Offense puts smile on QB’s face
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — If there were any doubts the face of Arkansas football has changed, they were erased by the expression on quarterback Casey Dick’s face following Saturday’s Red-White game.
“It’s not sore at all,” Dick said, with a smile, of his right arm after throwing 49 passes in the Red team’s 45-14 victory.
Dick, a senior who has been more of a caretaker than a playmaker in his first three seasons, is being asked to lead first-year Coach Bobby Petrino’s Spread offense. He received a passing grade from Petrino and offensive coordinator Paul Petrino after completing 33 of 49 passes for 404 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception Saturday.
“He’s worked really hard at understanding the offense,” Bobby Petrino said. “I think he’s worked just as hard at trying to understand defenses, what coverages they’re doing. Now he’s starting to put the two together, being able to distribute the ball according to the play-call, but also according to what the defense is doing.” Sophomore tight end D. J. Williams and junior wideout London Crawford were Dick’s favorite targets Saturday, pulling down 9 and 8 catches, respectively. Williams gained 80 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown, while Crawford gained 82 yards, including a 4-yard score.
Sophomore Carlton Salters had seven catches for a gamehigh 108 yards.
“It’s going to look like a completely different Razorback everything,” Williams said of next season.
Perhaps no player will be asked to play a more dramatically increased role than Dick. While he said trying to grasp Petrino’s offensive schemes was “a little difficult at first,” he believes the offense showed significant improvement over the Razorbacks’ 15 spring workouts.
“We didn’t even do everything right tonight and everybody still sees how it works and pieces together,” Dick said. “It’s a great offense to be in.” The new offense also comes with more responsibility for Dick, who frequently is required to change pass protections and play-calls.
“If you see a look and you don’t like it, you’re able to change the protection, change the whole play if you need to, so it’s squarely on your shoulders,” Dick said. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing and study a lot.
“ It’s a lot of pressure, but that’s just the nature of the position.” Williams said Dick has taken the bigger role in stride.
“Early in the spring he was a little hesitant making checks at the line, but you can see as time goes on he’s getting real comfortable reading the defense and making checks,” Williams said. “He’s just being more of a vocal leader, you can see in the huddle he’s confident, and that’s the kind of quarterback you want to go into battle with.
“ I think he’s going to surprise a whole lot of people next year.” Dick deflected such praise, pointing out the Arkansas defense didn’t show a lot of the looks typical in an SEC game. Still, there’s no doubt the face of Arkansas football — and that of its quarterback — has changed.
“When you come out and your coach lets you run the offense, the coach lets you go through your reads, pick out what you want to do, it’s great for him,” Crawford said of Dick. “He’s very happy about this offense... and having a great time.”
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