Ask Mike: Dissecting Cal’s Presser, College Baseball’s Big Change & Is Petrino’s Power I Offense a Real Thing?

This morning John Calipari had his first major press conference since he was hired. It was at Bud Walton arena and lasted 45 minutes.

Q. Lanny has a question about that. He says: Been reading about Cal’s presser. Did he really say he’d done no team work with his players so far? Just individual development?

A. Sort of. He didn’t say they hadn’t worked against each other five on five. He said they have not started to install any offensive or defense sets or schemes. The focus has been on individual development. A lot of it has been directed toward getting them in shape with morning weight lifting sessions. He said a couple of parents have been in this summer and the first thing they noticed was the physical change in their sons. It’s noticeable. He talked about foot work and using their arms. He said, we are a long team but you have to know how to use those arms.

Cal also said this will be a speed team but that speed has to be refined. He’s bringing in a sprint coach from the track team to teach them how to run faster. He also placed a heavy emphasis on mental toughness. He said his players will have arrived when they are uncomfortable but he can’t see that they’re uncomfortable. Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

He also wants them to become their own biggest critic. They will be in the right place when they are more critical of themselves than he is, Cal said.

Then there was this phrase: Think big. Work bigger. He said he can feel the excitement but it will take much more than that to be what they can be as a team.

He spent a lot of time making it clear that he’s not coming in to make Arkansas a basketball school. It already is one. He mentioned that it’s July and BWA is already sold out. He talked about his best years at Kentucky when Kenny Payne was on his staff and how Payne is back with him at Arkansas. But then he said, you know who else had a run like that? Nolan Richardson in the early to mid 90’s.

Cal indicted that he and his staff are going to need a lot of people to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to help. “When the season is over, if we are successful,” he said, “there may be as many as a thousand people who can say, I played a part in that. I pitched in to help.”

Finally he was asked if he and his wife feel comfortable in NW Arkansas. He said his wife grew up 2 1/2 hours from Fayetteville in Missouri. They’ve already made a trip there by car. She’s happy here. He said he’s lived in college towns before. He likes it. He said they moved into a house at the end of a street next to a golf course. He said he can get up in the morning and walk his dog with his hair messed up and nobody sees him, so he’s happy.

Q. mousetown wants to know: Did Trevon Brazile explain why he left Arkansas and then came back? Was he mad at Muss?

A. He didn’t mention Muss. He was fairly low key. Just said he decided he needed more development as a player before staying in the NBA draft. Coming back to Arkansas under Cal to get developed was a no brainer. He likes the way practices have been going. He’s said when he was at Arkansas and playing against Cal he had no idea how tough Kentucky practices were.

Q. TL Slaten says: I know that Cal likes to recruit nationally but I’m worried that he might overlook Arkansas and Oklahoma kids. We have some top talent in this area too.

A. We got this question a few weeks ago. I let it sit at the time to see if Arkansas would make some in-state offers. Since then they have. Also this morning Cal clarified Ronnie Brewer’s role on the staff. I was under the impression that Brewer was strictly a player relations guy. Actually he’ll be in charge of recruiting in Arkansas and surrounding states including the Dallas area. He will also be in charge of bringing former Arkansas players back to campus to speak to current players. He wants them to absorb the culture of the program and understand its history.

That is huge IMO.

Q. WVHogfan says: We are picked to finish 14th in the conference and only had 1 pre-season all conference player. Will the team use this disrespect as a motivation? Seems like we have a history of having our better seasons when we aren’t expected to do so. Until we have consistent success on the gridiron; do you agree with me that we will still be considered to be cellar dwellers along with Vanderbilt.

A. You’re referring to the SEC Media Days Poll. It’s been proven to be inaccurate once you get past the top two or three picks. There are some really good members of the SEC media but they are greatly outnumbered at Media Days. Most of those voting do little if any homework. They base their picks on what is said at Media Days.

Yes the team is going to use that poll and a general disrespect around the SEC as motivation. They’ve been doing this since last December.

I also agree with the idea that with more consistent play season-to-season, Arkansas would poll better.

Q. Inhogswetrust asks: With the coming increase in the number of scholarships how about having it like before when there were junior varsity teams in football?

A. When they had JV teams freshmen were ineligible to play what was called Varsity football. In those days there was no jumping early to the NFL. You played a JV season and three varsity seasons. However is sounds like to me your proposal is similar to what we had when I was in high school. If the coaches determined during two-a days that you weren’t likely to play in a game when the season began they put you on the JV team. This team consisted mostly of freshmen but the were some upperclassmen that worked out with the JV’s and played in games with them. They could promote you to the varsity at any point. This usually happened because of injuries. The value of this system is that if you suddenly were needed on the varsity team you hadn’t just been standing around as a blocking dummy in practice. You were practicing in the same offense and defense and actually playing in games.

However, these days the cost of having two college teams playing separate schedules would be an issue. I don’t see this ever happening.

Q. robs4516 says: Winning the field position battle is key to teams that may be out-talented. What are your thoughts on how good our kick coverage units will be, both punt and kickoff? Or just special teams in general?

A. Because of the increased chances of injuries coaches don’t usually go full speed in the kicking game in the spring. So I couldn’t give you a good answer of the field position aspect of the kicking game for this fall with regard to blocking or tackling. Arkansas will have a new punter unless he were to get beat out in the preseason. Devin Bale won the job last spring after transferring from Northern Colorado where he averaged 41 yards per punt and pinned the ball 14 times inside the 20 yard line. Those are good numbers.

The punt and kickoff returner will continue to be Isaiah Sategna. He made the SEC All freshman team. His 23 kick returns for 500 yards and 15 punt returns for 180 yards and one touchdown was good for 6th on the all time Arkansas list, so Arkansas looks to be in good shape there.

The big change in the kicking game is with the field goal kicker. Cam Little is gone after an outstanding career. He will be hard to replace. Matthew Shipley won the job in the spring. He’s a transfer from Hawaii. Last season he was 14-for-18 (77.8%) on field goal attempts with a season-long 51-yard made field goal. That looks good but he was inconsistent in the spring game going two for four. He missed a 45 yarder, made a 40 yarder, missed a 40 yarder and made a 33 yarder.

Q. Tommy Thompson says: Thankfully the talking season is almost over. I hate reading social media between the last baseball game and the start of football. Yak Yak Yak. Hopefully we’ll start getting some real information next week.

A. Not so fast. Preseason football doesn’t really tell us that much. First of all the media is usually restricted to the warmup periods. We don’t see a lot. Typically we’ll see some one-on-one battles between receivers and D-backs and the QBs throwing but not under a heavy pass rush. We can’t really tell much about the running game and I think it will be way more important this season than most fans realize.

We’ll do our best to cover what we see but it will be the OSU game in Stillwater until we get a real look at this team.

Q. eddylynn wants to know: What’s the real story on Arkansas and NIL money in recruiting? Are we losing players because we’re getting out bid? If so why? Are our boosters cheap or just mad? Why was the Edge program a bust?

A. I keep hearing that Arkansas is not as far behind as some fans think. In terms of so called “grassroots” NIL money, money from average fans instead of big boosters, Arkansas is behind schools like Missouri and Ole Miss who have done a good job of tapping into that segment of the fanbase. Edge program is still in place. There was a change in the administrator by the company that manages it.

Reading the reactions on social media by a lot of Arkansas fans, there was resistance to the decision to outsource the program to an outside company. It was also an out of state firm and some indicated that they believed the cost to administer the program was too high. They believed that too much of the money they would donate would go to this firm instead of athletes.

Also there is a percentage of Razorback fans who don’t like the idea of buying players. They want kids to come to the U of A because they like the coaches, the facilities, NW Arkansas, etc. The hiring of John Calipari and the way he’s used NIL money to rebuild the basketball program may help fans accept the idea that for now. The fact is until the courts decide that enough has been done to let student athletes share in the huge money that college athletics generates, schools are going to have to play the bidding game to get quality athletes.

Q. KYHog says: I guess Hogville is one of the sponsors of Ask Mike. So I signed up. The fans there are talking about things I didn’t see last spring. Like Petrino going to a full house backfield. A power running game. Is that real?

A. That story came from a local online website that generates Razorback content. I don’t personally recall Petrino talking about it in the only press conference we had with him back in December. I didn’t see anything in the spring to suggest that a power running game is going to be a major part of the offense. But if you read the article it makes a lot of sense. With preseason practices starting this week we will get two press conferences with Petrino before the season opener. I’m sure he will be asked about it and we will look for evidence of a power running game in the limited part of practices we will see.

Q. Sglies wants to know: Can we keep these basketball commits a secret? Every time Calipari lands a 5-star player Kentucky fans come out of the bushes to remind us that it won’t matter because he can’t coach. I can’t wait until he beats their butts.

A. That’s the only way it will stop, if he beats them and if Arkansas does some damage in the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas does have to go to Lexington this season. That’s going to be a wild game from a crowd standpoint.

What amazes me is the way some of these Kentucky fans find their way onto the Facebook pages of Arkansas fans. I was reading a discussion between a Razorback fan I know and several of his friends on Facebook about the 5-star recruit that Cal landed last week, supposedly the number one high school point guard in the nation. Suddenly a couple of Kentucky fans popped up and were posting that stuff about, enjoy it while it lasts. He can recruit but he can’t coach. You’ll see. Bla Bla Bla.

I don’t know how they found the man’s Facebook page.

Q. Pigsfeat asks: Can you explain the increase of scholarships in baseball and how this will likely play out?

A. Full scholarships for college baseball will go from 11.7 to 34. Basically every player who starts or plays a lot will have a full scholarship. Right now only top recruits get a full ride. Most players are on a partial scholarship. With this and the addition of NIL money I really think college baseball coaches will have better success in getting high draft picks out of high school to go to college. Currently, and for years, kids who come from families that can not afford to supplement their son’s educational and the cost of living expenses had no choice but to encourage him enter the minor league system out of high school. This rule change would not only help the players it would help college coaches in recruiting and make some players’ decision to play a full four seasons instead of going pro after three, easier to make.

Q: RazorAlex88 asks: Courtney, if you had the power to make changes for next year’s CFB game, what would some be?
I would definitely make it able to play any game of a dynasty mode season outside of the one you are coaching.

A. Courtney – For me, it has to be the fact that there isn’t cross play for Dynasty Mode right now. My boyfriend has an XBox, I have a Playstation and we would love to play that mode together. Another thing I would change is re-record the announcers when it comes to Arkansas names, they recorded Isaiah Sategna and Luke Hasz’s names wrong!