Freshman backs asked to step it up
Posted on Friday, September 26, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas tailback Michael Smith needed to have an intravenous fluid injection at halftime of the Louisiana-Monroe game.
He didn’t need the IV during his second game, Saturday’s 49-14 loss to Alabama, but Smith, 5-7, 173 pounds, could still use some relief in the Arkansas backfield.
Smith has 338 rushing and receiving yards in two games, while the other Razorbacks ball carriers have totaled 45 yards from scrimmage, including eight rushes for 13 yards.
Smith’s 124 rushing yards per game ranks second in the SEC, and he led the Razorbacks with 67 receiving yards in last week’s game. But Smith has been most productive in the first half of games, rushing 28 times for 205 yards, an average of 7. 3 yards per carry. In the second half, Smith has carried 13 times for 46 yards (3. 5 per carry ).
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said Arkansas has put together different personnel groupings this week to ensure more time for the backups, to give Smith a chance to be fresher in the second half.
“We need to get De’Anthony [Curtis ] going and Dennis Johnson going and maybe Brandon Barnett to give him a breather so he doesn’t have to carry the ball or take that many snaps in the first half, because that does wear him down,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said.
Smith’s 51 touches and three touchdowns in two games has Texas on the alert.
“We’re going to have to contain him because he can be a really big threat,” Longhorns linebacker Rashad Bobino said. “He can break the long run really quick.”
Asked what he did well in the Alabama game, Smith said: “I kept coming. I didn’t stop, even when they had big hits, and they had a few of them.”
Johnson and Curtis each carried six times in the opener against Western Illinois, when Smith was sitting out, but have been quiet the past two weeks, combining for 11 offensive touches. Johnson contributed heavily on special teams against Alabama with six kickoff returns for 142 yards.
But all that could change.
“I worked a lot of reps at running back [Tuesday ] with the first team, so I believe this game me and De’Anthony should be getting a lot of reps,” Johnson said.
“Coach said they’re trusting me more. They’re trying to get me more involved,” Curtis said. “They’ve got me trying to step my game up, trying to fill the shoes that they want me to fill.”
Curtis had room for a big gain on a screen pass against Alabama, but juked too early and was tripped up by cornerback Marquis Johnson, who had fallen under a block by tackle Ray Dominguez.
The biggest reservation Arkansas coaches have with giving the freshman backs more snaps has to do with pass protection. “Reading the blitzes and all that coming in, it’s very hard,” Johnson said. “You don’t know where the blitz is coming from.”
Smith said he is trying to help the freshmen, just as he got assistance from Darren McFadden and Felix Jones the past couple of seasons. “I think it all boils down to they just need to be more focused in our meetings, so they know exactly what’s going on,” Smith said. “So when Coach Petrino decides he wants to put them in, it doesn’t disturb any flow of the game. So, hopefully everybody will buckle down and be more mentally prepared for this Texas game.”
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