Bobby Petrino talks spring ball, Razorback baseball wins again

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast. Now here's your host, Matt Jones. [00:00:11] Speaker B: Hey, welcome in. Today on our podcast, we'll talk about what Bobby Petrino had to say yesterday at his football news conference. Gave a lot of details about the Arkansas offense. Christina Long in studio to talk about that. Arkansas baseball also with a win over Arkansas State last night at baum Walker Stadium. 7 3. We'll discuss that game. And Anthony Christensen's in studio to talk about a do thiro Declan declaring for the NBA draft. All of that today on our podcast. But first word from Kendall King at. [00:00:37] Speaker A: 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 a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Start off the show a little bit different today. Arkansas football in the final kind of the stretch run here on its way to the spring game, which is going to be next Saturday at Razorback Stadium. The coordinators are speaking this week to reporters. Bobby Petrino yesterday. Travis Williams will speak later this week. Christina Long in studio with me. Petrino. I always feel like it is insightful whenever you get time with him because he's one of those whose answers are very detailed. You know, I don't know that he gives everything away, but he does give you a good bit of insight. What did you think you. Or maybe what stood out from what he said yesterday the most? [00:01:52] Speaker C: Yeah. A lot of us afterward were kind of chatting, you know, after he got finished talking about what he said. And, you know, it felt like there was a lot of, a lot of questions that were somebody put it as yes, but so sometimes you'll ask him about how a guy's doing and he'll give you kind of the good. And then it's Dave Van Horn kind of does somebody else on the beat. Drew. The Drew. That comparison was like Dave Van Horn kind of does that sometimes where he'll, he'll answer your question, then he'll go, but also we need this person to do this, this and this. And so there was a lot of that kind of thing which I think makes sense. Like that's what, that's how a coach thinks. A coach is always thinking about what needs to change and what needs to be better and, and what needs to be different and So I think that was a large takeaway. You know, we talked a lot with him about the wide receivers because that's a large conversation this spring about, you know, since they are all new for the most part, and there's some concern about the size aspect. You know, it's. It is a very different looking room than it was before and then it has been in a while. And so there's a lot of receiver talk. He talked a lot about the running backs, kind of ran through really, each one that's on scholarship in that room. And Ethan Westerman wrote that up yesterday on our site, but talked a lot about. He's really high on Mike Washington, the, the transfer. And so it's, it's interesting. We met Mike last week. He spoke to reporters. I'll be interested how much, you know, what the balance is between him and Braylon Russell and kind of how their roles shake out once the season actually starts. Because he's really high on Mike Washington and kind of all of the different skills that he brings. You know, talk to him about year two of Taylor Green. Talk to him about, you know, how much, how much improvement has to be made from Taylin and how much of it is the people around him. And I think a lot of it is both. Petrino obviously is, Is very concerned with Talen as a quarterback guy, and. But I think we talk. We got a lot from him about kind of how this second year can help both of them and can kind of help the team as a whole, because last year everything was new and it was new to everybody, and now it's a little bit different when you've got Taylor coming back and you can kind of try to refine some things. [00:03:48] Speaker B: When you say he's concerned, you're not saying that he's concerned about. [00:03:51] Speaker C: I mean, like, that is a huge focus. Yes, yes, exactly. [00:03:54] Speaker B: I just wanted to clarify. [00:03:55] Speaker C: No, you're right. You're right. Yes, Concerned has many meanings. No, yeah, he is. He is primarily tasked with managing the, the quarterbacks there. So. Yeah, I mean, he talked about some of the backup quarterbacks, which was interesting. You know, they've got a couple of new guys there replacing Malachi Singleton. So, you know, there was. There was a lot of ground covered. I think we talked to him for about half an hour. This was the first time we talked to him since fall camp of last year. I mean, we get coordinators twice a year and it's this week and once in fall camp. So it's, you know, we have to kind of get in as much as we can with them when we have them. And I think, you know, like you said, you always get a lot of insight from him. [00:04:30] Speaker B: We've got several sound bites to play for you here. If you want to watch the entire Petrino video, you can find that on our whole hog sports YouTube page. We'll start with just the offensive overview that he gave the players who have stood out to him in spring practice. [00:04:45] Speaker D: I feel like we're better and deeper in the offensive line. I like our running back crew. You know, it's going to be fun to see when we get to these scrimmages, the yards after contact and how many tackles we break. I think we're explosive there. Mike Washington gives us a little bit different of his speed, so that helps you be not to have to call so many plays. I like our tight end group. I think it's a good combination of size and strength and a really good route runner, catcher. We need to get Platt back full healthy, which he was the last two practices, because he can do both. He can be the big run blocker and also run and catch. He's a real talented guy. Receivers were a little bit different than we were a year ago when you look out there and see the size of guys. But I do think that we have some explosive players there. We're trying to find out who's going to be that one. Go to guy when you need a first down and that you can count on to get open and catch the ball when you're sometimes not open. You know, I think that's one of the things that we haven't done as well as I would like is to catch the ball in contested when you're contested and still be able to catch the ball. Cece has been the one that has done that better than anybody else so far. [00:06:06] Speaker B: When he says the size, they're. They're a smaller group of receivers this year. [00:06:11] Speaker C: They are, yeah. And that's something that Coach Pittman has talked a lot about. We've asked him about it. They mentioned and something somebody asked Petrino about was the idea of getting both Cam Shanks and Raylan Sharp, the two smaller slot guys, on the field together. Petrino said they do have a package that they can run at kind of different tempos that involves both of them because I think they feel strongly about both of them. Um, but obviously when you put them both in at the same time, you lose some size. Um, so you can only kind of use that in. In some specific situations. But we haven't seen that a ton in practice. So I'll be curious what that looks like. Uh, but yeah, I mean it is a different room size wise you do not have. I, I think you have some. And Nathan, I talked about this on the show last week. You have some. Go up and get it guys. Athletically you don't have like a bigger body. You don't have somebody that's long and tall necessarily. You have athletes, you don't have size. And you know, I asked a little bit about tight ends and kind of Pittman had mentioned that Rohan Jones, the new tight end, could be somebody that kind of fills that sort of big body receiver role because he has so much experience as a pass catching tight end from Montana State. And before. And you know, Petrino talked about him. I was interested to interesting to me that he mentioned Jaden Platt off the top because he's just a guy. We haven't talked about that much. Part of it is that he's been hurt. I don't know. I don't think we have confirmed what the injury is, but it's, you know, it's not major. He. He's been back kind of participating in practice more since spring break, but we haven't seen a lot of him. We haven't talked about him a lot. He doesn't have a ton of experience, but he was a guy that was at Texas A and M and Bobby knew him from there a little bit. And so I was interested that he brought him up kind of off the top by name there when he was giving the overview. But I think, yeah, the, the receiver situation is. There's a reason we've written and talked so much about it and it's because I think it's, you know, offensive line was a big question last year. I feel like receiver is such a huge question now because there's so much new. [00:07:58] Speaker B: They've got a couple of quarterbacks back, they've got a couple, three running backs back. Although they lost, you know, the Jackson who was their primary last year receivers. I mean it looks like a totally new group. Offensive line, there's a couple, three faces that we know, names that we know. But for the most part it's a very new looking offense for Arkansas just from a personnel standpoint. And this is what Bobby Petrino yesterday had to say about that. [00:08:25] Speaker D: Yeah, I can absolutely never remember a year. No, not at all. This is crazy stuff now. This is a new era. You know, you used to be like in January you'd get maybe two, three, sometimes five or six new players in. I think we had 49 or something like that this year, 49 new guys. So it's, it's different, but it's what we're having now. You know, the challenge is going to be, is to take that next step forward as an offense, as a group, being able to build on it and mature and get better. Because, you know, there's been a lot of new teaching and actually we reduced what we put in this spring. You know, I'm still going to go back to what my father taught me a long time ago is you got to get good at something, then you can move on and get better at something else. But we're definitely going to get good at something and then take the next step forward. I think what helps and makes me feel more comfortable is it's not at the quarterback position. You know, Taylon knows the offense. He's much more comfortable in it. Last year, sometimes it was, every day was a new day, you know, and, and new new coverages, new new blitzes, new this. Now he understands defenses a whole lot better and that allow him to operate our offense way better. [00:09:51] Speaker B: You know, I did chuckle a little bit whenever he said, I can't remember a time, you know, I mean, he doesn't stay places a lot of times from one year to the next. I think that, I think he's had something like 20 jobs in 41 years, which is crazy to think about because, you know, he had a four year stint here as a head coach. I think he had a couple of four year stints at Louisville as a head coach. And so what that tells you is that there are a lot of one year, go to the next job, go to the next job. But you know, and he hasn't, he hasn't been on one team to the next. I think from he was at Missouri State in 21, was at Missouri State again in 22, and this is the first time that he's been with the same team back to back seasons. But his point is when, I mean you think to whenever he was a head coach, that was during the era where you recruited players and you expected them to be there for a certain amount of time. There might be some that didn't work out and they'd move on. But you know, I mean, for the most part the guys that you recruited, you thought, hey, they'll be here for three years, four years, or at least hope they will. This is just totally different now because you're just building a new roster every off season. I don't know how many new players they have in Total. But I mean, I would suspect that of 85 scholarship players, you're probably looking at over half of them were not here last year. [00:11:11] Speaker C: Yeah. And to that point, somebody asked him, you know, have you personally met or interacted with the new general manager at all? Because Coach Whitman had said last week, you know, this is a guy that's going to be in the meetings. Now, he did just start, but this guy that's gonna be in the meetings and be, you know, working with us on, you know, what we have, what we want to retain and what we want to get and how we can do that financially. And Petrino said he hasn't really interacted with him since he's been here with Remy Cofield. And I asked him, you know, he said, that's above my pay grade. And then I followed up and asked him, you know, do you like that that's above your pay grade? Like, is this good for you? And he basically said, yeah, it's nice. I don't have to worry about it. He said at Texas A and M, he mentioned sometimes it's weird. You know, at Texas A and M, they was basically, you know, the coordinators, the assistants, they just didn't deal with that at all. And he said it would be weird sometimes because you would lose a guy, whether it was like, lose them to the portal or lose a recruit that you wanted for, you know, something that you didn't really have involvement in. It was a little bit out of your control, which I imagine for, especially for a former head coach that is very difficult to adjust to, is not having full control. But, I mean, when the NIL era started, he was at fcs, Missouri State. So he's, he's never been a head coach that had to deal with NIL the way that head coaches now do. And I imagine that is a big relief. I, I cannot imagine him enjoying that or, or thriving in that environment and, and in dealing with that. And so, yeah, he said that was something that he likes that he doesn't really have to manage these days. [00:12:34] Speaker B: I have to chuckle at him saying something's above his pay grade. [00:12:37] Speaker C: Yes. [00:12:37] Speaker B: Because any of the third highest paid employee in the state of Arkansas. [00:12:41] Speaker C: It's quite funny. [00:12:42] Speaker B: Caliperi, Pittman, Petrino. [00:12:43] Speaker C: Yes, that. And then when he talked about that, he referred to Nil as nil, which is something I've never heard before, which is very funny. [00:12:51] Speaker B: All right, so Ethan Westerman asked him a question yesterday. We'll play the question here. But. But basically the, the gist of it is he wanted to know after talking to Taylon about this grade sheet that Petrino gives his quarterbacks, and here's the exchange, Taylor said that you two have a full Excel grade sheet where you grade on decision making and execution. And I'm just curious, when you looked back with him and kind of diagnosed last season, what were the main things that stood out? [00:13:20] Speaker D: Did you say full Excel? [00:13:21] Speaker B: He said you all have a full Excel grades sheet. [00:13:25] Speaker D: What's Excel? That's kind of where I'm at right now with this technology stuff. So my Excel is to be able to get on the computer and do football. But I do write out a grade sheet, and I do think that Miles Fishback types it up. Maybe in Excel, maybe in Excel. I don't know about that, but yeah, that's what I believe playing quarterback is, is every single play we have a decision to make, all right, Whether it's stay with the play, called change the play, stay with the protection, called change the protection, drop back pass, holding the mic, keying the nickel, where I throw the ball, and then I have to be able to execute what my assignment is. Sometimes, like in the run game, we've got to be perfect on our footwork, perfect on our ball handling, and perfect carrying out our fake. In the pass game, it's as simple as I make the decision. I gotta be able to throw the ball and complete it. Doesn't do me any good if I can make great decisions and not be able to complete the passes that are there. And I've had quarterbacks like that, man, this guy knows what he's doing, but, man, he can't complete it. And then you've had quarterbacks that don't know what they're doing and throw the ball real well, but they get you in trouble with decision making and interceptions and. And stuff like that. So just how I've always graded a quarterback. I remember my first stint in the NFL, I gave Mark Brunel that grade sheet and he said, what's this? And I said, well, that's the grade sheet, man. He said, oh, I've never been graded since I've been in the NFL, so. Well, you are now, but that's how I believe you get better too, is that you understand what decisions I'm making and how am I able to execute it. [00:15:16] Speaker B: I wonder if he was, like, ahead of the curve in the NFL, because I can't imagine an NFL player now saying, I've never been given a grade. [00:15:24] Speaker C: Yeah, especially with, like, the reliance on things like pro football focus and things like that. You are getting graded for the minutia of everything? No, but it was really funny. Ethan's interaction with him there was hilarious. I like that you can hear my obnoxious laugh in the room. It really stands out. No, but anyway, I mean, it was. It was funny because that was something that Taylin had shared when he spoke to us earlier in the spring was about, you know, I can't remember who asked. It might have been me or Ethan asked about, you know, what have you. When you look back when you've reviewed last season and kind of what went well and what didn't, you know, what were those conversations with coach Pacino like? And he said that they would go through after every game and talk about these things. And I think they kind of did a season debrief too. And so they were able to pull out a lot of things that he needed to work on. And, you know, it's interesting to kind of think about and to hear from him a little bit about how much of last season and, you know, some of the things that didn't go as well. How much of that is down to Taylor needing to improve and how much of that is needing the people around him to improve. Obviously it's gonna be a little bit of both. You know, there's. You're never gonna just be able to flip the switch on one side of that and have it be perfect. But I think he. He feels like they have a lot that they can achieve with Taylin now in another year. And I think he sees a lot, especially in some of the decision making stuff like he talked about there, that Taylin can improve on. [00:16:42] Speaker B: So we know the NIL is above Petrino's pay grade. Apparently inputting data in an Excel spreadsheet is beneath it. I was listening to somebody, I can't remember who I was listening to, talking to about this, but they basically said, you know, like, when you become a college coach, it is as close to becoming a king as you possibly can get. And they're talking about head coaches, but I would probably put coordinators right there in a rung, right beneath it. It was like, hey, I need laundry, I need Sonic, I need someone to pick up my kids. I mean, it's like with so much snap a finger and yeah. [00:17:18] Speaker C: With how. How big these staffs are now and how many, you know, analysts assistant to whatever, you know, how many people there are on the staff. Yeah, you're overseeing a large operation. [00:17:27] Speaker B: Well, and as this house settlement. And we'll talk more about the house settlement later. And all the not today, but on a different show. And as you know, they try to get this thing home, the house settlement. You know, you're seeing colleges cut here, cut their cut. Football's not getting cut. Yeah, like it will not get touched. [00:17:49] Speaker C: No, I don't think, and I think that's something that's going to be really interesting to track at Arkansas and in other schools where football and basketball are both really important. Throw in baseball, how important baseball is to this, to the school here. That's going to be really hard because those coaches, you know, the football staffs are by far the largest because they have the biggest rosters and everything like that. But, but you know, there's going to be a lot of resistance from all of these programs, especially the high level ones like baseball and men's basketball, to getting positions like that cut. And everybody's kind of fighting for the same dollars and everybody feels like their sport is the most important. And how different athletic departments prioritize that. You know, we've seen, and I don't think this is happening at, I don't mean that this is happening in Arkansas right now, but we've seen it especially like at Kentucky a couple of years ago with Calipari and Stoops. There's been, you know, there's a history of little turf wars kind of between football and basketball programs. I think we'll see that more on a national sc. [00:18:38] Speaker B: I think that's what you're seeing a little bit in these basketball coaches who are moving around like Kevin Willard going from Maryland to Villanova. [00:18:47] Speaker C: I mean, Buzz Williams going from Texas to Maryland. [00:18:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, I mean, we know A and M is going to put all their money or the bulk of their money into the football basket. Whereas a school like Arkansas, they're probably going to divvy it up a little bit more. But I was thinking about Villanova basketball. They don't have a high level football program to support. They've got a team that's in the fcs and so those teams like a Villanova, like a Georgetown, a Marquette, where you don't have the football element like you have at some of the others. I feel like in Rev's era they're going to be able to totally push all of their chips in on basketball. And it makes me wonder, you know, I mean, I don't know that the teams that spend the most are going to be the ones that win, but I think they're going to win at high level. And I'm talking about, I don't know if they're going to win the championship, but I think they're going to win at a high level and they're going to put themselves in a good position to do that. And so it reminds me a little bit of track and field. In track and field you've only got like three or four programs that try to be this great. Hey, we're going to try to win across country, we're going to try to win indoors, we're going to try to win outdoors. What you'll see more than anything is you'll see like Northern Arizona, they'll push all of their money in on distance runners or Providence. I think they do this too. Maybe Villanova does too. But they're, they're these, the track coaches call them distance factories. And I think you're going to see that with some of these basketball schools. You're going to have some basketball factories because they don't have that football gorilla to try to feed. [00:20:22] Speaker C: Yeah. A few of us were actually talking about this at spring practice yesterday, just chatting about the house settlement hearing that happened the other day. And we were talking about the idea of some of these Big east schools that aren't that either don't have football or football is not at all the priority. And I think one of the things that will be interesting to track there is the house. You know, the 20 and a half ish million that schools have, that is not a requirement. That's a limit. So not every school is going to spend that much. And some of these big schools, they don't have that in the budget. You know, like schools like Arkansas schools on this level are trying to find that in the budget. They don't have even close to that sometimes. And so they will be able to put more, more of the money they have available for that toward basketball. But it still might not be always as much as some other programs are willing to because they won't necessarily be spending all the way up to that 20 and a half. [00:21:11] Speaker B: I still think they'll be able to outspend. [00:21:13] Speaker C: I think they'll be, I think it'll be competitive for sure. [00:21:15] Speaker B: They'll be able to outspend the teams that are trying to compete. [00:21:20] Speaker C: Yes. [00:21:20] Speaker B: In big time football. [00:21:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:21:22] Speaker B: Because they're, the basketball teams are going to get a cut and it's going to be a generous cut, but I don't think it's going to be quite what the schools who don't have football have to deal with. We got one more Petrino sound bite here, by the way. He was asked about backup quarterbacks and talked a lot about Madden. Iamaliaba. [00:21:39] Speaker D: Yeah, no question about it. You know, I think the biggest thing that you have to do on a backup quarterback is really know what they can do. And then you limit what you practice and you just try to get really good at at what. What it is that you're good at. You know, I thought that was the one thing that I knew last year is what Malachi's strengths were and what he was really good at and what he could excel at and make plays doing. And when he came in the game, that's all we did. So right now, you know, we're giving him this whole offense. We're trying to figure out, okay, this is what KJ is really good at. This is what Madden can do. You know, Madden's a special talent now. He can really get the ball out of his hands. He sees stuff and has a great quick release. I know there's times when he drops back and he doesn't know what the play is, but somebody pops open and he can, like, stick it and put it right on their hands. The last guy that I coached that did that a lot as a true freshman was Lamar Jackson. You know, where you don't see anything, but all of a sudden I throw a post for a touchdown and everyone's going, damn, how did he see that? You know, wasn't even in his progression. Now we do need to get him to know the place. There's no question about that. But that ability is something that, you know, is hard, hard to coach. And his vision is just something that's really good. [00:23:06] Speaker B: It's interesting to me that that response was actually to a question about K.J. jackson. [00:23:11] Speaker C: Right. [00:23:12] Speaker B: I don't know if I'm reading too much into that, but I know. [00:23:14] Speaker C: Me neither. Because the question. Yes, he mentions in the question, he mentioned KJ by name. He kind of said KJ and those other guys. You know, the question was about, do you feel like the backup quarterbacks, are you comfortable if you needed to use them in a game the way that you had to with Malachi Singleton last year? Now that Malachi Singleton is not here. And he kind of took it and used it to talk about Madden, which is. And Madden has been very impressive in practice. I mean, he is. Petrino is really hit it on the head, obviously, with. In terms of. When you watch him, the throws that he is making are so impressive, even if it's not necessarily what you expect or what the play is supposed to be or whatever. And that's to be expected with a freshman. And he mentions, of course, that, yeah, he needs to know the plays and we're going to get there. But he's just got here, you know, but he has really stood out in terms of the arm talent and in terms of the, the types of throws that he's able to make. It's different than what they have, I feel like with the other quarterbacks in that group. And the Lamar Jackson comp is so interesting now. He did, he compares him to freshman Lamar Jackson, you know, but that's so interesting because so often sometimes you'll ask a coach, like in any sport, you know, who does this player you have remind you of from other, you know, your coaching career? And a lot of times coaches don't like to draw comparisons. They're hesitant to do that because especially with somebody like Lamar Jackson comparing. Talk about setting the expectation high. But I do think it's interesting and I don't, I don't think he says that lightly. You know, I don't think he would say that if he didn't mean it. And like I said, he's comparing him to Lamar Jackson when he got on campus and the kinds of things that they were seeing him do and how he had, he showed so much talent even when he was still new to it and needed and had a lot of learning to do. [00:24:47] Speaker B: And just talking about a little passing characteristic, not necessarily the running. [00:24:50] Speaker C: Exactly. Yes. Very different. Very different. [00:24:52] Speaker B: Which is certainly what makes him one of the great players in the game right now. Well, today you can get the latest breaking news on all Razorback sports@whole hogsports.com Most in depth source for all Arkansas sports with analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today at whole hog sports.com Razorback baseball beat Arkansas State last night 7 to 3 at Bomb Walker Stadium. It was. I don't know that it ever felt like Arkansas was going to lose the game. But you know, you're into the fifth inning and you're down two to one. And I'm sure the thought crossed a lot of people's mind of, hey, is this number one ranking? Is this something that's going to weigh on the Razorbacks? Is this a deal where they're getting Arkansas State's best shot? Because their number one. I think more than anything else, Arkansas just had a bad night at the plate. [00:25:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's kind of the case too. And you and I talked about it, you know, early in the game about they feel pretty confident that they can. They have the firepower to. To get it back. And so they're not too worried sometimes with, you know, if a pitcher doesn't do as well or, you know, they hit Tate McGuire pretty well early. And so. But that wasn't, like, horribly concerning because you're pretty confident that Arkansas's offense can get it going. And they. And they did, but it was not what we've been accustomed to seeing. But I don't, you know, there's no reason to. To take massive conclusions from it. [00:26:07] Speaker B: I don't think I was talking to somebody last night, and the analogy that they made was that midweek games are like Forrest Gump, you know, box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. And that's true. I mean, you look at. Sometimes you beat a team 26 to 1, and sometimes you're in a slugfest, and sometimes you're in a wind tunnel like last week down in North Little Rock. You just never know. You know, those games are just bizarre more than anything else. And, you know, last night's game, I think it kind of went the way I thought it probably would from a final score standpoint. Arkansas State can pitch. And, you know, I was talking to somebody who's affiliated with their program last night, and this is not the Arkansas State of old. They've got a new coach in there. Mike Silva, came in from Nichols, had some. Had some success down there previously. And I just. I think this is going to be a team that's going to be a little bit more challenging of a midweek opponent moving forward than they've been since Arkansas began playing them in midweeks. [00:27:13] Speaker C: Yeah, it was interesting. I talked to Coach Silva after the game, and he was talking about how, you know, he said straight up, this is a program that historically has, like, we have been bad. And then he also said at the beginning of this season, they were bad. And over the last few weeks, he said, you know, the whole goal is to show improvement over the course of the season. And he said, you know, between their weekend series at Coastal Carolina last week, which is a top 25 team, are they still in the top 25? [00:27:36] Speaker B: Yeah, they're number 25. [00:27:38] Speaker C: So a top 25 team in Coastal Carolina, they take one of those games, they kept it competitive in the other games of that series. And he said, you know, the goal going into that series was to, you know, be competitive, was to do what we can. You know, obviously, the goal is always to win, but also when you're in. He kind of. He didn't say this, but kind of the implication that I took from it was, you know, you can take some moral victories when you're trying to build the way that Arkansas State is trying to build. And he said that was the same kind of goal with Arkansas. He was like, you know, the goal is never to lose. But he did feel like, aside from a couple of innings where they struggled, that they were competitive, that he, he liked what he saw from their ability to keep up with the number one team in the country. [00:28:16] Speaker B: And he said they're number one for a reason. And he was very impressed with Arkansas's ability to run out these pitchers in the midweek. I think that's really one of the things that sets this team apart, is you just don't see pitching, the caliber of pitching I think that they have on a Tuesday night, and especially when they can go all in on Tuesday. And I'm not saying they're going all in at the expense of the weekend. I'm just saying that when they don't have a Tuesday, Wednesday, and they're trying to figure out how to piece 14 to 18 innings together on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, when they can just say, hey, you go get an inning, you go get two innings, you get an inning. I think it makes them really tough to beat on a Tuesday night. And that was one of the things last night. Tate McGuire didn't have a very good start for Arkansas. He got hit pretty hard, but then, you know, he goes out and pretty much everybody comes in and they pitch really well. Ben Bybee had a dominant inning. Colin Fisher, I thought he was really good in his first inning. The second inning was just okay. Dylan Carter came in, got out of a jam, gave him another scoreless inning. Cole Gibler and Carson Wiggins also threw for the Razorbacks too. Wiggins, the first time we've seen him in a midweek since Feb. 25 against Grambling State. And Dave Van Horn said after the game last night, like he wants to pitch a little bit more. There are certain pitchers who feel like they pitch better on the weekend if they can get a little bit of, you know, time on the mound during the midweek. And I think Carson Wiggins might be one of those. Listen to him Talk last night. Eight pitches, eight strikes for Carson Wiggins. It was pretty impressive. Arkansas, two big swings. Charles Davlin, three run home run in the fifth inning gave the Razorbacks a 4 to 2 lead. And then Kahil Alloy hit a two run homer in the sixth inning to make the score 6 to 3. Davlin now, 12 home runs that leads the team. And I don't know what the total number is that he's had since SEC play began, but I know that eight of his 12 home runs have been in SEC play. And so this is at least 75% of his homers that he's hit in the last month of the season. And I don't see him slowing down anytime soon. [00:30:19] Speaker C: No, and this was not something that was kind of on the radar with him. Right. I mean, he was not kind of known as a power guy. He's already surpassed his home run total from last season. And I think that's something that we've seen from several different guys in this lineup. You know, they have a lot of guys here that we knew could hit home runs and you know, like Iredale was known for home run hitting. Aloy we knew had power, Kahi Alloy we knew had power and could hit the ball hard. But there's a couple guys, you know, like him, like Logan Maxwell, like Kojal even that you know, weren't necessarily wouldn't have looked at them and gone power hitter is, is what they're here for. And that's something that all of a sudden that they've developed and I think that's something that Arkansas likes to have. And it's, it's interesting. You know, you and I were talking the other day about, you know, we had heard a lot about Van Horn there a lot had been made, including by us about, you know, Van Horn's quote that we don't want to just have guys that can hit home runs. And a lot of people are like, okay, they're going to go to this more small ball kind of thing. And actually really what it's shaken out to be is that they can do both and that they can do both whenever it suits them to do either. [00:31:15] Speaker B: I think when you're not trying to hit home runs, that's when you hit home runs. And Davlin at Florida Gulf coast, he was one of the nation's best in doubles, I believe last season. And what you're seeing now, I think is just the line. He's got a little bit stronger and those line drives are starting to clear the fence a little bit and sometimes quite a bit. The thing about him is that there's a, there's this, there's this whole conversation about, you know, the clutch factor or players clutch. He's clutch. I mean, you think about the two out hit that he had against Ole Miss that got ve to the plate. It tied the game and then ve ends up giving him the go ahead hit. And you know, I mean, even last night, it's, it's a two to one game. I think they're going to win this game anyway. But when he came to the plate, it just felt like, hey, he's going to do something here. I told you before he came to play that I said, I think he's going to hit this guy. The starter, Cole Turner, who gave Arkansas State a real nice start last night. But they took Turner out and I think it's because they didn't want him seeing Turner for a third time. He'd already hit him once and I just don't think they wanted to see him a third time. Then they bring in a lefty. Three pitches later, the game is totally turned. [00:32:22] Speaker C: Yeah, it was. It's been interesting to watch Evelyn's season and you know, I think somebody had posted. You might have retweeted it or something. But I saw a post from, you know, a national. Well, that's true. You don't really do retweets. You don't. You're not a big social media guy. But somebody had reposted, you know, I think, and it was a national college basketball, college baseball person. I think about, like, not enough people are talking about Charles Devlin. And I think that he's quietly because I think maybe it's because of how consistent he's been. You know, he is quietly, like you said, one of the most reliable people that you have that, you know, when he gets up in a big moment, you don't have a lot of doubt that he's going to get it done. And it is that kind of clutch factor there that I think he has developed sort of quietly almost. [00:33:01] Speaker B: He's got 12 home runs from the leadoff spot. He's got 41 RBI from the leadoff spot. He'S hitting.410 right now. I was on the radio this morning. They asked me, do you think that he should be being talked about for the Golden Spikes Award? I don't know that I know enough yet about who the, you know, the top people are nationally to really make a, an informed opinion on where he is in there. But I will say this. I think if he continues at this pace, which is hard, but I don't know that it's. It wouldn't surprise me, I guess, is what I'm saying. Maybe, maybe. I mean, 12 home runs, 8 through 12 SEC games, you do that, you're ending up in that 20, 25 home run range. That'll get you that'll get you on the radar for some of these national awards. I think more importantly for Arkansas is that he just continues to set the tone for this offense at the leadoff spot. He's getting on base a ton. I mean, his on base percentage is.497. He's slugging 7 12. You're talking about over 1200 ops with this guy right now. If you can get that from your leadoff guy, that is really good for the entire offense. Regardless of whether or not he's going to get All America, All Conference, any type of individual awards. He's playing winning baseball for the Racebacks. Even last night from left field, he threw out a runner at third base. Just, just continues to make play after play and very, very impressed with him. Dave Van Horn spoke after the game last night and this is what he had to say about the Razorbacks win. [00:34:36] Speaker E: So that was really good. So, you know, offensively we did just enough. Five of the runs were driven in with home runs and I think both of them might have been with two outs. We struck out too much tonight. And you know, give credit to Arkansas State, they pitched really well and that's what they've been doing all year. They threw some of their weekend guys at us through their closer at us at the end and you know, a couple guys that started a little bit and you know, that was, that was interesting. But you know, I was worried about today after the long day on Saturday and then, and then, and then Sunday, the long day really just playing two games. Saturday we had to see if we were going to play and we were a little lethargic, but I think we woke up just enough and, you know, glad we got it, got away with the win. It's always a concern this time of year. The, the midweek games between conference it's, you know, you hope you can get a good start and get some good pitching and the hitters, you know, do a good job. I mean, Bowles, here he goes again. You get him in there, gets two more hits and. But we made some mistakes too. You know, we threw to the wrong base twice and from the outfield and it's a little frustrating, but we'll work on that tomorrow. [00:35:55] Speaker B: You know, they're playing their fourth game in four days and that may not sound like a whole lot to. So some people, you look at major League Baseball and they'll play five, six, seven days in a row, whatever it is that they do, but that's what they are accustomed to. College players aren't necessarily accustomed to Playing four and four days. And so in another. Another part of that press conference last night, Van Horn said that maybe it's not so much physical as it is mental, like mental fatigue with the Razorbacks after just everything that happened during that Missouri series. One quick note. The pep band was at the game last night. I have never seen this. I've always thought that it would be kind of cool to have a band at a baseball game because it's outside. It's, you know, kind of like football. I mean, it's. It's an SEC baseball weekend is like an SEC football weekend on a smaller scale. Yeah, but you got a, you know, you got five figures of people. It's outdoors, it's. There's a lot of, you know, pop to it. And the band was interesting last night. Van Horn said he liked it. I thought it was kind of cool. It brought a different kind of energy to the stadium. I wonder if we're going to see that again down the line. [00:37:05] Speaker C: I thought it was super cool. It was funny. My. My dad had texted me like a week or two ago that he had been watching. I think it was Florida State, and that Florida State had their band at a game. And he was, you know, wondering if I'd ever seen that. And I said no. And then I texted him last night. I was like, guess what's here? It's the band. And I thought it was. It was cool that when Dave Inhorn sat down for his press conference, he started with the band was awesome. And he talked a little bit more about it later after a question about it. But, yeah, I thought it was cool. I'm interested what it sounded like because, you know, they have microphones that they're playing it over the PA2. But it didn't seem as, you know, it's not as loud as, like, the regular music. So I was interested what it sounded like out in the hog pen or how much you could hear it. But, you know, we could hear them great. And it was. It was cool having them out there. I think. You know, it was funny. I feel like when they. When the first time they played, I was looking at the dugout and some of the guys were turning around like, oh, wait, what. [00:37:52] Speaker B: What is this? [00:37:53] Speaker C: Van Horn said he didn't really know that it was happen, but that he really liked it. [00:37:56] Speaker B: The reason they were there in the first place, Kelsey Musick, who's Arkansas's new women's basketball coach, she threw the first pitch at the game last night. And then before the game started, they had a meet and greet with her in the hunt center down the right field line. And there were band and cheer members who were at that and I guess they just somehow said, hey, let's take the band over to the baseball game. So I'm interested to see if this sticks. Like was this a one time thing or the, the other thing is on a midweek there are some chairs available. Yes. When Texas comes to town and Tennessee comes to town, it's different. There aren't gonna be any chairs available. You know what I mean? So I guess maybe they could stick the band out in those bleachers that nobody sits out in the hog pen. Yeah, but this was interesting. I'm, I'm, I'm interested to see if this was a one time thing or if it was. If it's something that, that may happen again. [00:38:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I can't imagine it becomes regular, but I do think it's something we could see a couple times, especially since Van Horn, you know, they got Van Horn's blessing, which matters a lot. [00:38:55] Speaker B: I think it'd be cool for like a Friday or a Saturday, big SEC weekend, see if that happens. All right, Christina, appreciate you being here. When we come back, Anthony Christensen is going to join us. We'll talk about a do thorough declaring for the NBA draft Arkansas final or Arkansas also in the final AP rankings that came out yesterday. We'll discuss that with Anthony in just a moment. But first, another word from Kendall King. [00:39:16] Speaker A: At 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 Kindle, 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 designed. [00:39:48] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back Wednesday about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com A Duther Thiero says that he is entering the NBA draft. No real surprise, I don't think there when John Calipari said at the end of the season that he thought a couple of players from this team would enter the draft. I think adu Thiero and Boogie Fland were the two that we thought were most likely, and those are the two who have declared, you know, different mock drafts have them at different places. But there is some belief that a Douthero could be a first round draft pick. A late first round draft pick certainly could be picked in the second round. I think it would be surprising, Anthony if he was not taken in the draft. I mean, I just think he will be taken. There's an expectation of that. [00:40:51] Speaker F: Yeah, I'd be stunned if he wasn't taken at all. I think most mocks have him late first, early second, and you know, this is the highest his draft stock has been. So I guess strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of that. And he had a. He had a really good season, obviously cut short because of his, his injury. But you know, you could see, you could see the NBA potential there when, when he was healthy. Right. And if he can add, you know, a more consistent jump shot, then he'll. He'll be, you know, more than ready for. Not that he's not already ready for the NBA, because I think he is, but he'll be more than ready for the NBA if he can just land a more consistent jump shot. And maybe that's just, just comes down to how they wanted him to play and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, I would be stunned if he wasn't taken physically. [00:41:39] Speaker B: He looks NBA ready. [00:41:40] Speaker F: Oh yeah. [00:41:40] Speaker B: And he has since game one this year? [00:41:44] Speaker F: Yes, absolutely. No, he's, I mean, athletically he's ready for it and I think his game is ready for it as well. It'll be interesting to see how he does and I'm sure he'll get a combine invitation and everything like that. So it'll be interesting to see how he does it in those environments. Could see if he can boost his stock a little bit and just to see how he does against the rest of those guys who are kind of in those similar positions of trying to boost their stock or go from early second round to late first round or late first round to earlier first round. I don't think anybody's thinking he's going to be a lottery pick, but maybe he impresses a ton in the combine and moves himself closer to that conversation. But yeah, physically he's, he's absolutely ready for it. I think athletically he's, he's ready for it and I think his game is ready for it. To be fully honest, I'm not sure what exactly to expect from him at the next level. Just Yet I don't know if we're thinking. You know, I think he'll be a contributor. Absolutely. I think is the baseline. [00:42:44] Speaker B: The great thing about draft is that you only have to impress one team. [00:42:48] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:42:48] Speaker B: That's it. I mean, you only have to. 29 teams cannot like you, but if there's one that likes you, that that's all that matters. Just you get a shot. [00:42:59] Speaker F: You just hope it's the Celtics you impress and not the Hornets. Sorry to my. To my Hornet fans listening. I don't know how many Hornets fans are listening to this podcast. I don't know if it's a lot, but I'm sorry for. [00:43:12] Speaker B: Although you can never tell. Here's what I've learned. You can never tell about pro sports fandom. Like, I've yet to figure out what makes someone a fan of each sports team. A lot of times it's regional. [00:43:26] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:43:26] Speaker B: A lot of times there's a bandwagon involved. You know, I mean, the team's good, so that's team you end up liking, especially if you're at a, you know, an impressionable age. You know, for me, it was because my grandparents were both fans of a team, and so that's, you know, who I'm a fan of. And. But yeah, I mean, it's weird. Like, you'll be driving around town and all of a sudden there's a Minnesota Vikings tag on a truck. Like, like, how do you become a Minnesota Vikings fan and live in faith? Now we live in a transient area. [00:43:59] Speaker F: Yeah. But, you know, a lot of people come here for school and stuff and work. But, like, I mean, I don't know. I'm a St. Louis sports fan. I'm from St. Louis. [00:44:06] Speaker B: So I was in. I was registering my daughter for school next year, and I was at a. One of the public school offices here the other day, and the person we were talking to had Seattle Seahawks paraphernalia all over the office. And again, it's just like, how, like, how does this happen? It fascinates me. [00:44:31] Speaker F: Now my NBA team is the Phoenix Suns. I decided at one point I wanted to get into the NBA, and I didn't want to pick a bandwagon y team, so I chose a team that hadn't made the playoffs in a decade, and then they made the NBA finals not that long after that. I don't remember exactly how long it was, but it was afterward. Yeah. [00:44:51] Speaker B: Okay, so back to Theo. There are seven players who have said. Or put this way, there are seven players from this year's team who are not going to be back. At least seven players. Some of them is because of eligibility, some of them is because they're going to the draft. Zvonimiravisich has transferred to Illinois. Right now, as it stands, D.J. wagner, Billy Richmond, Carter, Knox and Trevin. Brazil could come back to Arkansas. We don't know if they'll be back. They could come back. I suspect that at least two or three of that group will probably be back, although we don't know. You know, there's people that are asking, why haven't they announced they're going to be back? Like, when did we get to the point that you had to announce that you were going to come back? Like, when did we get to the point that that had to become an announcement? You know, there was a point in time where you committed somewhere and that was your school. And, you know, I mean, I don't think Corliss Williamson said after his freshman year, I'm coming back, I'm coming back for my sophomore year. You know, Pat Bradley never did that. Joe Klein. And it's just, it's weird now that there's this expectation because transferring is so prevalent that you have to make an announcement that you're coming back or people start to kind of freak out and hand wring. [00:46:16] Speaker F: Yeah, it's. I mean, it's just, I guess the current landscape of it, which, you know, we can argue all day about the health of, you know, the, the sport of, you know, guys jumping around all the time. Four schools, four years and, and whatever, and, and that stuff. I though, to be fair, I think honestly, like, if you're, especially with the nil kind of age we're in, I think for the most part it's probably in an athlete's best interest to at least test the waters and see what's out there. Because for a lot of these guys, this is the most money they're ever going to make playing basketball. So why not at least just see what's out there and see if you can, you know, take advantage of that. But I'm not sure, you know, where exactly this goes. And this kind of goes into deeper conversations about contracts and collective bargaining and stuff like that that I am not an expert on at this point in my life. So that, that is that. But it's certainly a different, a different time. And that goes into your. That's not even going into like transcripts and graduation and everything like that. That is hindered by transferring a ton. But yeah, I think it's. Yeah, it's very different. [00:47:34] Speaker B: College sports need two way contracts. They need, they need a contract that protects both sides to where if a player says, hey, you know, I know I've got another year left here at Arkansas, but I want to go, you know, see what else is out there. Fine, you do that. You give us $100,000. We've made an investment in you and we know you've got the money because we know what we just paid you. And so this is what it costs you to break that contract. Same thing goes the other way. Hey, we recruited you and you are not what we thought you were going to be. And so we're going to give you $7,500,000 to break this contract and then you're free to go out and look around at whatever you want to look at. [00:48:17] Speaker F: Yeah. And I think that's also, it kind of goes into a different conversation that's been happening at the mid and low major levels as well is like, you know, a player transfers from say Grambling State to Iowa State. And I don't think that's an actual transfer that's happened. It's just kind of the first schools that came to mind. You know, Grambling State gets nothing out of that. So there's been the, the idea floated by some different coaches and people around that like, what if Iowa State paid like a transfer fee for, for a player like that? [00:48:51] Speaker B: It would help those schools. [00:48:52] Speaker F: It would help those schools a ton. Yeah. And it, it would, yeah, it would be monumental for a school like, you know, some of those low and mid major schools that don't get the same funding as these power conference schools. But you know, would the power conference schools go along with that? And that's kind of part of this. [00:49:09] Speaker B: Whole strange equation colleges have to. And this is where you get down into the weeds. None of this, I don't think can happen until one of two things happens. Number one, the courts force it, which is what pretty much. I mean that's what has spurred every big change in college sports for the most part. Or the colleges voluntarily. And I don't think this is going to happen. Acknowledge that players are employees. [00:49:34] Speaker F: Yeah, no. So I would, yeah. Seems like that's going to be a courts. Yeah, a courts issue. Which, you know, maybe that comes sooner or later. I'm not sure, you know, when that, when to expect something like that. But it, it's a constantly changing landscape. Everything changes, it seems like day to day. So it's, it's, it's an interesting period to be covering college athletics for sure. [00:49:55] Speaker B: Arkansas Number 20 in the final AP poll of the season, number 25 in the final coaches poll. Both of these came out yesterday after Florida won the national championship, of course, Florida number one, Houston number two in both polls. Duke and Auburn are three and four in both polls. It's always interesting to me how everybody just kind of like to a certain extent, and I want to talk to you about this because you vote in the AP poll to a certain extent, everybody just kind of goes along with what happened in the NCAA tournament. And then I don't know where the cutoff is. Like, is it the Elite Eight? Is it the sweet 16? What is it to where. Okay, now we start to kind of analyze the entire body of work, not just what happened at the NCAA tournament. [00:50:40] Speaker F: Yeah. So, I mean, for this year, I don't think, and I think both polls kind of showed that I don't think you could have a different top four than Florida, Houston, Duke and Auburn just because of how dominant those teams they were. [00:50:52] Speaker B: The, they, they were the top four when the NCAA tournament. Yes. So, I mean, this is, this is pretty. [00:50:57] Speaker F: So it was, it was very much in that. Then, then you get to like the next group. So like, I did end up putting the, the other Elite Eight teams in the next eight. Not necessarily because I was like, oh, I've got to follow the, the way the tournament went, but like, let's see who, who made the Elite Eight a couple years ago that wasn't supposed to like, if a Cinderella team makes the Elite Eight. [00:51:21] Speaker B: Arkansas's made the Elite Eight before when they weren't supposed to. [00:51:24] Speaker F: Yes. Yeah. And I, I'm, I now that, that's a different conversation. But say like a Cinderella team, like a 13 seed makes the elite eight, like, are you going to rank that team eighth in the country in, in your final poll? I don't think I would just because I do kind of take into consideration the, the full body of work. So that's, that's kind of where, where I land on that. And like, I didn't have all the sweet 16 in my top 16. Like, I, I kind of changed some, some stuff up there, but that's just kind of where, where I, I land on it. But I mean, obviously the tournament is what you, what you play for. That's why you play the whole season is, is for the tournament. So I, I don't disrespect anybody who kind of goes round by round and ranks them that way. [00:52:09] Speaker B: Kind of interesting me. Some of the teams that are ranked ahead of Arkansas are teams the, the Razorbacks beat this year. You got Kentucky at 12, St. John's at 11 again. I know that they had better seasons. It's just, it's, it's. It's fascinating to me how, how people go about these rankings at the end of the season, because what you think and your philosophy and voter 2 and voter 3 and so on down the line, it can vary wildly. [00:52:39] Speaker F: Yeah, absolutely. Like, I, I ended up putting St. John's at 11 in my final poll just because, I mean, Big east regular season champion, Big east tournament champion, 31 wins, five losses. I didn't think that. And I had St. John's at seven, I think, in my, in my, my ballot going into the tournament. So I didn't think, you know, one loss to a good team especially should tank St. John's from seven to like, 19 or something like that or 20 or whatever. Just because, I mean, 31 wins in a power conference isn't exactly an easy thing to do. And like, I mean, that's a spectacular season. So I kept St. John's at 11. But I also, like, let's see, I like Iowa State, kind of got beat pretty bad in the second round, I think. Kept Iowa State at 17 just because I thought the season Iowa State had was. Was better than some of the teams I had below Iowa State. So, so is interesting and I don't know, I find it fun. I like it. [00:53:41] Speaker B: Eight SEC teams in the final poll. And I mean, the, the strength of the conference, I think, is reflected in the top six. You got Florida one, Auburn four, Tennessee five, Alabama six. The rest of the SEC ranked in the final poll. Kentucky is number 12, Ole Miss number 18, Texas A&M number 19, Arkansas number 20. So the Razorbacks finish in the AP poll, the final AP poll this year. You know, the AP poll. For people who don't know this, they changed how they do their polling a couple of years ago. Previously, the AP did not release a poll after the national championship game. The AP believed that the final poll was a. The. The team that was the best at the end of the regular season, that was going to be the number one team. And then the coaches poll, they did release a poll after the championship game. I don't know what changed, but beginning Last year, when UConn won for the second time, the AP began voting for the top 25 after the championship game in basketball, which falls in line with what the AP does in college football. It's interesting because the AP has for a long time voted for a final poll after the football playoff or bcs or whatever the format at the time was, they would vote after that ended, but they would not vote after the NCAA basketball tournament ended. So a little bit of a change. So when you look at Arkansas's final rankings in the AP from year to year, it can change a little bit just because the philosophy was different. 23 Arkansas team, they were not ranked in the final AP poll, but that team made the Sweet 16. And so the coaches ranked them at the end of the year. And so that's where you can find a little bit of variation there. [00:55:24] Speaker F: Yeah. And it's. I don't know if you. They just want continuity. I don't know. This is my first kind of half season in the, in the, on the AP poll, so I don't know how it, how exactly that that decision is made or how that went, but I don't know. I have fun filling out a ballot. I like looking at all the different teams, so I'm not going to complain about it. I had fun with it. So. Yeah. [00:55:46] Speaker B: So Arkansas ranked number 20 in the final AP poll, number 25 in the final coaches poll. They're ranked 16 in the preseason. Might be a discussion for a different day. Like, is this a finish that people would have been happy with had you told them that at the beginning of the season? I think they're certainly happy with it with the valley that they went through in January. So they finished number 20 in this final AP poll. Anthony, we appreciate you being here. We also appreciate our viewers, our listeners being here. We'll be back with another podcast tomorrow. Bubba Carpenter going to be in studio here. We'll talk Razorback baseball ahead of a big series this weekend. Number one, Razorbacks at number six, Georgia. Hope that you'll tune in to hear Bubba's thoughts. Until then, hope that we see you at our website, whole hogsports.com have a great day, everybody.