Communication, Chemistry Key For Brand New Group of Razorback DBs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Continuity is important in college football, as laughable as that might sound in an era of the sport dominated by the transfer portal and NIL deals that have players hopping around from institution to institution.

But if you don't have continuity, chemistry between new players is the next best thing, and that's what Arkansas appears to have in a secondary with only only one returnee in Miguel Mitchell.

Everyone else is the Razorback secondary is a fresh face in Fayetteville, though the group is, by all accounts, coming together nicely on and off the field.

That's especially important for a group that is entrenched in an intense battle for reps up and down the depth chart.

"Everything we do [is] competitive," Shelton Lewis said Sunday. "Even in stretch, let's do everything full speed. When we're doing that, we don't want to cheat the drill. We want to work on the call they called and execute it in the best way we can, being physical."

Defensive back coaches Eddie Hicks and Deron Wilson praised the intellect of their secondary and said that the Razorbacks are gelling as a unit. That's an assessment Lewis agrees with.

"Whether we're meeting with the coaches or by ourselves, we're just trying to get better at the game," Lewis said. "Just being on the same page is our biggest deal. Even if we're all wrong, we're really right, because we're just going to play that down.

"Just making sure we're all on the same page. We all just want to get in the facility, whether we're in there for 10 minutes or an hour. Intelligence is what we work on so we can play fast."

Lewis, Jahiem Johnson and Christian Harrison make up a veteran contingent of Arkansas' secondary, and all three players very well could be starting come September. The trio have also become the de facto leaders of the unit.

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Christian Harrison drops in coverage during the team's Red-White Spring Game. | Razorback Footbal

"It's about that extra work," Johnson said. "We just carry on through each other."

Communication has been as key to that aforementioned chemistry as anything for a group of players who didn't know each other prior to this year.

"When I know what I'm doing, when I know what I'm getting, I can play a lot faster and communicate on the field," Lewis said. "I feel like I'm playing at a fast level right now."

Razorback fans certainly wouldn't mind watching a quick, decisive, intelligent secondary that flies to the football after years of poor, inconsistent secondary play at UA.

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