THE YEAR OF THE QUARTERBACK : Casey Dick : Arkansas
Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008
Casey Dick is blessed and
cursed all at once. He's fortunate to be playing in an offense that features the quarterback, that gives the trigger man plenty of range to dictate the action, after he played three seasons in a subsidiary role for the Razorbacks.
"It's good to have some pressure on your shoulders,"Dick said.
Dick also happens to be presiding over a transition season, a rough stretch when Arkansas' offensive personnel - mostly recruited for a power running game - is gradually adapting to Coach Bobby Petrino's attack.
"I think it's gone all right,"Dick said of his play as a senior. "It hasn't gone as well as I would like it to be, so I've still got improvement to make."Dick became the first Arkansas quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in consecutive games and led the Razorbacks to victory, thanks to two fourth-quarter comebacks, against Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe.
Much of the goodwill Dick built up in the first two games dissipated in lopsided losses to Alabama and Texas, when Alabama returned two first-half interceptions for touchdowns and Texas sacked Dick six times in Austin. Dick bounced back with a solid 220-yard performance in last Saturday's 38-7 loss to Florida, continuing a wild ride that started when his redshirt was taken off seven games into his freshman season. "Casey's kind of been up and down,"Petrino said. "A lot of times the quarterback goes as the team goes. When you're getting great protection and guys are making a bunch of plays around you, the quarterback plays real well.
"When you have individual breakdowns in protection, and you don't get any big, big plays, the quarterback takes the brunt of the criticism."
Dick accounted for six touchdowns in Arkansas' first two games and led the SEC in passing for the first five weeks of the season before dropping behind Georgia's Matt Stafford this week.
He averages 237. 8 passing yards per game, easily a careerhigh, and he has completed 59. 4 percent of his passes.
Dick hit key fourth-down passes during the fourth-quarter comebacks against Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe and even used his legs, scrambling 23 yards for the first rushing touchdown of his career against Western Illinois, then ran for his second touchdown of the game to clinch that victory.
But Arkansas has been outscored 139-31 during the past three weeks, and Dick's efficiency rating has tumbled to 123. 9, eighth in the SEC.
"He's had some good things and some things we can improve on, obviously,"offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. "The other day [vs. Florida ] he played pretty good the first three quarters, and he needs to play a lot better in the fourth quarter."
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