UA fullback Daily a hands-on player

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- When Adam Daily built a shed onto his mother-in-law's house, he wasn't just trying to score points.
Daily loves building and repairing things. He recently helped his brother gut and restore a 100-year-old Victorian House.
"I can do anything," Daily said. "Give me a tool and I can fix it."
Daily, a sophomore fullback at Arkansas, is a handyman on the football field, too.
"If we had a punt, pass and kick contest, he'd win it," running backs coach Danny Nutt said. "I don't want to go into a game without him."
See Daily flatten a linebacker. See Daily catch the ball. See Daily make quick steps and then stiff-arm his way into the end zone.
Daily has been contributing that and more in his first season in the regular playing rotation. His 10-yard touchdown reception and his blocking on Cedric Cobbs' 11-yard touchdown run helped lift Arkansas to a 28-21 victory over Alabama on Saturday.
Although Daily does not start, coaches value him like a starter. He splits time with senior Rod Stinson, serving notice late last season that he could compete in the SEC.
Backup fullback Marvin Caston went down with a knee injury during the 1999 Tennessee game and Daily finished the season as the backup to Nathan Norman. In his first extended playing time, Daily cleared the hole on a Cobbs touchdown run in a 14-9 victory over Mississippi State.
Now he's doing more.
Fullbacks have benefited from Coach Houston Nutt's offensive scheme, playing a higher profile role in the passing game instead of serving strictly as blockers. Daily is tied for third on the team in receptions with 5 for 48 yards.
"I told Houston during two-a-days [Daily's] got the best hands on the football team, including the wideouts," Danny Nutt said. "He can catch anything."
Such an endorsement would surprise anybody who saw Daily out of uniform and hadn't seen him play.
Built like a mailbox, Daily is 6-0, 250 pounds. His 40-yard dashes -- 4.75 seconds hand-held and 4.9 electronic -- couldn't create enough breeze to blow out a match. None of which fazes Daily.
"Speed's overrated at my position," Daily said.
Strength and quickness matter at fullback, and Daily has both.
During the off-season, players are tested in agility and quickness drills and Daily turned in times that rivaled those of some defensive backs.
Learning running techniques and using his low center of gravity helped Daily add quickness. He does not do conventional squat-lifts because of chronic back pain, but he does a modified version of squats, as well as leg curls and leg extensions.
"Basically it's putting in a little more effort," Daily said. "You could go to the weight room and do your sets or you could put some more weight on each set and do them that way."
Married life -- Daily wed his longtime sweetheart in June -- hasn't interrupted the football routine. Daily credited his wife Brooke for helping improve his quickness because she coaxed him into playing tennis.
"I used to be on the golf course all the time, but I realized I'm not going to get much quicker out there on the golf course," Daily said.
Daily possessed enough quickness to land in Houston Nutt's first recruiting class in 1998, following in the footsteps of his father Marvin Daily, who played tight end at Arkansas from 1973-75. Adam was the first Alma football player to earn a scholarship since running back Ralph Stockemer went to Baylor after the 1980 season.
Daily helped lead Alma to the 1997 Class 3A championship. He made 147 tackles as a linebacker and didn't move to fullback until midseason but rushed for 981 yards and totaled 240 yards receiving.
"I was amazed all through his career," Alma Coach Frank Vines said. "I said all along he had tremendous athletic ability. You just don't find guys who weigh 250 pounds who have that much athletic ability. He has soft hands and can catch the ball. He can kick. He's just an athlete."
Between series Daily would punt, averaging 39 yards as a senior, and he sent 80 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone.
"I didn't like running down and tackling them," Daily said. "That's a long run when you're playing both ways. Same goes when I punt. I just tried to punt it away from the receiver."
In his first spring at Arkansas, Daily joked with former special teams coach Mark Hutson that he could outkick the punters. Most of Daily's 15 or so punts went 45-50 yards, a couple more than 60 yards. Hutson had Daily kick the rest of the spring, but Daily exhausted his leg and never was asked back.
He's still capable.
"I could do it if they needed me to," Daily said.
Spoken like a true handyman.

This article was published on Thursday, September 28, 2000

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