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Arkansas Football: Spring ball brings hope for progress under Chad Morris

By Connor Muldowney

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - OCTOBER 27: Head Coach Chad Morris yells to Ty Storey #4 of the Arkansas Razorbacks in the first half of a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Razorback Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Commodores defeated the Razorbacks 45-31. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
FAYETTEVILLE, AR - OCTOBER 27: Head Coach Chad Morris yells to Ty Storey #4 of the Arkansas Razorbacks in the first half of a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Razorback Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Commodores defeated the Razorbacks 45-31. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Arkansas football enters its second spring under the direction of Chad Morris, but can he have better luck this time around?

Chad Morris’ first season with Arkansas didn’t go quite as planned as the Razorbacks finished just 2-10 and couldn’t muster anything on the offensive side of the ball.

Attrition has run rampant, but Morris is also getting his guys into the program, such as early enrollee Trey Knox who could help right away on the offensive side of the ball.

The defense, too, needs work as it allowed 413 yards per game a season ago, but there’s really only one direction to go as a program this spring.

Transfer quarterback looking for fresh start

Ben Hicks decided to take a leap and join a familiar face in Fayetteville, transferring from SMU to Arkansas to join his former Mustang head coach Chad Morris. He passed for over 9,000 yards and 71 touchdowns in his SMU career, but decided he wanted a fresh start at a program that desperately needs a quarterback with Ty Storey and Cole Kelley both transferring.

Will he be the starter, though? The job looked like his without any hesitation up until a couple of weeks ago when the Razorbacks landed Texas A&M transfer Nick Starkel.

We won’t see Starkel this spring, but it’ll be interesting to see just how motivated Hicks is to secure that starting job.

Offense taking shape

One of the reasons Morris was hired by Arkansas was because of his offensive mind. He was one of the best coaches in college football, in terms of offense, but the Razorbacks averaged just 335 yards per game in his first year.

Now that he’s getting his guys in place, including Hicks and Starkel under center, we should see a surge on this side of the ball. The backfield is talented, too, with Rakeem Boyd and Devwah Whaley as well as Chase Hayden emerging.

The receiving corps shouldn’t be a problem, either. Michael Woods had a strong freshman season as the team’s third-leading receiver and incoming freshman Trey Knox will be a name to keep an eye on this spring as he was the top-rated early enrollee for the Razorbacks so he could have an immediate impact.

Everything depends on that offensive line. Will the losses of three seniors with starting experience be overcome?

The year of Rakeem Boyd

Buckle up, Razorback fans, this is the year of Rakeem Boyd. The soon-to-be junior JUCO transfer didn’t get a ton of carries in his sophomore season with Arkansas, but finished with a team-high 734 yards to go along with two touchdowns on 6.0 yards per carry.

Boyd was a popular name because of the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U and he lived up to the hype but he’s just getting started.

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This is a big spring for Boyd and you can expect the bandwagon to fill up after he turns some heads once again and puts the offense on his back.

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