Three Silver Nuggets Mined from Recent Rare Talk with Local Media by Hogs' Coach

Because Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield is even more guarded with information about his life that might reveal a bit of his personality or make him humanly relatable than he is about his heavily guarded football team, it's hard to know a whole lot about him as a person.

Highly limited observations suggests he physically moves around a lot, and his first round of spring practice at Arkansas has yielded an expectation that he will be speaking with the local media as minimally as possible. When he does, it will be packed tightly with coach speak, offering little in the way of anecdotes that might reveal a relationship with a player, a unique moment from his life, or anything about what Silverfield is like as a person.

He allows nothing to escape that can't be found on the back of his trading card or the university website. His sightings in front of a microphone throughout spring practice have become as common as Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster or whatever that thing supposedly running around the outskirts of Texarkana happens to be.

That's why it was a surprise to see Silverfield show up on the "Chuck and Bo Show" Thursday morning. Even though both hosts do a ton of work for the University of Arkansas, which gives them the reputation of the safe No. 1 option to send a coach or player to if a public appearance is needed, it was still stunning to hear the Razorbacks' head coach appear in even the safest of spaces.

(Note: After this story was written, which is different from when it was published, Silverfield appeared on a podcast hosted by a pair of former Arkansas Razorbacks named "4th & 5," a new attempt at a national style morning show with bits of Hogs news added in for the local audience.)

The message had been pretty clear. Here is a steady diet of assistants with a sprinkling of players to hold the media over until after the spring game where Silverfield was to do a quick recap of spring progress and then revert back to being a media recluse until SEC Media Days.

Yet, there he was, answering a backlog of questions from Chuck and Bo with his patented coach speak that will from now on be known here as the "Silver Mine." It's a place where we will go and sift through everything as meticulously as possible to procure whatever nuggets can be salvaged and put to good use.

So, here's what could be extracted from the nearly 17 minute conversation.

Let's Not Pretend What Caused Failure Last Year

Silverfield isn't one to talk trash about the previous coaching staff. After all, without them, he wouldn't be here.

They showed just enough promise to make him believe he could win enough at Arkansas to earn enough time to fill his bank comfortably before this part of the journey ends. They also struggled just the right amount that the job became available, more sought after coaches wouldn't want it, and Hogs fans would be willing to give a guy from an AAC school who leans heavily on a catch phrase when taking over the program a chance despite a sense of deja vu.

And while Arkansas fans worry life might be set on repeat from the end of last decade, Silverfield is anxious to make sure they don't feel that same sense about the things that went wrong last season.

"I'm not here to harp on the past what happened, but we understand that there was some discipline on the field with some pre- and post- snap penalties and taking care of the football, which led to some situations," Silverfield said in regard to the numerous disastrous turnovers that led to losses throughout the season.

A lack of discipline in very specific areas sank a team that had playoff potential and Silverfield watched it in person.

"Listen, I saw first-hand when we had the opportunity at my previous stop to play the Razorbacks," Silverfield said referencing his Tigers' last minute upset win over Arkansas in Memphis. "So, I think preaching it, harping on it, even if the ball is not turned over. 'Listen, I don't like your elbows, too damn loose here. That's not good enough, right? You're switching the ball. That's not what we want. That's not a quick enough tuck.' And again, it goes back to talking about our standards, the way we do things."

That plays into the only other slogan type items on the walls other than the infamous "All In." Silverfield keeps a few letters up on the defensive and offensive ends specific to each half of the team.

"We have three things written in our team room," Silverfield said. "Everybody knows we've been talking about being 'All-In,' but then on either side, right where the defense is, it's got TTB which means 'Take the Ball,' and then on the offense side, OTB, "Own the Ball,' right? Not a ton, other than that, sayings around here. If you take care of the football, you give yourself an opportunity."

Leaders Aren't Made at Room Temperature

He also doesn't have the pressure to win big right away. He just has to win at least a little coming off a 2-10 season, despite the moniker of being the best two-win team in college football history.

And winning can't be done without leaders. However, with basically an entirely new team, natural leaders are far from established.

So, Silverfield's looking for players who are willing to take charge when he isn't around and make a difference. However, he knows that's not going to be done in ideal conditions.

"Part of it is when the going gets tough," Silverfield said. "The summer conditioning, the summer workouts, is really the opportunity. Training Camp is really the opportunity to train them, to put them through uncomfortable situations. And I think that's when true leadership shows up.

"Oh, it's easy for everybody to raise your hand, say, 'Yeah, I'm a leader,' and it's 72 degrees and you're in the indoor or in a team meeting, right? But, man, when you get drained, when you get pushed, when you are being called to do things that are uncomfortable in your situation, that's when I'm excited to see, so we're continuing to learn, and I think the cream will rise to the top as that goes as well."

How Much Should Fans Value Hogs' High School Recruiting Classes?

As everyone knows, there has been a shift away from high school players everywhere except the top programs. That's because it costs money with low odds any of those high school players will ever step on the field with the Razorbacks or a similar team.

If Arkansas does a great job in developing them, those players will look to go elsewhere with deeper pockets, so how much emphasis does Silverfield put on high school recruiting?

"It's that fine line, right?" Silverfield said. "Like you get some of these high school kids sitting there with their hand out asking for more and more money, and we have to make that decision as a program. How much are you wanting to pay a high school guy who maybe not plays the following year, but you still develop?"

The reality is much of the building, even under the new regime, will be done through the portal at levels similar to before.

"We're still going to get kids from the portal," Silverfield said. "That's the nature of it. But I think when it's all said and done, how many of our quality players can we retain come this next offseason? [We want to] continue to develop the high school class that we're going to bring in which is going to be fantastic, but it's about the right fit."

One thing he warned against was getting hung up on stars. He's seen to much proof against the ratings system to put much faith in it.

"We did a study where we're at Memphis, and maybe it means we want to create recruiters, but the majority of our guys who went to go play in the NFL really had only one or two other offers out of high school. They weren't high star guys. I get the star system, and it's sexy, and it's cool for fans to see. We're just thinking about the best available players that fit us, and ultimately, we think make great Razorback."

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