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| Fri, Nov. 21, 2008 |  |
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| | Don't be fooled by Smith's number
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003 By Harry King SHREVEPORT, La. - Red laser pointer on ready, Dave Wommack sat in the dark and watched film of Missouri trying to pass off Brad Smith as a quarterback. To help with the con, Missouri went so far as to assign him No. 16, a quarterback number. The Tigers would like for their opponents to prepare for Smith in the same way as they prepare for most other quarterbacks who are in the shotgun a majority of the time. Quarterback, indeed. Smith is every bit as much a running back as any Single Wing tailback who ever took a deep snap from center. "Instead of a one-back set, it's a two-back set," said Wommack, the coordinator responsible for the defensive game plan when Arkansas plays Missouri Wednesday night in the Independence Bowl. Consider the evidence. Missouri tailback Zack Abron finished the regular season with 1,018 rushing yards, almost 300 yards behind Smith. It is almost unheard of for a quarterback to run for 1,310 yards. During the Tigers' 8-4 year, Abron carried 200 times - only eight times more than Smith. In seven games, Abron had more carries than Smith. But, in four of those games, Smith was more productive. In fact, Smith ran for more than 100 yards seven times, including 291 against Texas Tech and 195 vs. Iowa State. Wommack expects Smith to carry 16-20 times, sometimes on some sort of misdirection. He also will imitate a tailback on isolation plays and throw in an occasional option. Much of the stuff that the Tigers do with Abron sets up a play for Smith. In one film clip, Wommack watched the Tigers pull a guard and a third tight end to the right to lead Abron who lines up extremely deep. Next, Smith faked to Abron and fell in behind a pulling teammate going left. "It's like an option from the standpoint that you have to really account for the quarterback," Wommack said. "Normally, you don't account for the quarterback except to rush him. They actually gain another number on you that normal teams don't, just like the option." Unlike Matt Jones running the option, Smith is not asked to make many decisions. For instance, when he fakes to Abron and takes off on a counter play, it is designed. The whole package messes with the minds of linebackers. "They're used to having one guy they're reading back there through the line and knowing there's a good chance it's going to go to the split end side because of where he's lined up," Wommack said. "Now, all of a sudden, your reads are confused. You've got some different training on your people, where their eyes are at and so forth." For particulars from the Arkansas perspective, ask again after the bowl game. "If I had to get ready for them in a week, it'd be tough," he said. "I can see why they do it, because it's different." Missouri might not muscle up and run over Arkansas, but the Tigers don't have to overpower their opponents. "Their linemen do a great job simply because they always have angles on you," Wommack said. They create those angles with misdirection and by pulling and leading Abron or Smith. Even though Smith's running gets much attention, he threw for more than 2,300 yards as a freshman and needs 178 in the bowl game to reach 2,000 this year. If he gets it, Smith will be the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to twice run for 1,000 and throw for 2,000 in a season. He has 3,132 yards total offense this year, second in the Missouri record book to the 3,362 he compiled last year. He completed only 53.6 percent last year, but he is over 60 percent this year. To combat the double-barreled running threat of Abron and Smith, defenses often are shorthanded against the pass and Smith does not have to make great throws. "Because of the numbers, you leave four or five guys out there for coverage and leave six guys inside the box and he's going to run it on you all day," Wommack said. "Their inside people, if they've got more of them than you've got, he's going to win that battle. It's simple Xs and Os." ----- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media Group's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
