Silverfield Gets to Work with Advantages Pittman Never Had

There are a few things that have drifted out of the Arkansas high school coaching clinic in Hot Springs this past weekend.

Perhaps the one that will stand out the most for fans is the announcement by Razorbacks head coach Ryan Silverfield that the Hogs will play a legitimate spring game and it will take place in front of as big of a crowd as the state of Arkansas can provide.

"We are gonna do a spring game, an actual game," Silverfield said. "Fans can attend, be there and cheer. It's not gonna be one of these modified practices. So, I think all those things we're gonna do to try and present and show what we're all about."

That will be a first in quite a while. It's unclear whether the previous regime actually liked the idea of a spring game.

However, whether former head coach Sam Pittman actually wanted to go traditional and play a true spring game, it wasn't really an option under the circumstances in which he operated. The secrecy in which he handled most practices throughout the year indicate he might have rather kept spring festivities to a minimum, which would have meant the game wouldn't have turned out much different, plus weather was a factor at times as well.

Silverfield gets to work in a much different world than Pittman. While everything out of his control went for the negative when it came to Pittman with an All-SEC Covid-19 schedule to start while also not being able to host recruits, to NIL falling out of the sky with no guidelines that left schools that wanted legitimate NIL stuck watching programs that merely wanted to buy players leave the Hogs in the dust, things seem to be breaking the other way for Silverfield.

He caught a break on his first couple of days at work when a few 4-star in-state recruits were hand delivered to him almost as a welcome present that went over well with the people of Arkansas after the previous regime opted to shop elsewhere for its SEC quality players, hoping to catch a handful of in-state athletes later at a cheaper price after their first school coughed up big money to develop them freshman year.

Silverfield also got to take advantage of a bigger financial push after Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek took one for the team by openly saying what everyone already knew, that the way boosters were holding back, it was possible to win national championships in all the other sports, but football wasn't going to happen.

The key backers who were intentionally holding their donations out to make a point in an effort to pull away more influence still continue to refuse to help out, but many who weren't giving before or who were giving at a low rate were either shamed or angered into finally stepping up to contribute at a somewhat competitive level that should eventually lift the Hogs out of the slightly above .500 most years treadmill the Hogs were stuck on coming into last season.

However, it will be hard to tell whether that change or the change in transfer portal windows that is making his approach to the spring game possible will have more impact. The Razorbacks should see a dramatic increase in development over the course of spring that has only a little to do with the coaches themselves.

In previous years, coaches were afraid to get a player on tape looking too good or, even worse, in front of a public audience, whether it be in person or on ESPN, blowing the doors off in a way that would excite Razorbacks fans. That's because the second word got out that someone was making big strides in practice over at Arkansas or video evidence leaked of a Hogs player looking remotely dominant over a few plays, Pittman could count that guy as good as gone.

He had to be measured in his words at the microphone while steady and true in his words when he prayed each night. Pressure was through the roof to make it through the second portal window without losing a key player.

It was a lesson Pittman learned the hard way before Arkansas fans really knew how the transfer portal truly worked. In spring of 2021, the staff was rolling with excitement.

Young quarterback KJ Jefferson was developing quite well and the defense looked strong. With the combination of Treylon Burks as the muscle of the wide receiver group and Mike Woods as the straight away speed, both with excellent hands, Arkansas was about to make a name for itself in 2021.

The Hogs did exactly that, but not to the extent it could have been. That's because Woods, who had shown big play ability by putting up 619 yards on 32 catches the year before, didn't get to show how dangerous he could be with Burks drawing all the defensive attention.

Right after a strong spring, he essentially walked out of the locker room and kept walking all the way to Oklahoma, taking at least one or two Razorbacks wins with him. From that point on, Pittman was paranoid every spring.

As for Silverman, if a Woods shows up on his roster this spring, he has nothing to worry about. He can develop him and build him all he wants since the only portal window for this particular roster has already closed.

That's why the staff has been able to do things like have a draft to determine teams that compete throughout the winter and spring. Whether it be how well they do in workouts, getting to class, keeping their locker clean or representing the jersey and the people in their lives who helped get them in that jersey through quality community service, players get to earn points for their team.

They get to know coaches they normally wouldn't come in contact with because the draft was designed to mix coaches and players who have no crossover, even on the field most of the time. The defensive backs coach isn't going to get a lot of quality time celebrating with a 300+ pound center.

If one of the running backs has the type of day at the spring game that coaches claimed Mike Washington had repeatedly during practices last August, Silverfield can get truly pumped for him without the tinge of guilt that he showed too much and probably just lost his best back.

He also gets to play the new coach who's all in on connecting with Razorbacks fans card. That's something Pittman really couldn't do.

If he had opened it up to where his team played a true spring game in front of a decent crowd with another million people watching at home on ESPN and it showed exciting plays executed by a collection of quality SEC players, Pittman would have been coaching an FCS roster that required fishing from the bottom of the barrel in the second portal because other SEC teams and a handful of Big Ten teams would have fleeced him.

Agents would already have offers waiting on the players' phones before they got back to the locker room. So enjoy the game for what it is and the competition it will surely create among the players, which will make them far better than they would have been under previous circumstances.

It's just one of the many times the ball is bouncing in Silverfield's favor since taking over the Arkansas job. Perhaps just a continuation of how it bounced his way against Arkansas in one of the most inexplicable string of events in all of college football.

Some coaches have an "it" factor. Maybe Arkansas finally got a flash of luck and landed a coach who has a "bounce" factor.

Just one more thing in Silverfield's favor that Pittman just didn't have a chance to experience.

Hogs Feed: