Monday, September 30, 2013

Top 20 QBs to Play in Fayetteville: Preview and #16 - #20

After watching Johnny Manziel, or, as he's popularly referred to, "Johnny Football," put on a show against Arkansas at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium last Saturday, I started thinking about all of the great quarterbacks I've seen play against the Razorbacks.

Just last season, I saw A.J. McCarron lead Alabama to a 52-0 win. A few seasons ago, I saw Terrelle Pryor beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. When I was eight years old, I saw the Razorbacks beat an Ole Miss team led by Eli Manning.

I did some research and found that Arkansas has played several legendary quarterbacks through the years. They played, and lost to, all three of the Mannings (Archie, Peyton and Eli). Heisman Trophy winners Jim Plunkett, Gino Toretta, Matt Leinart and Cam Newton have also beaten the Razorbacks. In bowl games, NFL greats Y.A. Tittle, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady squared off against Arkansas.

However, many of these quarterbacks never had the opportunity to play in Fayetteville. Like I mentioned above, some only played Arkansas in bowl games. Some only played Arkansas at their own home field, while some played in Arkansas, but only in Little Rock.

Over the next few days, I will be unveiling my list of the 20 best quarterbacks to ever play in Fayetteville. I tried to place the most importance on each player's college career, but I also considered their professional success.

Here are No. 16 through No. 20.


20. Jay Cutler - Vanderbilt


Cutler would probably be higher on the list if he played on a better team. Nonetheless, he had a successful career with the Commodores and is now the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears. He led Vanderbilt to a 28-24 victory over Arkansas and accounted for three total touchdowns at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in 2005.


Photo from bleacherreport.com


19. King Hill - Rice

A three-sport letterman (football, basketball, golf), Hill was an All-American and led Rice to a Southwest Conference championship in 1957. After being picked No. 1 overall in the 1958 NFL draft, Hill spent 11 seasons with three different franchises. In 1956, the Razorbacks beat him and Rice 27-12 in Fayetteville.

Photo from riceowls.com

18. Larry Isbell - Baylor

Despite being named an All-American in 1951 and selected as the seventh overall pick in the 1952 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins, Isbell signed with the Boston Red Sox in the MLB. After two seasons at the AAA level, he decided to go back to football and played six seasons in the Canadian Football League. Arkansas defeated Isbell’s Bears 27-6 at Razorback Stadium in 1950.

Photo from fanbase.com

17. Tommy Kramer - Rice

A first round selection in the 1977 NFL draft, Kramer spent 14 years in the NFL and was a Pro Bowler in 1986. Before the NFL, he was an All-American in 1976 and held numerous school records for over 30 years. Kramer was 0-2 in Fayetteville, falling 25-6 in 1974 and 41-16 in 1976.

Photo from news.rice.edu

16. Don Trull - Baylor

Trull won the Sammy Baugh Trophy in 1961 and 1962 as the best passer in college football and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1963. In 1962, Arkansas beat Trull and Baylor 28-21 in Fayetteville.

Photo from footballfoundation.org

Stay Tuned
No. 11 - No. 15 to be released Oct. 1
No. 6 - No. 10 to be released Oct. 2
No. 1 - No. 5 to be released Oct. 3

TAT: Bielema Pleased With New Personnel


This article originally appeared on September 30, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Three true freshmen got their first starts at Arkansas against Texas A&M Saturday and head coach Bret Bielema said he was pleased with all three.
“We had a lot of young players play extremely well,” Bielema said in his weekly press conference Monday. “They really impressed me.”
Freshman offensive linemen Denver Kirkland and Dan Skipper started at the guard positions, where they helped Arkansas gain 6.7 yards per rush and held the Aggies to no sacks.
“They played with a lot of energy,” Bielema said. “We limited what they had to do, but they’re both extremely large, physical, athletic and play with a lot of energy.”
The other true freshman that got his first start was Korliss Marshall. The coaches had intended to redshirt him after not playing him in the first four games, but he started as the kickoff returner against Texas A&M.
He also saw action at running back, with one carry for 16 yards. In the return game, he returned three kickoffs for 74 yards, including a 38-yard return that gave the Razorbacks good field position on their first possession.
“(Marshall) is a guy that we’ve been excited about,” Bielema said. “I almost played him at the beginning of the season and he just kept getting better and better.”
With sophomore running back Nate Holmes still nursing an ankle injury suffered last week, Bielema said that Marshall would have an expanded role Saturday. He will continue working as a returner, as well as the third-string running back.
Junior cornerback Tevin Mitchel suffered a head injury against the Aggies, but will participate in a limited practice Tuesday and should be able to play Saturday, Bielema said.
Despite not playing against Texas A&M because of a hip injury suffered in the Rutgers game, senior linebacker Austin Jones will also play Saturday. Bielema said that Texas A&M’s spread offense, as well as the injury, played into the decision not to play him.
Arkansas’ next opponent, No. 18 Florida, is facing injuries of its own. Junior quarterback Tyler Murphy made his first start against Kentucky Saturday, after junior Jeff Driskel suffered a season-ending broken fibula against Tennessee the week before.
Murphy completed his first 13 passes against the Wildcats and finished 15-for-18 for 156 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also had a rushing touchdown for the Gators.
“He is a very good player,” Bielema said. “You make your biggest improvement from game one to game two and he gets to prepare the whole week as the starter.”
The Gators will also be without senior defensive tackle Dominique Easley, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week in practice.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. and will air nationally on ESPN2.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

TAT: Hogs Fall to Aggies in Classic Game


This article originally appeared on September 28, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Arkansas (3-2 overall, 0-1 SEC) fell to No. 10 Texas A&M (4-1 overall, 1-1 SEC) in a classic 45-33 shootout on a rainy Saturday evening at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Johnny Manziel proved again why he is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, completing 76.7 percent of his passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns. He also extended plays with his feet and gained 59 yards on nine carries.
“I give a lot of credit to A&M,” head coach Bret Bielema said. “Johnny Manziel is a great player, a great competitor. He makes things happen out of nothing.”
In his first game since being injured in the first quarter of the Southern Miss game, sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen was 17-for-36 for 282 yards and three touchdowns, but his two interceptions were costly.
“I thought Brandon Allen was outstanding,” Bielema said. “To come in the way he did, with a limited about of practice, was impressive.”
Senior kicker Zach Hocker made a 39-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to pull the Razorbacks within four points and make the score 24-20.
The Razorbacks received the second half kickoff with a chance to go ahead for the first time in the game, but Allen threw an interception that was returned 34 yards by Deshazor Evans for a Texas A&M touchdown.
Arkansas had two more possessions with the chance to go ahead of the Aggies, but both times they went three-and-out.
Texas A&M got on the board first with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Manziel to Mike Evans. The Razorbacks responded with a touchdown drive of their own, capped by a 12-yard pass from Allen to sophomore wide receiver Keon Hatcher.
The Aggies regained the lead with another 75-yard drive, this time ending on a 2-yard run by Ben Malena.
After the teams exchanged a pair of field goals, Evans caught another touchdown pass for Texas A&M. Manziel found him in the back of the end zone and completed the pass in traffic.
Following Allen’s pick-six, the Razorbacks answered with a quick 4-play, 75-yard drive that featured two long completions to freshman tight end Hunter Henry and two runs by freshman running back Alex Collins. Collins punched it into the end zone from nine yards out.
“We have responded well to adversity all year,” Bielema said. “We knew we could come back and we needed a big drive there.”
Sandwiched between third and fourth quarter Texas A&M touchdowns, sophomore running back Jonathan Williams had a 19-yard touchdown reception in which he spun off one defender and broke four tackles before diving for the pylon.
Collins led the Razorbacks with 116 rushing yards on 14 carries. It was his fourth career game with over 100 yards on the ground. He needs one more to tie Darren McFadden’s UA record for most 100-yard rushing games by a freshman.
“I thought Alex Collins provided a spark,” Bielema said. “He and Jonathan Williams did some good things.”
Williams finished with 120 total yards, with 53 yards on 10 carries and 67 yards on four receptions. In the passing game, Henry had four receptions for a team-high 109 yards.
For the Aggies, Evans hauled in six catches for two touchdowns and a game-high 116 yards. Four different players ran for at least 40 yards for Texas A&M, led by Trey Williams, who had 83 yards on nine carries.
During the game, junior cornerback Tevin Mitchel suffered a head injury.
The Razorbacks return to action next week for their first SEC road game against No. 20 Florida. The Gators are coming off a 24-7 victory at Kentucky.

TAT: Students Crash A&M's Midnight Yell

This article originally appeared on September 28, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.


Texas A&M had its traditional Midnight Yell practice Friday night in the parking lot of Har-Ber High School in Springdale.
Hundreds of Aggies fans gathered to practice their cheers for the Arkansas game at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Dru Bledsoe, a 1991 graduate of Texas A&M and member of the Ozark A&M Club, has lived in Springdale for 15 years and helped organize the event. She said that she expected between 500 and 1,000 people to attend.
Among those in attendance was a large group of Arkansas fans.
“We welcome the opposing fans to come,” Bledsoe said. “We’ve never, that I can recall, had any problems with opposing fans. We want everyone to come and see what our tradition is about and enjoy it.”
For Texas A&M fans, it’s not only a time to practice their cheers, but also a time to get together and enjoy the company of friends and fellow fans.
Andrew Magness, a 2005 graduate of Texas A&M, tries to go to one away game every year and always attends the Midnight Yell the night before.
“Midnight Yell is an important part of us,” Magness said.
Like Bledsoe, Magness said the opposing team’s fans are usually “courteous” and “welcoming.” However, he has been to a few before Texas games that haven’t been as smooth.
“There’s been a couple times we’ve had some Midnight Yells get hairy in Austin,” Magness said. “Generally, fans are nice and just like to see what we do and we like to see what they do.”
When the event started, a large group of Arkansas fans marched together, calling the Hogs and singing the fight song.
For the rest of the evening, the Razorback fans were constantly singing and chanting. Some even brought air horns and megaphones, trying their best to interrupt the Midnight Yell.
UA student Tyler Glover was camping for the game when he heard rumors that Texas A&M fans would be doing their Midnight Yell just 15 minutes away from Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“They have a lot of guts because here we are,” Glover said. “I give them respect, but they’re definitely taking a risk of having their opponent’s fan base coming to their pep rally.”
Many UA students, like Jennifer Fore, went because they wanted to show the Aggies that they had school spirit, too.
“I just came here to support the Hogs,” Fore said. “I’m all about school spirit, so that’s why I’m here.”
The Aggie Yell Leaders took the chants by the Arkansas fans in stride, stopping every once in a while to fire a joke about Arkansans.
“I hope my younger siblings don’t give up in the second grade and start kissing my cousin,” one Yell Leader said.
The Texas A&M student body president, Reid Joseph, who is a graduate of Har-Ber High, also took shots at the Arkansas fans.
Razorback fans were so loud that it became difficult to hear what the Yell Leaders and Joseph were saying, but when the Aggie fans started their chants, they overpowered the smaller group of Arkansas fans.
The Yell practice lasted about 30 minutes, ending just before 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.


Here's a look at the group of Arkansas fans, including one waving the Arkansas state flag.

Here's a look at the Texas A&M Yell Leaders leading one of the cheers. I then pan over to the Arkansas fans.

Here's a YouTube video I made. It's a slide show of pictures from the Midnight Yell and includes audio from it. (There are only 9 different pictures. They play on a loop so all of the audio would fit.)

Friday, September 27, 2013

TAT: Aggies Defense Prepared for Hogs' Rushing Attack


This article originally appeared on September 27, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

After playing a pass-heavy SMU team last week, Texas A&M is preparing for a vastly different style of play against Arkansas, Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin said in his weekly press conference Tuesday.
The Mustangs pass the ball 70.5 percent of the time, while the Razorbacks run 71.1 percent.
“The way they want to play the game is to line it up and run it at you,” Sumlin said. “Then here comes the play action pass off of it.”
It is the second time in two weeks that the Aggies have had to prepare for a different offense than the week before.
Two weeks ago, they played Alabama, which has a balanced offense, then had to shift gears for SMU’s spread offense. Now they are shifting from playing the spread to playing the run-heavy Razorbacks.
“We’re going from big-boy football to spread and back to big-boy football,” Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said. “It’ll be another challenge for our guys.
A key to the Aggies stopping Arkansas’ rushing attack will be senior wide receiver-turned-linebacker Nate Askew.
Last year, in a 51-10 blowout win over the Razorbacks, Askew made a six-yard reception, which proved to be his longest of the season.
He will be making his first career start at linebacker Saturday in Fayetteville.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Snyder said. “Nate’s up for the challenge. It’s a chance for him to show us that he’s become a complete player.
“Against the spread, we knew what he could do because of his athleticism. This week, it’s going to be about his toughness.”
Snyder said that Askew and the rest of the Texas A&M defense will try to “build a wall” to stop Arkansas running backs Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins.
The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will air nationally on ESPN2.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

TAT: Fate Kept Bear Bryant From Coaching at Arkansas


This article originally appeared on September 26, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

When people think of Paul “Bear” Bryant, they think of his iconic houndstooth hat and six national championships at Alabama.
However, many tend to forget that Bryant coached at Texas A&M before the Crimson Tide and don’t realize that he was almost the head coach at Arkansas twice.
Bryant grew up in Fordyce, Ark., before playing college football at Alabama. Following his playing career, he went straight into coaching.
In 1941, he was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, but after the season, he took the head coaching job at Arkansas. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, Bryant never made it to Fayetteville.
As he was driving to Arkansas from Nashville on Dec. 7, 1941, he heard the news of Pearl Harbor on the radio. He immediately turned around and joined the Navy.
After serving in World War II, Bryant took the head coaching job at Maryland in 1945, and then became the head coach at Kentucky in 1946.
He led the Wildcats to their first and only Southeastern Conference championship in 1950 and was again offered the head coach position at Arkansas, but he turned it down and stayed at Kentucky through the 1953 season.
In 1954, he became the head coach of the Aggies.
His first season in College Station was rough, as the team went 1-9 after going through an infamous 10-day training camp in Junction, Texas. During the camp many players quit. The 37 “survivors” were nicknamed the “Junction Boys” and became the subject of a book by Jim Dent, The Junction Boys.
Dent mentions that Arkansas offered Bryant the head coaching job in the early 1950s when he quotes what Bryant said during contract negotiations with Texas A&M.
“I had lots of offers from schools all over the country,” Bryant said. “The Arkansas people flew me in and offered me an oil-and-gas deal about three years ago. I’d be a millionaire today if I’d took it.”
The Aggies improved greatly in Bryant’s next three seasons, going 24-5-2 and winning the Southwest Conference title in 1956. In 1957, John David Crow won the Heisman while playing for Bryant.
Following his short, but successful stint at Texas A&M, he was hired at Alabama and the rest is history.
After failing to sign Bryant in 1941, Arkansas went through seven head coaches in 16 seasons. They compiled a 72-86-5 record over that time span and only beat Bryant’s Aggies once.
The same year Bryant took over at Alabama, the Razorbacks hired Frank Broyles, who led them to one national title and a 144-58-5 record.
Texas A&M struggled without Bryant, as well. In the 14 seasons following his departure, they had three head coaches and an overall record of 45-92-6.
Bryant died in 1983 with 323 victories, which was more than any other head coach in college football at the time.