Lunsford Sees Silverfield's Toughness Taking Root Across Razorbacks Program

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Spend a few minutes around Razorbacks' special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford and it's easy to understand why Ryan Silverfield made him a priority when assembling his coaching staff.

The 20-year coaching veteran still carries the cadence of a South Georgia football coach, the kind who believes winning starts long before kickoff. It's built through routine, accountability and physical practices that wear players down mentally as much as physically.

After just over a week of fall camp, Lunsford believes first-year coach Ryan Silverfield's program is already taking on that identity.

"I love the the toughness part," Lunsford said. "Like, he's asking for all the little things to be done right. Whether it's be taped for practice, whether it's be early for meetings, whether it's weighing in, whether it's making sure you're at your meal on time, and then when you go to practice, it's a physical tough practice."

Whether it's showing up early for meetings to being properly taped before stepping onto the practice field, minor details matter for this coaching staff. Even the trainers and graduate assistants are running throughout practice to make sure things are taken care of on time.

There's not much standing around for anyone associated with the team during practice. Coaches are going to stop a rep until every single detail is corrected and executed.

There aren't many players on this roster who return from last season, but those who did have been coached to understand that they weren't consistently overwhelmed athletically like a 2-10 overall record would suggest.

Even with so many newcomers on the roster, Silverfield has an opportunity to establish his standards for the program from the start. He's consistently preached taking care of the controllables and that's exactly what his coaching staff harps on the most throughout a practice.

If a head hit the bar of a chute, offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey yells for him to get lower.

Arkansas Razorbacks special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford speaks to media following day three of training camp. | Jacob Davis, Razorbacks on SI

There was one rep that defensive line coach Landius Wilkerson interupted at least three or four times before it was done correctly. Even defensive back coach Eddie Hicks was seen giving someone an earful with each passing rep.

While Silverfield doesn't dwell on anything that happened in the past with this Arkansas team, he simply wants this team to be the tone setter moving forward.

Far too often, the problem for the Razorbacks winning those close games came down to lack of execution at such critical junctures of games. It might've been missed assignments, penalties, turnovers or a lack of effort, but Lunsford believes that Arkansas' plan to put their players through the most heated practices will have them come out more physically and mentally tougher than before.

Arkansas Razorbacks linebackers Ben Bogle and Jakore Smith going through drills. | Jacob Davis, Hogs on SI

"We're practicing in the afternoons. It's in the heat. Guys are having to really work through mentally in a long, tough practice," Lunsford continued. "Obviously, today was the first day that we put shoulder pads on.

"But I even think those helmet practices were really challenging our guys. From what I've seen from [Silverfield], man, I love what he's trying to instill in his team, and it will make us a really tough football team."

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