Ask Mike: Changes in the Secondary? Taylen Green Update & Should You Be Worried about Cal’s Guys?

Q. Our first question is from: Hawgredneck who asks: Should I be worried about our basketball team? Counting the exhibition games we are just 2-2. I know Baylor is a top 10 team but they got hammered by Gonzaga.

A. Cal Predicted this before the first exhibition game. He said they’d had a lot of injuries in the preseason period. They weren’t able to scrimmage much. Their best inside player, Jonas Aidoo, didn’t play at all in the two exhibition games. He’s played limited minutes in the two regular season games. Against Baylor they trailed the whole way. Yes Baylor got blown out by Gonzaga. I didn’t see that game but Jimmy Dykes said that Baylor tried to play man defense and got cut to pieces. They zoned Arkansas the whole way and it was really effective in the first half. The second half Arkansas did a better job against the zone. Cal said they hadn’t worked against a zone in practice. Once they had a full roster he concentrated on facing man defenses which most teams use. The entire team had trouble getting shots to go down both from the outside and inside. Two players, Adou Thiero and Boogie Fland, were the only Hogs in double figures. Baylor’s scoring was much more balanced.

Should you be worried? That’s up to you. I do think there are some things to be concerned about. Cal says in time the shooting problems will be fixed. The ability to switch off against a pick and roll offense, which Baylor ran well, will also improve, he said.

Q. KYHog says: I watched the big guy from Tennessee last year. He’s really good. How long until he’s full speed? The Hogs really need him. Right now I’m surrounded by Big Blue Nation fans who are driving me crazy.

A. No timetable has been given. I’m not sure the injury has been fully explained. Cal just says he’s bring careful with Jonas Aidoo, bringing him along slowly. I do agree with you. They need him at 100% sooner than later. As far as the Kentucky Fans, I feel your pain. They are the most annoying fans in college basketball. Not too many of them around here. I know you are retired. Move to Arkansas.

Q. HL McCamish says: Our seven footer looked really good until the Baylor game. What happened? Just a bad game?

A. If you go on the Internet you will find fans who say that Baylor was too athletic for him. That he was too slow. Some have compared him to Conner Vanover.

I don’t agree with that at all. I think he had an off shooting night. Baylor did out-quick him several times. He just needs some help. Aidoo will provide that when he’s 100% and playing more minutes.

Q. Armon Abbe says: In the Baylor game the Razorbacks got within three points with two and a half left. Baylor then made a layup and I noticed and neither of Arkansas’ big men were in the game to defend around the basket. Was there a reason for that?

A. Cal wasn’t asked about that. I can only assume that is was a situation where he felt a smaller, quicker line up would match up better with who Baylor had in the game. Clearly that wasn’t the case but coaches don’t get to make decision like that after the fact. They have to guess and sometimes they guess wrong.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy wants to know: Do you think Cal may have been a little disappointed in the attendance for the opener? I think we need to get to a point where an off attendance night is 14-15k. Giving your basketball tickets to someone who wants to go, given the current state of the program, takes very little effort.

A. The Lipscomb game may not have been what it looked like. I’ve been told that there were a couple of traffic accidents on I-49. A lot of fans turned around and went back home. Also it was the day after the election and a lot of fan stayed up past midnight watching the results. So it’s a little too early to see if that crowd of around 8,000 is gonna be typical for a midweek game this early in the season.

I was told that Cal did ask about it. Was this what he should expect? Wednesday should give us a better look. Troy is 2-0 with wins over Toledo and New Orleans. Arkansas is coming off a loss. It will be interesting. When Cal was hired and after he had completed his roster I said that I thought the arena would be almost full even in the November games.

Q. mousetown asks: Where you surprised that Auburn was able to win handily against Houston? Watching the Arkansas game Jimmy Dykes raved about how impressed he was with Houston. Also Auburn appeared to have some issues going into that game.

A. One big issue. Two of Bruce Pearl’s players got into a fight during the flight to Houston. The pilot turned the plane around and took them back to Auburn. Pearl left them there and the team plane flew to Houston for the game. I’m not real surprised. Pearl is an in-your-face kind of coach. He thrives on controversy. Often a team takes on the personality of its coach.

Q. To football where RazorAlex88 says: I don’t feel as bad about the Ole Miss loss seeing how they harassed Georgia. We have another Top 5 team coming to the Hill. I have a feeling the team will be ready. Razorback Nation definitely gotta bring it.

A. I hope you are right. This is a much better Texas team that came to Fayetteville in 2021, especially at quarterback. No question the fans will be fired up. But what about the players? Sam Pittman said he’s shown his players video from several Arkansas-Texas games going all the way back to 1964 because he wants them to understand what this game means to the fans. He does think that will help. But the bottom line, Arkansas can’t be the team that played Ole Miss, not in the secondary. If that situation doesn’t change it will be another lopsided game.

Right now Texas and Ole Miss look like the best two teams in the SEC to me. Of course that sort of thing seems to change from week to week this season.

Q. WVHogfan asks: What changes in our defensive scheme will need to be made to keep Texas from throwing for 600 yards against us?

A. Okay, possibly some good new here. Jaylon Braxton, who is Arkansas best cornerback and has been out since the Oklahoma State game, may play. He was dues to practice on Monday. That could be huge. Also Pittman announced an open competition for three of the four positions in the secondary. I’m guessing but T.J. Metcalf would appear to be the one player whose job is safe back there. Pittman said he didn’t do this last year when the secondary went backwards at the end of the season and he regrets it.

Finally, he said defensive coordinator Travis Williams has taken steps in the bye week to better disguise the pass coverage.

Offensively he said Taylen Green is fine. That’s really good news. Ja’Quinden Jackson is another player who will practice Monday. They are hopeful he will be back but the coaches will have to wait and see.

As a side note, Pittman also announced that he will have surgery immediately after the Missouri game and he hopes to be back working by the opening of the transfer portal in mid December. That’s also when bowl practices start. So those rumors that he will retire because of hip surgery after the season is over don’t square with what the head coach said on Monday.

Q. PorkLink wants to know: How do they decide which players get playing time? Obviously, Sam has the final say but who has the most influence?

A. Pittman hasn’t specifically addressed this but I’m pretty sure he leaves those decisions to the coordinators. He may be involved but in most instances it’s their call. I also believe that the coordinators give the position coaches a big say in this. In that whole business of the two tight ends who were were dismissed from the team, it looks like they complained to Pittman that their position coach wasn’t playing them enough. That would indicate they they believed playing time at that position was determined my the tight ends coach.

Q. that’llduepig says: There is a mathematical possibility that there will be seven teams tied for first place in the SEC race! Is it still one versus two?(One of the three-way tide for seconds) Or do they pick the top two of the ones. Could you please clarify?

A. Step 1: Head-to-head competition: This is the easiest tie-beaker. Did Team A beat Team B?
Step 2: Record vs. all common conference opponents.
Step 3: Record against highest placed common conference opponent in the conference standings, and proceeding through the conference standings among
tied teams.
Step 4: Cumulative conference winning percentages of all conference opponents among tied teams.
Step 5: Total scoring margin vs. all conference opponents among the tied teams.
Step 6: Random draw.

Q. whippersnapper wants to know: Should the SEC fine Ole miss more for storming the field early before time expired?

A. Yes.

Q. parallaxpig asks: Do you know if this court settlement to pay players will be distributed to the sports that generate the revenue, evenly distributed among all sports or something in between? If football doesn’t get lion share of revenue I see trouble.

A. Supposedly each school can decide the distribution formula and the revenue sports will be given priority. I’m also told that the NCAA expects lawsuits over this but has been led to believe from legal experts that it will win such lawsuits.

Q. Pigsfeat asks: Do you follow Hogs who make it to the Pros? Do you have any favorites?

A. Not usually. I don’t follow pro sports much. Just not real interested. If there’s an ex Razorback I really liked and he/she is excelling, I’ll watch. I used to watch the Raiders when D-Mac was playing. Jacksonville for Matt Jones. More recently Treylon Burks with the Titans although he’s on injured reserve and hasn’t done well there. Hopefully they’ll trade him. He deserves a fresh start with another team. If Jaylin Williams were playing more I’d probably watch OKC NBA games.

However my sports viewing is usually limited to Arkansas and other SEC teams. It’s my job.
I spend so much of my time dealing with college athletics, in my spare time I play golf and work on projects around the house.