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>Arkansas has really come together as a team. Barry Odom has done a good job with that defense. They've created a lot of different looks in the secondary. They lead the country in interceptions. They like to drop eight and rush three. On offense they have a lot of speed. They've been more efficient offensively, creating explosive plays.
>The open week was a great opportunity to go back to basics and try to catch some guys up. Also to move some guys around to create some opportunities for some guys. We moved several guys around, especially in the secondary. We moved Keyshawn Lawrence to STAR and let him get some work there. He's continued to work hard in practice. He's got a lot of guys ahead of him at corner, but in the games he's played in he's done pretty well. He'll possibly get an opportunity on Saturday.
>Who are some other guys you've had your eye on? Dee Beckwith didn't participate any during the summer. Absolutely nothing. In fall camp he was in quarantine. Then he turned his ankle. We looked at him a little bit at tight end but starting to look at him at running back. He has size and speed. Tee Hodge is another guy that was injured during camp. He's getting his legs back, seeing some burst and speed out of him. We need more depth at running back. We've played three guys and are fortunate they've stayed healthy. Len'Neth Whitehead is another guy. He'd been out because of a foot injury. He'd come back and was doing really well but he hurt his shoulder last work and is probably going to have surgery in the next week to get him back in time for spring ball.
>We had three groups take reps last week and we split the quarterbacks among those groups. We got them a lot of reps.
>On the d-line we have to play lower. Every play we should be 4-6 inches lower than we are. We don't have a lot of really large men, there's a couple, but all of us need to be lower, play with more leverage, play with the other side of the line of scrimmage. We need to be able to convert from run blocks to pass blocks. We had a lot of good work this week and continue to see improvement.
>At linebacker, Bryson Eason is at outside linebacker. We took Garland and moved him to inside linebacker, to create a little more depth. Morven Joseph is working inside and outside. Normally these things happen during the summer, you can see these guys move around a little, then you have 14 days of camp to see it. After the first five weeks it's time to put them in positions that we can see them for their future.
>The first thing for us is don't turn the ball over. The three games we're in the red on turnover margin, we've lost and it's that way across the conference. We have to be clean up front. We have to get turnovers. We had way too many dropped interceptions and haven't caused enough fumbles. We've not been very opportunistic and have to finish when we get our hands on the ball.
>Can you make that quick of a change fundamentally during the short period of an off week? Absolutely. We spent lots of times with individuals where we go back and work on things you do the first five days of practice. They're kind of clean ups when you get to the season.
>Dominic Bailey and Omari Thomas both have really good talent. Bailey hasn't played. He's still learning and growing. Omari has played more and more each game and will continue to improve. He needs to play lower and he's working hard to do that.
>I've felt all along like we've had good leadership. We've had good practices and good energy. If we take care of the football and create more turnovers we will be a much better team. I see the guys in the office all the time. Everywhere I've coached I'm used to guys being in the office all the time. The first year here I'm having to drag them up here. Now kids are up here all the time studying and trying to be the best player they can be.
>We went back to fall camp mode, where everybody gets the same amount of reps at every position. It's why we believe players develop. We split the staff up and watch every bit of tape. This past week we held some guys out of practice to let them heal up. So we only worked three groups but we still went back to camp mode. We worked very little on future opponents we worked more on ourselves.
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...I can dig it.
