FAYETTEVILLE -- Dan Enos is back at Arkansas for the second time in his career.

Enos was offensive coordinator for Bret Bielema from 2015-17 and coached Brandon Allen during an outstanding senior season in the offensive coordinator's first year with the Hogs. Just like in 2015, Enos inherits a very impressive quarterback in redshirt senior KJ Jefferson. But Enos isn't one to place goals on a player.

"No, you know, I’ve never really done that," Enos said. "We just kind of say we do whatever we need to do to help the team win to be honest with you. And I always tell the guys ‘If we do what we’re supposed to do to help the team win, all that stuff is going to take care of itself.’ So no I never really have. It doesn’t surprise me though because, KJ is a really, really smart player. And like Brandon, Brandon was an extremely smart player as well. Both those guys make really good decisions. They both know how to take care of the football. And they’re both really accurate. But again they’re different, you know. But both very, very productive players."

Enos has Jefferson taking snaps under center just as he did in the spring at times as well. He explained the reasoning behind that on Thursday.

"Yeah, he’s been real good on intermediate and short throws," Enos said. "I haven’t noticed anything with that. I agree, I think his deep ball accuracy is very good and continues to be very good. He’s made some throws the last couple days, but really great coverage by our secondary, and he’s put the ball in a place where our receivers can make plays, and I’ve been very impressed with that. You know, I don’t know about the NFL as far as that because I think everybody has their own philosophies and how they want to do things. But I believe in training underneath center. I believe in the offseason they should train under center a lot because I think when you’re under center it makes you more aware of your timing, your rhythm and your balance on your drops. I think a lot of these young players now don’t play under center ever when they’re young. I do think that’s a disservice for these quarterbacks coming up because I feel that’s where you really, really learn and build a foundation of balance, rhythm and timing on passes.

"And then you should transition back into the shotgun because that’s great as well. But I think it’s much easier to transition back than it is to transition forward. And I think it helps them develop as a passer when they train under there. So, we do a lot of training in the offseason under there for those reasons. I train him in practice that way, too. And we are under center some, as well, because there’s some things that fit what we do better under center than they do in the gun. But we’re obviously very multiple as far as we’re going to be in the pistol, we’re going to be in the sidecar, we’re going to be under center. We’re going to have the ability to do all those things."

Enos also likes the quarterbacks in his group behind Jefferson including former Morritlon standout Jacolby Criswell, who transferred in from North Carolina at midterm.

"We have a good group," Enos said. "These guys work really hard. Jacolby, Cade Fortin and Malachi (Singleton), they all come to work every day. They've got a blue-collar mentality. We grind it out so we meet a lot this time of year, and these guys are big note-takers and listeners. It's a really well-rounded room. We've got some young guys in the room. Ryker Acebo is in there with us, too. Then we've got some elder statesmen in Cade and KJ. It's a really well-rounded room. It's a talented room.

"The thing I've been most impressed about is the amount of respect they have for one another. The guys are not in any way jealous of one another and all that. Which sometimes in quarterback rooms can be tough because only one guy is going to play, and everybody wants to be the guy that goes out there when the game starts. Obviously, KJ has really established himself here, and I think it's really good to have him in the room. Especially for the younger players to watch a guy and be able to mentor the guys. I think it's really important for young players to have someone to look up to and be able to watch and say okay that's how you're supposed to do it. KJ and Cade Fortin have certainly played that role very well thus far."

Last season Jefferson missed two games with an injury. Enos was asked can the Hogs win with Criswell?

"Yeah, we feel really good about Jacolby," Enos said. "I think he’s had a really good camp. He had a really good spring. He’s got tremendous arm talent. Like, elite arm talent. He can make throws into windows. I mean, he threw a post the other day like 60-something yards in the air into a breeze. So, he can make some of those ‘wow’ throws that a lot of guys can’t make. But when you throw on top of it that he can run, he ran 21 miles per hour plus this summer I believe. He’s a guy that can do them both you know. Again, he’s a little bit different too. He’s really smart. Studies the game. We have a lot of confidence in Jacolby and I think he’s going to continue to get better."

Arkansas will open the season on Saturday, Sept. 2, in Little Rock against Western Carolina at 3 p.m.

Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports