While Elite is So Far Away It Can't Be Seen, Turning to M'bake, McAdoo Step in Right Direction

Approach chosen by Alabama is route Arkansas is forced to take, but doesn't make it any less correct

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Oct 15, 2022 10:07 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Elite teams in college have an elite defense, and one of the key signs of an elite defense is a team's ability to draw elite recruits on offense.

As confusing as it may sound, it's usually true, and it's something Arkansas may have stumbled into by accident.

The ultimate symbol for elite is Alabama over the past decade and a half.

Defense has been the bread and butter for a Nick Saban team. Georgia having a slightly better defense last season is the only reason Saban isn't pondering whether he should have his pinky toe sized for its ability to hold a championship ring in case his hands run out of room.

A big part of that elite defense is having a guy like Trevon Diggs wandering around the secondary.

Diggs has wowed the NFL fan base with his ability to come away with interceptions. He already has 16 in less than 2.3 seasons.

While at Alabama, he littered All-America teams. However, it wasn't until Saban talked Diggs into going over to the defensive side of the ball that he flourished.

To hear Diggs tell it, Saban basically asked if he'd like to go to the NFL, the answer was yes, and the move was made.

Diggs has elite hands, understands adjusting to the ball, and also the precision and various reads of routes. It's what made him one of the nation's best receivers, but also what makes him elite in the secondary.

Alabama gets to stack its secondary with ball hawks who think the same or even better about running the pass play than the guys they are covering because the receiver room is overloaded with talented. Athletes who would dominate at any other school sit behind first round draft pick after first round draft pick.

Players who would be second or third round draft picks get evaluated for defense.

At Arkansas, this move is going to happen because of injuries and an extreme lack of execution. However, reasons don't dictate whether something is the right move.

Freshmen receives Sam M'bake and Quincey McAdoo are currently working in the Arkansas secondary.

M'bake was asked. McAdoo did the asking himself.

Arkansas has fallen into a trap that so many teams find themselves in over time. The staff tends to target recruits who are playing defense because they possess the general physical skills to play wide receiver, but lack the elite hand-eye coordination it takes to play the position in college.

The result is often similar to what we've seen this year – only one player with an interception while the rest rack up dropped opportunities for a stop or a potential return for a touchdown. Mix that trend with bad angles and poor reads covering routes and the Hogs are left with one massive Achilles heel.

Now, just like not every defensive back could make it as a wide receiver because of necessary skills, not every receiver can just hop over to the defensive side of the ball.

For every guy who is in the secondary because he can't catch, there is a guy on offense because he's afraid of contact.

Also, some guys are just unnatural when it comes to backpedaling. They lose too much speed or lack the necessary footwork needed to quickly transition from backpedaling into a turn and sprint.

In regard to M'bake, we know physicality isn't an issue. He has repeatedly caught head coach Sam Pittman's eye for his style of play when watching back special teams tape, and his high school highlight reel showed a receiver with a linebacker's mentality when the ball got into his hands.

He was a vicious runner who appeared to look for contact. He's an old school safety in a frame that looks like it could grow into a linebacker body if he wanted as he fills out.

Just look back at how we described him in our recruiting evaluation late last fall.

"Arkansas fans could find themselves with a Treylon Burks starter kit. M'bake, a four star wide receiver who lists at 6-4, 205, has a thick lower torso similar to Burks coming out of high school. Highlights (seen at the bottom) show this lower body power makes the Georgia receiver almost impossible to bring down in the open field." Dec. 12, 2021

Notice the comparison to Burks? What a lot of Razorback fans don't realize is Burks probably had more potential to be an NFL Pro Bowl type talent on defense than he did as a receiver.

However, Arkansas needed him at receiver more and his history of injuries also created a need to avoid contact and piles as much as possible to extend his career.

M'bake has neither of those restrictions. If he can backpedal and turn with efficiency, Arkansas fans may never see him at receiver again.

As for McAdoo, half his senior season highlights are from making defensive plays.

As anyone from a smaller schools knows, top athletes in those settings are playing offense, defense and special teams. There is no coming off the field.

While McAdoo is on the lighter side, which dictates a better fit for corner, his tape shows he is willing to square up and deliver a pop with strong form when needed.

What players don't get in small school ball is a lot of work against elite receivers. The odds of facing a run-only offense is much higher at that level than crossing paths with an elite quarterback-wide receiver combination who could push a player like McAdoo to demonstrate his true secondary skills.

There's a bit of a learning curve there. However, Pittman's description of McAdoo's assertiveness when it comes to putting in extra classroom time as it pertains to learning everything possible about playing in the Arkansas secondary is promising.

McAdoo appears highly dedicated to getting on the field. He too wants to return to the offensive side of the ball once his time is served, but with so much spotlight waiting to be filled on defense, he may also find himself permanently entrenched in the secondary if he figures things out.

A secondary with Dwight McGlothern, Hudson Clark, M'bake and McAdoo has the potential to be much more dynamic than any combination Arkansas has run out this season. The ability to accurately predict a route, along with the ability to make quarterbacks and receivers pay for mistakes, presents the highest upside since the combination of Tony Bua, Ken Hamlin, Ahmad "Batman" Caroll and Lawrence Richardson roamed the secondary in the early 2000s.

However, that's a tall wall to climb to reach that upside. If this is going to happen, fans will need to be patient while M'bake and McAdoo adjust and learn.

As Alabama has shown, this is the path to elite defenses, especially in the secondary. For Arkansas, being only slightly below average in the secondary would be a big improvement, which is why this is a promising move regardless of the reason.