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UA, Ole Miss missing running game Sunday, Jun 1, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Often used to illustrate the loss of scorers from a basketball team, the percentage is a talking point more than anything else. For instance, when the Arkansas media guide comes out in the fall, Robby Edwards can point out that 70 percent of the Razorbacks' offense went away with six seniors. Despite those departures, I suspect Arkansas will equal or better its 2007-08 average of 74 points per game. In football, the percentage is a bit more difficult to replace, particularly when the production specialists are both first-round picks in the NFL draft like Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. When they exited a year early, they took with them a one-season total of 2,992 yards - almost 90 percent of Arkansas' rushing production, according to Southeastern Conference snapshots of the 12 league teams. The bright side is that McFadden and Jones were so prolific and Arkansas was so top-heavy with the running game, the Razorbacks will not need to produce 287 yards per game on the ground and will not even try to duplicate that number. Under Houston Nutt, Arkansas ran the ball 625 times in 13 games. Auburn was next in the SEC with 543 attempts and only two other teams topped 500. LSU ran the ball 612 times, but the Tigers played 14 games. Bobby Petrino's team will run the ball, but big plays are more likely to come from the passing game. Ironically, Nutt's old school and his new school are the worst by far in the category called percentage of rushing statistics returning. With the departure of BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Bruce Hall, Ole Miss and Nutt are at 5.1 percent. Nutt's proclivity for the running game is cited in Ole Miss' spring football review and his words will be familiar to Arkansas fans. "I really feel like you've got to be able to run the football in this league and be able to throw it when you want to," he said. South Carolina has 39 percent of its running game returning with Mike Davis accounting for 518 yards in 2007, but every other team in the SEC returns at least 56 percent of its production. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State and Tennessee are above 90 percent. Petrino's commitment to the passing game and numbers from 2007 illustrate the opportunities for Arkansas' wide receivers, both new and old, and how often the Razorbacks threw to the backs. Arkansas' leading returning receiver is tight end Andrew Davie with 14 catches. Every other SEC school has a wide receiver returning who caught at least 28 last year and seven of them grabbed 43 or more. Arkansas only completed 179 passes last year and Peyton Hillis caught 49 of those. McFadden and Jones grabbed a total of 37. Petrino's first recruiting class includes five wide receivers, highlighted by Central Arkansas Christian's Joe Adams, who committed to USC when Nutt was in charge in Fayetteville. "We really see his opportunity to play early and help us early in this transition," Petrino told Hawgs Illustrated. Greg Childs, Chris Gragg and Jarius Wright, all of Warren, and Cruz Williams of Pulaski Academy are in a similar situation. Surprisingly, Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick threw for more yards than all but three of the returning SEC quarterbacks, Tim Tebow of Florida, Matthew Stafford of Georgia and John Parker Wilson of Alabama. Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU have quarterbacks returning who passed for a total of only 284 yards. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
