Arkansas Sports 360.com - July 2008 - (Page 44) DAVID BAZZEL DAVID BAZZEL PLAYED FOR ARKansas from 1981-85, he was a regular guest on KATV’s popular “Sports Week” and he is a co-host of “The Show With No Name” on KABZ-FM, 103.7 “The Buzz.” We fired off a few hotbutton preseason football topics for the Baz to tackle: David Bazzel Hogs Lack Enough Talent for Much Success casual isn’t limited to Those were comments I heard across the board. What do you see from the upcoming Razorback season? I’m not the most optimistic on this, just because of the talent level across the board and the schedule they have. If Petrino wins six games he ought to be SEC Coach of the Year. You take a program with a coach who believed totally in the running game and had no passing game whatsoever and you go to a passing coach who is coming in with no passing talent at all. I don’t care how good a coach you are, you have to have the talent. Steve Spurrier looks a lot more human at South Carolina than he did at Florida, and that’s because of the talent he has now. What gives them a chance, and what Houston Nutt did not have, is Petrino really believes in the intermediate passing game, finding the open spots, getting it to the tight end or the back out of the backfield, passes that are not very high-risk plays. He won’t have the deep ball threat, but he can dink and dunk and run the ball just enough to keep a defense honest. Now, on defense, I can’t remember ever being this thin at linebacker. But they can control the ball on offense with the intermediate passing game, not unlike Ken [Hatfield] controlled the ball with his style of offense my junior year. The intermediate passing game can make us competitive … Still, I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I think we’re going to be overwhelmed from a talent standpoint. Can Casey Dick have the year at quarterback fans are hoping for? I think the key there will be the incoming freshmen – DeAnthony Curtis and Dennis Johnson [at running back] are going to have to contribute. Casey has to have some guys who can catch the ball and make some plays, some guys who can make you miss, get mismatches, create the separation in the intermediate areas. He is good enough for the intermediate game and moving the chains. If you’re looking for deep balls, I don’t see the talent in the receiving crew or the confidence in Casey for him to consistently throw the deep ball. m Listen to David Bazzel with Tommy Smith on “The Show With No Name” weekdays on KABZ-FM, 103.7 “The Buzz,” from 6-10 a.m. friday Join us for our Blue Jean Service Sundays at 9:30am in the Worship Center 321 Pleasant Valley Dr. Little Rock www.stjames-umc.org HAVE FUN WHILE YOU LEARN! REBSAMEN TENNIS CENTER USTA’s National Public Facility of the Year Arkansas Tennis Association Facility of the Year 17 Lighted Courts | Free Backboards | Full Service Pro Shop Leagues available from 2.5 to 4.5 OFFERING ALL LEVELS OF INSTRUCTION: Recreational | Competitive | All Ages Beginners & Advanced Bermudez: 501.766.1119 Rebsamen: 501.664.0736 1501 Leisure Place | Little Rock, AR 72204 www.btatennis.com AS360.com: What is your feeling about the changeover from the Houston Nutt regime to Bobby Petrino? How have the players taken to it? Just in talking to people around the program or a parent who has a son playing … or talking with high school coaches, the consensus is that it’s all business and no play time now. It’s just a different personality with the head coach. The players like it, from what I gather. Sometimes you need a change. I went through that with Lou Holtz being replaced by Ken Hatfield [in December 1983]. Sometimes it’s not bad to get a different perspective into the head coaching position. With Bobby Petrino, it’s a different atmosphere. He seems more demanding, more serious, not the relaxed style the previous staff had. It was somewhat the opposite way when we went from Holtz to Hatfield. We went from a guy who was extremely intense and knowing you could invoke the wrath of Lou if you stepped wrong to a guy who was not as intense and more of a player’s coach. Not saying that Ken and Houston are the same, but I’m saying this guy now is not a rah-rah, hug-your-neck guy. But the guy knows what he’s doing. It’s even apparent in their strength and conditioning. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a coach who brings up the importance of strength and weight training more than he does. He doesn’t even play around when it comes to the weight training; there is no lollygagging around the weight room. That’s something that’s really changed among the players. And sometimes you expect to get a break with an intense coach when he moves from the field to off the field, but this guy is as demanding in the weight room as he is on the field, more than anyone I’ve heard of. It’s almost professional in an NFL sense — this is the way it is, there is no time to fool around. 44 ArkansasSports360.com July 2008 http://www.stjames-umc.org http://AS360.com http://www.stjames-umc.org http://www.btatennis.com http://www.btatennis.com http://ArkansasSports360.com
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