Fernando Carmona growing comfortable with move inside to guard

FAYETTEVILLE — Fernando Carmona is set for what likely will be an outstanding senior season this fall.

Carmona, 6-5, 325, has made the move from left tackle to left guard with the addition of Corey Robinson II from Georgia Tech. Carmona was one of the key players on an improved Arkansas offensive line last fall. Eric Mateos, who coaches the offensive line, and Sam Pittman were busy recruiting and adding to the offensive line.

“Yeah, a lot of growth,” Carmona said. “That’s been the biggest thing and just kind of seeing people step up, rise up and for me playing guard it’s been a lot of learning. Moving inside is kind of something that I wanted to do and it’s just been, it’s been really hard, because – moving from tackle, you’ve got a lot of space to now you’re moving inside and everything’s happening, bam, bam, bam. So, just kind of getting comfortable in that spot of learning how to pull and being a guard. It’s been a lot of learning but it’s been a lot of fun because I’m learning something new and just trying to get better each and every day.”

Like Carmona, E’Marion Harris returns and is also versatile enough to play inside or at tackle. Kobe Branham will also return from injury so Carmona likes this offensive line..

“It will be better than it was last year,” Carmona said. “And I know that for a fact. Just the way the group is, the way we’ve meshed, I mean in these 15 practices and just the depth that we have. [E’Marion] can move in and out. Kobe coming back, having that knowledge, Caden (Kitler), bringing in Corey, bringing in Shaq (McRoy), having Keyshawn (Blackstock) come back for another year. A lot of the freshmen coming in, these guys are stepping up, playing great ball, learning the offense really fast. It’s been amazing. This group has really grown from what I came into last year to where we are now, you know, it’s a whole 360– it’s a whole 180 of the group that we had last year.”

The Hogs were busy bringing in help on the offensive line from the transfer portal. Robinson, Kitler, McRoy, Kavion Broussard and Marcus Dumervil all came from the portal and Bubba Craig from junior college.

“They’ve taken huge steps,” Carmona said. “Coming in from that first practice, obviously a new playbook for them and a lot of learning for them, but they all learned really quick. Corey is a special talent that guy can pass-protect his butt off. And so, I’m really excited to play next to him. And Kitler, he has this dog mentality and so I really just love the growth in between those two. And then Shaq is just kind of that, he’s going to be our glue guy and he’s really showing tremendous, tremendous growth and just kind of his mental – he’s a younger guy, but he’s starting to realize, ‘I’m about to be playing on Saturdays and I got to really lock in.’ You’ve just kind of seen him grow that mindset of like, ‘You know what this is, this is going to be my life and let me lock in.’ And so it’s been really fun to see being an older guy and watching that younger guy kind of just grow each and every day.”

The portal opened Wednesday for 10 days. Carmona was asked if he follows recruiting from the portal since just last year he was one of the top Hog targets?

“Yeah, I don’t have too much involvement right now,” Carmona said. “Obviously if a coach is like, ‘Hey, I want you to reach out to this guy, helping me recruit this guy’ I’m going to be on it right away. Because at the end of the day, this is the SEC and this is the best of the best. And that’s what we want to come in. Like I said, being in the SEC we’re going to get beat down. We’re going to need everybody from the ones to the twos to the threes to the fours we’re going to need everybody. So whenever they ask for help in the portal we’re going to be there but as of now we’re just kind of laying back and seeing how it all shakes out.”

Carmona was asked who has been the biggest surprise for him this spring?

“Yeah, I think for me, Ian Geffrard and then Danny (Saili),” Carmona said. “I don’t know what his last name is, but those two guys have stepped up in a huge way. Obviously we had EG (Eric Gregory) and Cam (Ball). Cam’s hurt right now and EG took off for the draft, and those guys have really stepped up into that starting role and showed, ‘Hey, I’m here to play and I’m going to play my best ball.’ They’ve shown me, hey, I need to bring my A-game every single day. It’s been great for me because I’ve been growing, they’ve been growing and we’ve just been getting better together.”

Travis Williams has implemented some 3-3-5 into his defense. What are the challenges going against that defense?

“There’s not really much they need to work on,” Carmona said. “They played us hard Saturday. As an offense, we didn’t have the performance we wanted to, but I think just the way they’re able to disguise blitzes and bring stuff off the edge, these safeties are kind of rotating, you don’t even see it and it just happens like that. That’s just kind of T-Will’s defense. It’s a lot of different looks and then the blitzes come at you. It’s really a lot on the offensive line’s eyes because we’re looking up, we’re trying to see what’s going on and it’s like, man, it just seems like chaos sometimes. That’s what makes them special and that’s what makes the defense run.”

While the spring game is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m., Carmona has been following the weather reports that have definitely put the game in jeopardy.

“Most definitely,” Carmona said. “This is, I mean, our last spring game, and we owe it back to you guys. You guys don’t get football for another few more months, and we want to show you guys the product that we’ve been working on for these last 14 practices, and we want to show you guys what we have in our arsenal and what it’s going to look like next year, because I think you guys are going to be happy with the product on the field.”

While some coaches have stopped doing spring games others, such as Deion Sanders, have suggested playing against other schools. Carmona offered up his thoughts on that.

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Carmona said. “I’m a fan of competition, whichever way it comes. A little bit, sometimes, it gets a little bit old practicing against the same people, the same looks. You get the same moves, so yeah, I think it would be a nice little refreshing aspect to play somebody else, and it kind of gives you something to look forward to, toward that last game. Not saying that I’m not looking forward to the spring game, but it would be nice.”

Thursday marked the 14th practice with only Saturday remaining. Does the vibe change?

“Just going out there and realizing the urgency of getting better right now,” Carmona said. “We only have 15 practices to get better. When you go out there and step on the field and the buzzer strikes for the first period, you realize you’re not going to get that time back, so all the to the wall and give it everything you’ve got.”

Carmona admits that practicing in the stadium is special.

“Most definitely,” Carmona said. “Stepping into that stadium means everything. When you step in there, you’re playing not even for yourself, but you’re playing for the people that played back in the past 20 years from now. There’s definitely a sense of it’s bigger in the stadium, but that’s good. That pressure kind of adds to the aspect of practice and it makes you play better and adds to the element of getting better at practice.”

The running back room is an area that has impressed Carmona. Mike Washington has wowed observers this spring. Braylen Russell is back and seemingly primed for a big year. Rodney Hill topped the 100-yard mark last Saturday in the scrimmage and had two long touchdown runs. Cam Settles, AJ Green, Tyrell Reed and the rest have made it a very good group.

“Man, we got a lot of great running backs back there,” Carmona said. “I could talk on and on about them. Braylen, obviously getting hurt, that was really scary for us. But you know, we got Rodney Hill, we got Big Mike. Mike is going to be one of those players, where we give them the ball and he’s gonna make a play, and you’re gonna be like, ‘Yeah, that’s that’s why we brought him to Arkansas’. There’s a lot of other guys back there that have been doing amazing –– AJ Green’s been playing amazing. But, you know, that’s just a special room. They’re really deep. They all care about getting better. I love blocking for them, cause, you know, they help us out a ton, even when we miss our blocks, they make us right and they make us look good. So I love ’em all.”