Jim Harris: The Enos Effect Clearly Apparent with Brandon Allen

If Brandon Allen passes the way he did last Saturday against UTEP, even against the much tighter coverage and better athletes that Arkansas will face in Southeastern Conference play, the Razorbacks will enjoy their best SEC season since 2006.

The accuracy and velocity on Allen’s passes are notably improved, and that was obviously coming on at the end of spring training. The work Allen has had with new offensive coordinator Dan Enos certainly is a part of that. So, too, is complete healing of the throwing shoulder that Allen injured in the third game of his sophomore season. Former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner says it took two full seasons, after he had completed his UA eligibility and was trying to make it in the pro ranks in Dallas, before his throwing shoulder felt normal again after a severe separation suffered against Louisiana-Monroe early in his senior campaign.

Enos, a former quarterback at Michigan State, and Brandon Allen seem to be more on the same page than we saw the past two years with Allen and former offensive lineman Jim Chaney — not that the offensive coordinator of the past two seasons didn’t eventually find what might work best for Allen in his scheme, which was the rollouts we saw late last season when the Hogs won three of their last four games.

The yardage, a career-best 308 yards for Allen, on just 14 completes was more a credit to Arkansas’s quick receivers and UTEP’s inability to cover or tackle in its secondary. Of course it won’t come as easy against any of the eight SEC opponents awaiting, but we’re likely to see more of the same Saturday afternoon against Toledo in Little Rock, as well as next week in Fayetteville against still-defenseless Texas Tech.

The key to that passing game, whether it’s using the bubble screens to the quick receivers like Jared Cornelius and Drew Morgan — each of whom scored last week on sideline catches and sprints through defenders — is Allen’s better setup, faster deliver and improved velocity. His tight ends, Hunter Henry and Jeremy Sprinkle, also showed the ability to turn the short reception into a tackle-breaking big plays against undermanned UTEP. Senior receiver Keon Hatcher was at his best twice running end zone routes toward perfectly placed Allen lobs into spots where no defender could make a play.

What still isn’t there and what takes more than a month or so of timing practice are the completed deep throws to the speediest player on the team, junior college transfer wideout Dominique Reed. Allen’s first attempt, one of the few times he felt pressure, was fired deep on a line and long, with no air underneath it for a wide-open Reed to run to the ball. Another deep route late in the first half saw a badly beaten UTEP freshman cornerback, already victimized for the entire first half, slow Reed with an arm grab that a sympathetic official let slide with no flag.

Along with Austin Allen’s two attempts, Arkansas targeted the newcomer Reed five times and he couldn’t have caught any of the throws if he were Superman.

Fact is, Arkansas knew early on it could pass at will and it could name the score. When UTEP gaffed its way into a 42-10 hole early in the third quarter, Enos and head coach Bret Bielema were content to work on the running game with mostly vanilla calls.

The Hogs’ staff will probably want to see a more effective running game Saturday even if Toledo “loads the box” against the various offensive sets. For that to happen, Arkansas will need better blocking from its tight ends, H-backs and fullbacks than was seen against UTEP. Typically, just one player breaking down in the blocking game led to a running bust against the Miners, who for whatever reason decided to leave an already shaky pass defense in a bad spot while it slowed a few Razorback runs with stunts up front.

Arkansas’s O-line didn’t recognize all the tricks up front, and with Denver Kirkland and Dan Skipper playing new positions — Skipper moving from left tackle to right tackle and Kirkland shifting from right guard to left tackle — the occasional problems of recognition were to be expected.

But while Henry and Sprinkle are two of the best receiving tight ends around, they have to pull their load on the blocking end, especially in three weeks when the wide receivers won’t be wide open or decidedly faster than their defenders. Henry vowed to be a better blocker following last season, but UTEP had a defender blowing him up when Arkansas early on showed a one-back alignment for a running play that ended up being a significant loss for Alex Collins. It wasn’t Henry’s only blocking bust. Meanwhile, Sprinkle lined up at H-back but didn’t seem to know who to block on a running play that, with a sealing block on a linebacker, likely would have turned into a touchdown sprint for freshman Rawleigh Williams III.

Assorted fullbacks were used, occasionally effectively, but Arkansas also tried freshman lineman Josh Allen near the goal line once at fullback and inevitably the play turned into a bust when Allen went the wrong way, banged into Brandon Allen when the quarterback turned to give to the tailback, and sent Brandon Allen into the arms of a UTEP end who threw the quarterback to the turf.

That would have been a tough deal for Bielema to lose Brandon Allen to an injury trying to do something out of the ordinary with a O-lineman when the game was all but over.

That failed play led to a field goal, which put Arkansas up 35 points, and it also was the first time that many observers wondered what the heck Brandon Allen was still doing on the field.

Bielema came up with a couple of excuses that sounded like reaches. He offered that he typically doesn’t like to take the starting quarterback out until he’s up 24 points in the fourth quarter, but he was up safely by 35 in the third quarter against a team that wasn’t coming back. If that wasn’t enough, the coach also said he wanted the first team to get more snaps because they didn’t have two-a-days in August. How a few more snaps against a beaten UTEP correlated to making up for missed two-a-days in early August is anyone’s guess.

It makes no sense to whine about not having a backup quarterback ready if you leave the starter in until only eight minutes remain in a lopsided game. Besides the limited time afforded backup Austin Allen, third-teamer Rafe Peavey got no snaps. Arkansas has a fourth quarterback redshirting, a committed high school prospect for next year, and a new transfer in Ricky Town sitting out. Why keep Peavey sitting against the cupcakes?

Defensively, Arkansas showed the depth Bielema had boasted of in the line, while the linebackers were OK for the most part, especially when the Hogs adjusted to UTEP’s only continued offensive success, using misdirection plays. The secondary missed six tackles in the way teams typically miss them early on, when hitting is limited, by making diving attempts in a futile effort for a big stop instead of just making a sure tackle even if it allows a couple of more yards.

UTEP did most of its damage with one player, tailback Aaron Jones. Toledo won’t even have its best running back Saturday. Every SEC opponent will have more than one weapon, we’re certain of that. Texas A&M, in fact, will have the two best defensive ends Arkansas has seen in a while. The Hogs’ tight ends and offensive tackles need to take big steps in the next two weeks.