FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' season opener is nearing and much of the questions about this year's team is on defense.
Travis Williams met with the media Monday and expressed confidence in his unit. He was asked if that side of the ball performed better in Saturday's second scrimmage than the first?
"Yeah, just the effort," Williams said. "Just from top to bottom, the effort. That's what we taught. We'll teach you football like the X's and O's. That's on the coaches. But we need to go. We need to get to the ball like our life depending on it. And I just thought throughout the whole week just the pursuit – we did a pursuit drill every day of last week – so we wanted to make sure it showed up when we go out there and we scrimmage. And I thought that was one thing that we could build upon, and that's something that we did a lot better than the first scrimmage."
One concern about the defense is in recent seasons has been the lack of turnovers created by the defense. They haven't created many turnovers in the two scrimmages either, but is that concerning?
"Not really," Williams said. "It’s few things, like we like the quarterback to keep going, so the offense can go through their progressions and the defensive backs can cover. There’s some sacks and different things that wasn’t called, so it’s a lot of different things we can look at. We want to stay away from the quarterback - that’s smart. That’d be dumb to even get close to the quarterback. But we still have to be able to separate guys from the ball and get turnovers. So we continue to work those drills. But a lot of times in scrimmages you can really tell because of the way it’s laid out. But we have to get the ball back to our offense so our offense can be able to to down and score."
Has Williams seen some encouraging signs in practice that makes his feel this team can get more turnovers in games?
"Yeah, just being able to get them in practice when the opportunities are there," Williams said. "I just tell the guys: ‘Don’t bat down the ball, let’s intercept the ball.’ It’s not a PBU when the ball hits you in the hands. That should be an interception. So just being able to do that. Just very pleased with the guys. The guys on the back end are doing a great job when we’re trying to strip the ball out and do different things like that. So the progress is going well."
Williams also was asked what he feels are the strength of his defense overall?
"You know what, I would say the linebackers and the defensive backs," Williams said. "We got a lot of experience back there. In the defensive backs room, we have a lot of guys with one year left of eligibility, so we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football. Stephen Dix, this is his last year of eligibility, so you have a guy that’s been around the block. We have guys with mustaches, so we don’t have a lot of young guys. That’s a good thing. That experience means a lot when you get up under the lights and get to play big-time football, so we’re definitely going to lean on that experience."
Williams didn't mention the defensive line that has a proven talent in Cam Ball and a lot of new or inexperienced faces.
"Yes, we have to continue to establish dept," Williams said. "May need some young guys to step up. We have guys that's played in SEC ball, but just the depth part of it is definitely a deal that we have to figure out.
"Young guys is why we recruit, and being able to see those guys play early if they are ready. So, we tell the guys if you're good enough, you're old enough. So, you know, just getting those guys ready. But we definitely need some young guys to step up."
With classes beginning and practices moving to the evenings Williams talked about the transtion from camp to preparing for the opener.
"Just really, you go from putting all the pieces together and figuring out, okay, who’s going to be where, as far as on defense, and then you start watching the opponent and you’re seeing what they’re doing," Williams said. "What do we need to do to stop what they’re doing? But in the midst of that, you’re trying to figure out who’s going to be on the field for you and then once you figure that out, how are we going to stop the actual opponent that we’re about to face?"
Arkansas will host Alabama A&M at 3:15 on Aug. 30 and televised on the SEC Network.
Photos: Craven Whitlow
