FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas offense has scored 28 points in the first half of all four games this season for the first time in school history.
One of the key wide receivers has been Raylen Sharpe. He transferred to Arkansas from Fresno State. He had previously played at Missouri State. In four games, Sharpe has caught nine passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Sharpe and the Hogs will be back in Razorback Stadium on Saturday after three games elsewhere.
"It’s just another opportunity to play football," Sharpe said. "You know, it’s my last season, so it's just another game for me, for us, regardless of the names. So, it’s a great opportunity to go play football again."
While the first half of games has been outstanding offensively, but in the two losses they scored seven points against Ole Miss and three at Memphis. What has caused the second half struggles in the losses?
"I think the big thing, especially for the receiver room, is just being more detailed," Sharpe said. "I think that's the biggest thing for us. Just the missed assignments, things like that, we can't have. So, like he said, shooting ourselves in the foot, we can't have, especially with the team we’re about to play this week. We’ve just got to play four quarters — play full four quarters. We come out hot, we’ve got to finish hot. So, I think that's the biggest thing."
Sharpe has watched film of former Arkansas defensive coordinator Chris Ash's defense at Notre Dame.
"I think the biggest thing is they run man," Sharpe said. "They have a lot of confidence in their in their defense. They don't blitz as much as the other teams have played. But a big man quarter team. They like to match up with whoever. So, good defense. They had the freshman All-American they've talked about some, a couple injuries, things like that. But, you know, from a receiver standpoint, we’ve just got to play football regardless of who's in front of us. And if it's man, it's man on a man. Just very excited for us to go against them."
Sharpe talked about the players being able to move past the last two losses.
"Like I said earlier, just being more detailed," Sharpe said. "Going back to the basics, staying locked in one play at a time, don’t think about the future, things like that. One play a time. That’s all you can do. Just being detailed, having that energy like all throughout the game. So that’s what we’re going to need to do."
Taylen Green and the passing game has been clicking this season. Sharpe is impressed with that aspect of the offense.
"I think a lot of us just kind of play," Sharpe said. "I think that’s what it is. So like I said, we got to be more detailed in the second half. Not get too up and not get too down. So the emphasis this week is to become more detailed, no missed assignments, making sure we’re on the basics. I think the biggest thing for us is making sure we’re not lackadaisical at practice, and just making sure we’re always having energy. We’re always finishing to the end zone, things like that. Just not letting off the gas."
Against Memphis on Saturday, tight end Rohan Jones lined up at fullback and scored on the 5-yard run.
"Yeah, I think we ran it Monday," Sharpe said. "We just ran it a different way. And the receiver room was like, 'Yeah, this is going to work.' So we just knew that that play was going to work. And Rohan himself, he's going to play ball, man, he's, he's a gamer, so when the ball comes his way, he's going to do something with it. I think that's everybody in the room as well."
Running back Mike Washington fumbled the ball on Saturday that helped allow Memphis to escape with the win. Sharpe talked about Washington.
"I think the biggest thing, I talked to him after the game and just told him,’You got to talk to God and just ask him the perspective He's giving to you. What is he learning? What’s He trying to teach you?’ I think that's the biggest thing," Sharpe said. "And went through the last two weeks, and I told Taylen as well, just, you know, see what God's teaching you, what perspective He's trying to give you, and things of that nature. So he's good, he's back to normal. It happens. You got to have short term memory loss in this game. So he's back to him. He's playing hard. He's practicing hard like he always does. So it was unfortunate what happened, but you got to shake back. We have a long season. You got to go 1-0 each day. So you got to forget about the past and learn from it, though, at the same time."
Arkansas and Notre Dame will kickoff at 11 a.m. on Saturday from Razorback Stadium and televised on ABC.
