FAYETTEVILLE -- Ryan Silverfield met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming spring drills, but prior to that had a meal served for the reporters.
Silverfield said he's wanting to make sure everyone gets involved in the program and is taking various steps.
"Yeah, I think it’s my job as a head coach is to make sure that we’re hitting on every aspect of this football program, right?," Silverfield said. "Obviously the biggest thing we can do is the day to day with our players. But like I told you guys even from the very beginning - right - including former players, Razorback players and former players that are from Arkansas, including them as part of our program. Touching base with donors, interacting with people throughout the entire state, whether it’s going to different speaking engagements, whether it’s in Little Rock or around town here, I think that’s important. We’ve got a tremendous fan base. We’re just so fortunate that so many people love the Razorbacks, love Arkansas football and are excited about what’s coming.
"So the more opportunities we have the chance to kind of share our vision, tell people what we’re all about, the opportunity for people to hear me speak, 1) that not only hopefully gets the fans excited but they have an understanding of OK, who is this Ryan Silverfield guy? What’s he all about? What’s the program all about? What’s occurring, right? When he talks about culture what does that really mean? And quite frankly that helps with recruiting a lot because people are seeing us and have an understanding. So it’s been great. The reception has been phenomenal. Just so many people in this great state, like I’ve said all along. The more and more we have opportunities to interact with our great fans the better."
The first practice will be Sunday and then the team will conclude with spring drills on Saturday, April 25. Over the course of the next few weeks Silverfield talked about what he's hoping to learn about his team.
“And that's the one thing, I wish I could sit here and say, ‘Yeah, it's just this position,’" Silverfield said. "There is a fact-finding for every single person in our organization. You guys are going to hear me often talk about it. It's not just the quarterback position, right? Like, I'm excited to see what our coaches are capable of right? Yes, I've worked with some of them and all those things, but I think for every single one of us as an organization, I'll call 200 people, ‘Hey this is going to be a great opportunity to kind of see, OK, now stuff's for real. This is no longer a Wednesday afternoon in a 72-degree environment. What’s it going to look like?’
"I’m going to put every single person in our organization, including myself, in a stressful situation. In an opportunity that’s going to be, put everybody in a little bit uncomfortable feeling and see how they do, see how they thrive. And that goes with every single one of our coaches, our staff, myself included in every player. There’s going to be fact-finding for every single person in the organization , which I’m thrilled about, because I cannot wait. Every single day is going to have its own process, but right after that spring game, we’re all going to have a better understanding of what each person in our organization. Their weaknesses and their strengths. Because sometimes everybody always says what do they need to work on, what are their strengths, how can be build off those as well. So, very optimistic about where we can go and how this is going to grow.
"Then, with every position within itself, what are we capable of doing here? What does this look like? How do we need to get this thing? But I’ll say this, can we continue to be really good at controlling the ball this spring? All the things that we can control as we go out there? Are there daily improvements? And sometimes it’s incremental. One player may improve 1%, one unit may improve 10% over 10 practices, but is everybody in our program giving the best version of themselves every single day, and then are we making those daily improvements throughout this process?"
The Razorbacks will practice Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday prior to spring break.