Acuff and Thomas, because Malik Thomas has come on again here in the last week or so. He had 28 and then had 18 the other day.
They bring the best out of each other.
Like when one's playing well, it seems like it makes the other play well and certainly Malik had that little spell there for a couple of games where he wasn't shooting that great. But that's going to happen.
It seems like they're bringing out the best of each other and they're bringing out the best of each other on both ends of the court. Their defense, I think their defense has really taken a big step here in the last six weeks or so.
I thought it was interesting. By the way, I want to say this before I forget. Acuff on the TV broadcast the other day, talking about being big and big moments. He said, credit to my dad and all the training we did. We always talked about this moment, wanting to be the guy in these big moments. I thought that was kind of interesting. But going back to that freshman duo, I was thinking like, who are the best freshman duos Arkansas's ever had? Okay, well a few years ago you had Nick Smith and Jordan Walsh and Anthony Black and. And they were good. They all were one and done NBA draft picks. I don't think that any combination of those three were as impactful, at least you know, to this point as what we've seen from Acuff and Thomas. And I know Smith had the knee injury that he dealt with for a little while that year. Corliss and Scotty, they were really good as freshmen. They led that team in scoring, I believe in 92, 93. But Corliss missed much of that season with a foot injury. Mid-90s, Kareem Reed, Pat Bradley, Derek Hood, they were all freshmen. Kareem was a red shirt freshman. He was on that national runner up team and didn't play redshirted that year. Again, they were good. I don't think they were this impactful. I think that maybe the best comparison is Todd Day and Lee Mayberry in 88, 89.
They both, they averaged double digit scoring for a conference championship team. I know it's a Southwest Conference a different day, but you know, there's never been two freshmen. I'll say this about Acuff and Thomas. There have never been two freshmen. I don't think maybe you could say this about the three who were one of Duns, but I don't think even those, those three, I don't think you watch them and say they could be playing meaningful minutes in the NBA right now.
And I certainly feel that way about Acuff. I think that I'm starting to feel more that way about Malik Thomas. But I mean, these look like NBA guys that are playing on the floor with, you know, a lot of older college players.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Darius Akuff is just like, you know, you have the five star freshman and then you just have the different five star freshman and he's the different one. He's like the one that you, you know, you, while you're Arkansas watching Coach Caliperi Coach Kentucky and the 2010s that you're like, dang, that's just really hard to guard. You know, he's like, you know your Devin Booker, John Wall, that Shay Gilgeous Alexander, although Shay Gilgeous Alexander's like blossomed in the NBA more than he was in college. It's weird. But Malik Monk, that's the type of guard that he is. And I think that like you said, they feed off each other. Darius Akov is looking for Malik Thomas. Malik Thomas, I feel like is trusting that Darius Akuff will find him. I think that if you were to do like, I guess your starting lineup of Arkansas freshmen in the 2000s, like these are both start like they're starting on the lineup. I think you probably have those two. Moses Moody was really good. I mean you also had Jalen Williams and Devo Davis, but they blossomed more like sophomore year. But I think you have Bobby Portis, Moses Moody, these two, and then probably like Joe Johnson or for the half year. I mean Isaiah was really good, but there's, they're right up there. Like these are two really good Arkansas freshmen. Like if you, if you take Darius sake of off this team and you only have Malik Thomas, I think we're still talking about like, oh, is this the best Arkansas freshman you've had, you know, and how long. It's just you happen to have them both on the same team, they're two different freshmen, like kind of just got that it factor to them. I think that what impresses me about Acuff the most too though is there was this real. And I get it, not everybody was saying this, but there were a lot of them saying it going into this year that, oh, he's just like your travel ball guard who's going to, you know, go get his points, but sucks to be his teammate because you're probably going to be dealing with a ball hog, somebody who can't get you the ball and he's just, if there's anything he's done this year, it's proven that that is the furthest from the truth. Like that's just not the player he is. And he's said this before, like sometimes in the past he's been on teams that others can't score the ball. So he does score the ball. He just knows that's their best offense. He's on a team this year with a lot of guys who can score the ball, so he's looking for them. But certainly, I mean if you have this guy dribbling down the court, just running down the shot clock and pull up three, I mean he can score when he wants to. It's just he's taken that next step under Caliperi to become really the lead guard that. I mean his assist numbers like you're thinking it's a low assist game that he had four against Tennessee. And I'm like a lot of people would take that any day of the week that your point guards getting four.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Well and I think that shows the kind of the development of his game too that he has gotten to the point where you expect him to have seven, eight, 10 assists a game.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Yeah, he had a string of five straight games where he had at least seven assists. And any of those performances, any in that five would have for his first month of the season as a Razorback been his high. It just goes to show that like that that switch flipped that he started saying like I'm going to like I need to get my assist numbers up. And I mean I think he's always wanted to. It's probably just a big learning curve in college that, you know, he had to start, I guess just doing it a little bit more. But he's.
Calipari challenged him after the UCA game saying he could be a 10 assist guy and then he turns around and just does it. So he's impressive.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: One thing I liked about Arkansas against Tennessee is that I felt like they kind of beat tenness at their own game.
They out physical Tennessee and they beat them in the perimeter. They defended the rim as well as we've seen this year. They had 10 block shots, they out rebounded Tennessee. They kept Tennessee off the offensive boards for a long time in the game. Now Tennessee, as the game started to wear on, legs start to get tired. Tennessee starts to get a little bit more desperate. They got some looks or some second chance looks, but you know, Ewan, Knox, Brazil to a certain extent, you know, Pringle even, you know, in between the fouls he was, he was certainly physical.
They were able to beat Tennessee in a physical ballgame. And you think back to a year ago, they started the season against Tennessee and Tennessee just absolutely embarrassed. And what they out rebounded by like it was an insane number.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: Something that John Calipari was very embarrassed.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: It was like 51 to 29 or something. Right? I mean, I mean they out rebounded them.
They beat him real bad by 24 points and that was a better Tennessee team last year. But I think Arkansas took that personal.
They didn't want to let that happen again.
Now the question is, and Calipari even kind of said this the other day, he said, you told on yourself, Carter Knox and Malik Ewan, can they keep that up? You're motivated to do it against Tennessee now you're showing you can do it. Can you do that night in and night out? Because that's been, that's kind of been the problem with this team when they haven't been winning games. You know, Houston totally out physical them, they've shown that they can bang now with a team like Tennessee. So if you can do that with Tennessee, you ought to be able to do that with pretty much anybody else in the sec.
But can you have the desire to go out and do that on a night in, night out basis? That's something I'm really interested to see with the Razorbacks here over the next couple of games, especially being on the road.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: And I said this before they played Houston, that, that was the, that was a great.
Have this game right before SEC play because, you know, SEC gets physical and Houston, I was like, you're going to go into, you know, a football game like, you better be ready to strap up the, you know, the chin strap.
Yeah, but. And it seems like, you know, playing a game like that had them ready to take on Tennessee and do this. I think it's impressive, like you said, beating them at their own game. If you look at, if somebody tells me before Arkansas, Tennessee, that Tennessee is going to shoot 49% from the four in Arkansas, 42%. And, and that Tennessee talk about beating at your own game is going to outscore Arkansas on fast break points.
I'm like, oh, boy, don't say the rebound numbers because how big did Tennessee win this game? Because you're thinking like with those type of numbers, like, oh, Tennessee's doing what it needs to do. But if Arkansas doesn't rebound the way that they did, I mean that those other numbers favor Tennessee winning this game. It's like Arkansas did the things that it had to do that game to come out on top. And then if you look at just the box where it's obvious that the game was also decided from the free throw line, that Tennessee just could not buy a free throw for a lot of the game, specifically Nate Amic couldn't he hit 5 of 11. Like, it's just that I think Arkansas did the things that you have to do to win a game against Tennessee and they even could have probably done it by more. You know, it's a good.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Arkansas is good free throw shooting team and I think that's what makes the Houston game, if you go back and look at it, so disappointing for them because if they hit their free throws, that's a totally different game at the end. Totally different game.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: You know, they just had a bad day at the free throw line that day. But impressive start for Arkansas. I think that's really the underscored, you know, the take home thing here from what happened on Saturday. They're up to number 15 now in the AP poll at a very vivid dream over the break. You know, sometimes you have those dreams, it's like you actually feel like you're there. I had a dream. Arkansas won the national championship. I really did. And it was like, wow, this is, this is really weird now. You know, maybe they lose in the first round and I look like a nut, but I think this is a good team. I think that this is a team that could really challenge for something down the stretch, especially if they continue.
If they can show the type of January to March growth this year that they showed last year. I think that, you know, this, this could be a team that you're really talking about. Could, could make some noise in March.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: And I just think, personally I think they're being a little bit undervalued at 15 right now. I just think like you look at them and you say they're probably, they are legitimate. If you're Talking about the SEC, them and Alabama are the most legitimate final four contenders out of the SEC and they're ranked at 15, which I get it. I mean, rankings are all based on what you've done, but like the schedule that they've played, I feel like it's similar to like NFL. Whenever you're playing all these games against like Houston and Louisville and if you go 500 or at least around 500, you're doing something right because it's. Those are a lot of times just kind of toss up games and they have won enough of them that you know that they can. And they frankly are very close to where they could have won more of those with Duke and Michigan State.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: The SEC doesn't have a top 10 team this week.
Vandy's the highest at 11, Alabama's 13, Arkansas's 15. And they're not a whole lot of. Tennessee didn't get dinged too much for losing it. Arkansas, they fell to 21. The only other SEC team in the poll this week is Georgia.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: I'm excited for Alabama. Vandy, it's in a couple days. I think that could be a real it's at home for Vandy and Memorial. That's a hard place to play. But I think that could maybe be the welcome to playing a really quality team Vanderbilt moment. I mean, I guess I it's impressive they beat St. Mary's by 25, but like, that's about it.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: It's weird how when you, when you feel like you've got a team that, you know, in our case that we follow, that has a chance, it makes you way more interested in all the other games.
It's just kind of strange how that happens.
[00:23:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: All right. When we come back, we're going to talk about the transfer portal. It was a busy weekend for the Razorbacks. First, another word from Kendall King.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Kindle King we're proud of over four decades of design.
We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox and shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about Bentonville Glass. They're committed, professional and versatile. They've been serving their community since 1971. They've got all of your glass market needs at the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main and Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com Big day for Razorback kicking yesterday. Let's start in the NFL. Cam Little, 67 yard field goal. That's the one that got my kids going yesterday when I told him that he had made a 67 yarder.
This, this is starting to become kind of like just second, like commonplace to him right now. I mean, he made the 68 yarder earlier this year, which is the record for a regular season NFL game. And then he made the 70 yarder in the preseason which the Pro Football hall of Fame people in Canton, they took, I think his cleats and maybe something else. And that's on display there for making a 70 yarder in a preseason game for the Jaguars. Somebody I cannot remember where I read this, but they made a point. They said, can you imagine if the Jaguars are in Denver in the playoffs in that altitude, what he might be able to do. I mean, it's not, it's not really that crazy to think that he could make a 70 something yard field goal if you need it, if you need it. Now that's.
But you think about where NFL is right now and the touchback comes out to the 35, you know, a lot of times and typically teams are starting in the 30 to 40 yard range with this dynamic kickoff to kick a 70. Let's say you kick a 71 yard field goal.
Okay. I mean like on where on the field do you need to get the 40, the 39? I mean, like, seriously, this is, this is kind of crazy how this is going.
This is the golden age of NFL kickers. And it's not just the field goals, although the long field goals certainly have something to do with that.
It's, you know, the kickoffs. You watch this dynamic kickoff and you know, they're just placing it where, where they want it and it's amazing what the kickers are doing right now. So you got Cam Little in that conversation. You got Jake Bates in that conversation too. He kicked a walk off field goal for the Lions to win in Chicago yesterday.
Certainly he's had a really good couple of years with the Lions.
Can't see any reason why they wouldn't want to keep him long term.
Yeah. Brandon Aubrey with the Cowboys. This is a, again, it's just a really kind of a golden era for kickers and it makes it to where you watch that game between the Steelers and the Ravens last night and both of their kickers miss, you know, shorter kicks toward the end of the game. The Steelers missed an extra point, the Ravens missed a field goal. And you're almost aghast that people are missing kicks from 40, 45 yards now because it just seems so automatic. But you got Little and Bates right there in the middle of this as two of the very best kickers. Again, at a time where, you know, I think we're watching, I don't know what, what kickers get into the hall of Fame. I can't imagine it's a very big list.
But I wouldn't be surprised if we're watching an era right now where you got two or three guys that when their careers end they're going to be at least hall of Fame, you know, considered.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Yeah. It reminds me right now, at least I feel like it's always impressive when I go to these like Arkansas track meets and I see records just continuing to be broken and it's just because of like, the training has evolved so much and it's gotten so sophisticated. It feels to me like that's happened in kicking and football where it's like such kind of an art and a training that, like, it's gotten sophisticated enough. Like all these kickers are like learning how to do it. I don't know, maybe I'm looking too into this and that's not a good comparison, but it just feels to me that the rate that it's been happening where the long field goal has gotten easier and at least seemingly easier, maybe it's just as difficult as ever. And this is just. We should be absolutely stunned.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: You wonder if the NFL might change.
Like, do they change some things because the field goal has become almost so automatic. Do they move. Do they move that touchback, you know, yard marker back? Do they.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: I could like. Or you have to like hold the balls, hold it this far back from the, from the line of scrimmage.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Do they maybe make the field goal like the goal post? They maybe make them a little bit more narrow.
It's different from league to league. Remember when, Remember when Little missed the field goal against Texas A and M down in Arlington and there was all this talk because he kicked it off the upright. And there was all this talk about in college football It's a 30 foot upright, but in the NFL it's 35ft. It would have been different if he would have been kicking into a college goalpost as opposed to an NFL one.
So, I mean, there are some nuances from one level to the next, but I can't be more impressed with what you're seeing, especially from Cam Little.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: But at the same time, I don't think. I wouldn't change. I wouldn't change anything because it's like, well, get you a kicker that can do this too. Makes the kicker position more important.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Like, I mean, it does what the NFL wants.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: Points.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's like if now kickers can make these really long field goals and three points is a lot easier than it was before, but you don't have a kicker that can do that. I mean, it makes you need to draft a kicker. I don't know. It's. It's interesting to see, but I think the kickers right now in the NFL are just as valuable of a position as a lot of times. Anything else. It's. I mean, I've watched enough Cowboys games. My little brother's Brandon, just know that.
It's just like, against them, it's so defeating if they get past midfield.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:45] Speaker C: So, but it's. It's. It's. It's a big wow moment to watch Cam Little do this. I mean, it feels like every week I'm reading about something new Cam Little did or just how. How good he's been. It's. It's also, you know, just cool to see a player that was here at Arkansas not too long ago be, you know, really starring at his position in the league.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: It's amazing. Jake Bates, like. Like he had never kicked a field goal until he got to the ufl.
[00:30:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Because even on his high school team, he was a backup. And then when he got to Arkansas, he backed up Cam Little.
So kind of, he's got a cool story, too. Speaking of kickers, you look at what Arkansas did in the portal yesterday. The big story yesterday was that Scott Starzik has left the Razorbacks. He's going to go into the transfer portal. There was one of these tweets that he put out like a week or so ago.
I don't even know what it said. I'd have to go back and look at it. Do you remember?
[00:30:35] Speaker C: I do, because I was doing a tracker of players saying they were returning, and I did not put him on there because it was just two Razorback emojis. And I said, that tells me nothing.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: Yeah, we go through this kind of crap a lot of times. Like, somebody will. I remember there was a baseball player a couple three years ago who he put something. It was a picture of the Arkansas A, and it just said wps And I think it might have had a little pig snap emoji.
[00:31:03] Speaker C: It wasn't.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Everybody is like, oh, he committed. I mean, he may have committed, but I don't know that he committed. And that's the same thing with the Starzik tweet. It certainly it gave the impression that he was coming back to Arkansas. And so I think that that took some people by surprise yesterday whenever he said late last night that he was going to go into the transfer portal. And really, I think the writing was on the wall. Earlier in the day, when they get these two kickers who commit, they've got Max Gilbert coming in from.
From Tennessee.
We've seen him play a couple of times.
34, 45 on his field.
[00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the one that they signed also Braden McAllister earlier in the day, but from Georgia. That didn't set off. Yeah, that one didn't really set off the alarms because it was kind of almost like Vito Calvarous they had a few years ago.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: It felt like he was more of a kickoff.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: Yeah, you just need somebody who can boot it through the end. But whenever they got the commitment of Gilbert, that's the one. They're like, you really need a.
Do you really sign or get a transfer to commit who's been a starter somewhere when they know they would have a battle?
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Well, they went through this. I know it was a different coaching staff. They went through this a couple of years ago, though, when they had the two kickers.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: Well, the thing is they signed Matthew Shipley out of the, you know, this portal period. And spring wasn't that great. And so they felt like they needed to go and they got one from Abilene Christian. It wasn't like an. I don't see many SEC kickers committing to somewhere where they know that there's going to be another starter there who's good. So that one. That's. Whenever I was like, okay, something's going on here. And I wasn't going to be surprised if stars are announced. And then of course, Starzik announces it at like 11:30pm so I'm like, why am I even still awake? Yeah, I usually. That's late for me.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: All SEC freshmen this year. I think he was. I think he made the all SEC freshman year.
You know, there were a lot of people, I think, that saw stars that kind of like the next Cam Little, you know, because Little came in as a freshman. They both were highly rated. I think Cam was the number one field goal kicker in the country.
Starzik, I think was number two in.
[00:32:59] Speaker C: His class with one.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Was he one?
[00:33:01] Speaker C: They had the number two, Evan Noel, who went to Florida. And then they went and got Starzik to flip from Iowa. Okay. And so Arkansas, I mean, Scott Fountain, I know a lot of people did not like what they saw on the field from special teams. A lot of times he could recruit the specialists. He got some really good specialists, special kickers.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Again, Jake Bates here.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: And he never got to see Starzik. I mean, it is one of those that it's kind of like.
Like it's always interesting in hindsight. You go back and you compare like we could do this with last year's transfers who went in and out and be like, who'd you bring in? Who did you lose? Was it a win? On paper, this one almost, I think to a lot of people would feel like a loss like you're. That you out. Is Starzik in as Gilbert? Although that's not saying Gilbert's bad. I just think people are really high on Starzik and what they think that he can do. It'll be interesting to look back a year from now, though, and see, you know, did this really work out for Arkansas?
Did it work out for Starzik? I think that we could go up and down the list of last year's and see a lot of places where it worked out for the player who left. Isaiah Satania had a great year for Oklahoma and a lot of Arkansas fans were like, oh, well, whenever he left.
You can say the same about a few others. I just think that, you know, we'll be able to see down the road if this was a good thing or a bad thing for Arkansas.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: So you got Gilbert and you've got McAllister. They hear the two new kickers just running through some of these other commits, and this is evolving all the time. In fact, just as Ethan and I have been talking here, we've seen a message that Arkansas has gotten a quarterback commitment today from Memphis. A.J. hill, who was a redshirt freshman over there this season for Ryan Silverfield. And, you know, we're seeing a lot of these Memphis kids come here and sign with Arkansas.
But. But here are the names so far. I think you would start Ethan with the two biggest names on this list would be Malachi Breland, who was an offensive lineman at Memphis. I think he played guard for them. They're on three has him listed as.
[00:34:57] Speaker C: A tackle, which I don't understand.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: He played guard at Memphis and he's.
[00:35:01] Speaker C: The size of a guard.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: 6 foot 5, 340 pounds.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Started every game this year for Memphis.
And then the other one that really caught my eye yesterday was Christian Harrison from Cincinnati. He's a defensive back, started his career with Tennessee. He's the son of Rodney Harrison, the great NFL player for the Chargers and the Patriots. That didn't mean anything. But you look at Harrison and you look at Breland and both of them, if you look at the portal rankings, they're both like top 30 or so at their position. Like these. These aren't necessarily game changers, but. But I think they are good pieces that you want to have on your team.
[00:35:39] Speaker C: And Harrison, that one didn't surprise me at all because Arkansas just signed as their new cornerbacks coach.
Is it Eddie Hicks, his name? He was at Cincinnati, so I'm sure there was a relationship here and that kind of helped. That's what I was saying. With a lot of time with these hires that they were making or when it was just reported, like a lot of these coaches, like you hire them because they're good with people too. And then you always see it when it comes out in the portal where you're bringing players in from. And I just think that will continue to see obviously the Memphis will be a trend like they had Jamari Hawkins, a receiver signed today who he had 623 yards for Memphis last year. Like that's not bad as a 5, 9 guy, a little slot receiver to get a guy with 623 yards.
But I do think a lot of Arkansas fans are probably still waiting for, you know, after the introductory press conference. You know, the vibe was there's going to be some real splashes in here, like ones that are going to wow you. And I just am curious when that's going to happen. Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying any of these are bad, but are any of these the ones that are really going to make you like. Yeah, just be like, wow, they really got a lot of money to get to get these big name guys in.
[00:36:46] Speaker A: So it's anybody else. I mean sometimes you get underwhelmed. You look at some, you know, they've got a linebacker from Howard, they've got a number of players from Memphis, long snapper from Sacramento State, they got a junior college player in a defensive lineman out of Coffeyville.
[00:37:03] Speaker C: My thing is it feels like very much like what we would have seen last year.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:06] Speaker C: It just is the same vibe of like, I mean maybe these are way. The scouting's been a lot better and these are a lot, you know. But it seems like a random assortment like last year where you, I mean you looked at it at the end and you knew that they had really one kind of big fish, I'd say. Or you could make an argument for two in this same portal period. Whenever they got Corey Robinson, you knew he was good, the lineman from Georgia Tech, and then they got Omega Blake and you knew he was probably going to be good. But like other than that, like this just feels like very similar to me. It's not wowing me, but it's also. I'm not going to rule these guys out as far as being good.
[00:37:39] Speaker A: It's just it feels like they've got to do better in the portal moving forward though.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: But like, I mean, they got to have some wins.
[00:37:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Carious Kern is one right now who's from Arkansas. He's from over in the Memphis area, was at LSU last year. He's committed here. Then he went to LSU and now he's in the portal like that. I'm not saying they've got to get him but they need to get players like him who were big time blue chip recruits out of high school. I feel like for sure.
[00:38:05] Speaker C: And I mean it'll be what we'll be monitoring, monitoring until all the dust settles on this is if they can get those big name ones. But I will go back and say that, you know, bigger than any of these recruits they're going to get in is that they got Quincy like getting Quincy Rhodes to stay like yeah, it's sometimes the best recruiting can be the ones you keep. And I get it on a 2 and 10 team you're probably, probably not too sad to see a lot of these guys go. Quincy Rhodes is one that it wasn't because he was going to be going to another school. I don't think it was because he was going to be going and playing in the National Football League.
So they've got some wins from who they're retaining. But you are waiting to see, especially in my opinion on the defense because they've got to figure like I think that defense other than Quincy Rhodes is going to look extremely different next year just to see if they can get some guys that get you confidence because last year with the Portal hall they got it was a big hosh posh of can you play? And you just saw, yeah, you felt.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: Like they got better on the offensive line and that showed up on the field but the other positions were just kind of meh.
It felt like last year it did.
[00:39:08] Speaker C: Feel like on the offensive side of the ball Bobby Petrino really hit it good on a lot of positions about like Mike Washington. I don't know if you really wowed people out of the portal. I did watching because I wrote a commitment analysis. I thought he was good but I didn't think he was going to be as good as he was. Some of these receivers, I mean they really did work out the tight ends worked out with Rohan Jones. I think that you can hit it right with like maybe what appears to be a random assortment. But defense, especially last year, they just, it just wasn't good.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: I wanted to touch on this. This was something I read this morning from Matt Brown who we've had on our show multiple times before he runs the extra points newsletter.
This was kind of interesting. He was writing about what's called the blue chip theory, which is that in order to compete for a national championship and I understand Arkansas's got a long way to go before it competes for a national championship, but that's going to be, I mean that's the goal, the goal is to win in the sec. And if you can win in the sec, you're going to be in that playoff conversation.
And he talked about. So the teams that make the playoff the most have this blue chip theory, which is that basically you sign more four and five star recruits than you sign guys who are three star and less.
And this is what was interesting to me, Ethan, he said that this year these teams would hit that, that blue chip theory. 18 teams, okay, that had over 50% four and five stars.
And let's count how many of these made the playoff. Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas A and M, Oregon.
Texas was just on the outside.
Lsu, Notre Dame just on the outside. Oklahoma, Penn State, Miami, Florida, Auburn, Michigan, usc, Clemson, Tennessee and Florida State. And he said that just below that bar were South Carolina and ole miss. So seven of what I think most people would say were 10 legitimate playoff teams, because Tulane and JMU, I don't think that they ought to be playing in this pool of teams.
Seven of the other 10, you know, that came from Power 4 programs or conferences, they did meet this threshold.
He wrote about this in the context of what Indiana is doing, which Indiana, I think they said that if you just took the total roster rating of all these players, they've got like the 72nd best roster in the country. But certainly they've done a great job in identifying players and coaching them. And I mean, what they're doing is working for them.
[00:41:47] Speaker C: Now what Ian is doing is what Arkansas and all these other schools are like, we need to learn this.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: But that's the thing. Not everybody can be Indiana.
[00:41:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: You know, and I think Arkansas is trying to probably do something along those lines. I mean, they're just. They're not competing with the best teams for the. For the very best players in the portal. And, you know, maybe. Maybe they have a good season next year.
You know, maybe this Powerball winner says, I want to go ahead and just tilt the table in favor of the razor packs.
But it feels like there's going to have to be a seismic change in order to get Arkansas on the level of these teams that have these type of rosters.
[00:42:26] Speaker C: And then you wonder, like I. Then I go with Indiana, for example, you wonder, you know, now that they went that route to get themselves to where they're a national powerhouse, which is still, it won't be not weird to say, do they then start pulling in the blue chip or court and change their strategy?
[00:42:43] Speaker A: They just committed the quarterback from TCU yesterday or the day before who I think is Most people think is the number two quarterback in the portal behind the Cincinnati guy who's going to Texas for $5 million a year. By the way, reported $5 million. Do you know how many NFL quarterbacks are making less than $5 million a year? I guarantee you there are a lot of backup and third string quarterbacks in the NFL who are making well under $5 million a year.
It's amazing what the market is right now at the college level. And it's not like it's going to go down.
[00:43:16] Speaker C: Keep pushing the envelope.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: This is not changing.
[00:43:19] Speaker C: Yeah, you keep pushing the envelope. But you just wonder whenever a team like in Indiana had so much success building their, building this up, doing it the way they're doing it. If you reach a threshold, you're like, all right, we know that doesn't work all the time. And now we need to. Maybe we've gotten to where we can play with the blue chip.
[00:43:34] Speaker A: Can you have sustained success doing things in such an unorthodox way? I think that that's the big question.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: And there's some teams like, no, like Texas Tech is in the, in the playoff. They were in the playoff this year in Ole Miss. You know, of course they really transfer portal heavy the past couple years to build their roster and they probably got a lot of guys who were very much blue chips out of high school and then they're being able to somehow pay them a whole lot to transfer. It's just, it's a matter of, I don't know, it feels like the money just has to be there. It's. That's what it boils down to because not everybody's going to be in Indiana.
It just, it doesn't work most of the time.
But I mean, and what Indiana did fine though. I mean, they look like the best team right now.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: The big takeaway I think from, and I've kind of mentioned this throughout the season, but I feel like the quarterfinals solidified this a little bit. The big takeaway is that if you want to be good in football, like it's not like the old days where you got to have this three, four year build. You just got to go out and you got to invest the resources into football and chances are that you're going to be good now. You got to have good coaching, you got to have good alignment, you know, top down alignment. You got to have, you know, the right players. I mean, what happens at Ole Miss this year if Austin Simmons doesn't get hurt? Did they have this type of success? I mean, they kind of stumbled into Trinidad Chambless, becoming this great quarterback at the Division one level because he was going to be their number two. It reminds me a little bit about what The Rams in 99 did when Trent Green goes down with the knee injury. And then all of a sudden, here's Kurt Warner, who's a year or two away from bagging groceries back in Iowa, and he's a revelation. To him, it feels a little bit like that's what happened at Ole Miss. And so I think that, you know, in addition to the money and the right coach and you got to have a little bit of good fortune, you know, things that break your way, too.
[00:45:28] Speaker C: The crazy thing, I mean, I know on paper, you look at Arkansas and you're like 2 and 10, they're so far away. But if you actually watch the games, it's crazy to know.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: Did you see Indiana's record two years ago?
[00:45:38] Speaker C: Very.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: I think they were three and nine.
[00:45:39] Speaker C: Yeah. But it's crazy to watch even Arkansas this year in a 2:10 season. You watch the games and they're really not that. I mean, they played so many close games that even with what they did have, they weren't that far off from winning a lot of these. They just didn't have the right culture.
[00:45:54] Speaker A: They gotta have the right closer.
[00:45:56] Speaker C: Yeah, they didn't. And it's. It just goes to show that this. In today's college football, you can change things pretty quick.
[00:46:02] Speaker A: You're not Texas Tech. We. A year ago, we're sitting here talking about Arkansas smoking Texas Tech at the Liberty Bowl.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: And they went out and totally changed the perception of that program in a matter of months.
Now. It's easier to do that when you're not playing in the sec, you know, I mean, because it's like, it's one thing to be able to do that in the Big 12. It's another thing to do that whenever you got all these behemoths in the sec that's, you know, they're, you know, they aren't taking the year off either.
[00:46:27] Speaker C: It feels like Texas Tech has made it clear that. And across the board in most sports, they're like kind of here to stay until they stop getting their. Their money from the one oil guy.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: But I mean, they've.
All these Texas Tech teams need to be taken seriously right now, I feel like. Because they've got money there for sure. I mean, like, I. What sports at Texas Tech this year weren't that good?
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Baseball's falling off. I think baseball is actually. Because they had a Good program under Tim Tadlock, and he's still their head coach.
They were really good there for a while. I think baseball and I think Texas Tech's not the only program where this has happened. I think it's kind of happening a little bit at some other Big 12 programs where baseball teams that have had good baseball programs, they're falling back a little bit because they're just not able to offer the type of resources that teams, especially in the SEC and in baseball, the acc, are able to.
[00:47:21] Speaker C: And like, when was the last time that I'm looking at Vandy's athletic program and I'm like, oh, baseball's maybe behind football and men's basketball at this current. I mean, I don't. Vandy might be very, very good this year. I must say, they might be very, very good this year. But all I'm saying is their basketball in their football is right on par with, like, I feel like being viewed in a very, you know, good way with how their baseball has been.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: One more quick Razorback note. Chad Morris hired Clemson today as the offensive coordinator. That is a weird hire to me. I mean, it's. I.
I don't get it. I get it in the sense that he has had success at Clemson. I don't get it that when you're Dabo Swinney and you're coming off of, you know, a year where it's.
That didn't look like what you're expected to be, and now you're going to go hire Chad Morris, who hasn't been a play caller in five years.
That's a strange one to me. That looks like a buddy move and maybe it works out for him and maybe he comes back in there and they're able to recapture the magic of 12 years ago. But that on its. On the surface, that looks like a very strange hire. It does make me wonder.
Chandler Morris, the expectation is that he might petition for a seventh year of eligibility. Does he end up at Clemson next year?
[00:48:41] Speaker C: Yeah, this will. I want to preface this by saying I don't think Chad Morris will be a good offensive coordinator there. I don't think. I don't have faith in Chad Morris. But I do want to say this, and this might catch, you know, like, a little bit of heat. I do think there are some people that are very good in specific roles and they're not built to be a head coach. And maybe he could actually have success like he did in the past. My biggest thing is that he's not been doing it for a hot minute.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: It's been a long time since you saw one of his offenses have. I mean, you'd have to go back to 2017 at SMB.
[00:49:14] Speaker C: But like, for instance, I mean, Kenny Payne had a terrible, terrible Louisville tenure as their head coach. And he's, I think, a great assistant coach. I think some people are just built to be in a certain role and they are not built to be a head coach. Chad Moore is certainly at Arkansas. Did not show that he was built to be an SEC head coach, maybe even at SMU.
[00:49:33] Speaker A: Yeah, he was 14 and 22 at SMU before he got the Arkansas.
[00:49:37] Speaker C: I think that there's just some roles that might be in over your head and you learn what you're best at. And I think that maybe Chad Morris goes back there and he's just. This is what he's meant to do. But I don't. Like I said, let me preface this all with. I don't have any confidence or faith in it. But it also isn't like the. He's had success in that role before, though. But it's this, you know, break between doing. I mean, this would be like calling Kenny Payne after if he had just not done anything after Louisville, like, five years down the road because, like, hey, want to start being an assistant coach again so maybe we can rekindle some of what we had. That's what this one feels like.
[00:50:12] Speaker A: You know who Clemson plays next year, don't you? They play North Carolina. Oh, we got ready for Chad Morris and Bobby Petrino matching wits.
[00:50:19] Speaker C: What do you think they'll mention on the field with each other before the game?
[00:50:22] Speaker A: I doubt they talk.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: Bobby likes to talk before the game. I think he likes to go up and talk to people, but I don't.
[00:50:28] Speaker A: Think they'll be talking.
[00:50:28] Speaker C: It would be an interesting conversation. It would be one that if we got to hear, would be, you know, people would pay money to hear what happens. What would happen between the Chad Morrison, Bobby Petrino combo?
[00:50:39] Speaker A: Kind of interesting. I mean, like. Like two of Arkansas's former head coaches hired in the same conference as offensive coordinators in the same season.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: In the head coaching matchup is dabo versus Bill Belichick.
[00:50:50] Speaker A: It's like what everybody's paying attention to.
[00:50:51] Speaker C: And then Arkansas, then the background noise is just these old Arkansas coaches.
[00:50:56] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, Nathan, appreciate you being here. We appreciate everybody being with us today. We'll be back with another show tomorrow. Hope that we see at our website whole Hogsports dot com. Have a great day.
