No Cobbs, no change?

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Life without Cedric Cobbs went a lot like life with Cobbs this week.
Arkansas planned, practiced and polished without its star tailback, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last week against Alabama. Players and coaches insisted that nothing about the offense or its capacity has changed.
Now that they've convinced themselves that all's well, they'll try to prove it to 25th-ranked Georgia today at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Georgia (2-1, 0-1 SEC) received the preseason nod to win its first conference championship since 1982 and junior quarterback Quincy Carter became a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Heisman evaporated and the East title hopes took a hit in a 21-10 loss at South Carolina.
Every game is a must-win now, Bulldogs Coach Jim Donnan said.
The Razorbacks opened the season 3-0, including a 28-21 victory over Alabama, with Cobbs as the offensive centerpiece. Coach Houston Nutt featured Cobbs because of his talent but also to take pressure off first-year starting quarterback Robby Hampton.
Cobbs touched the ball one-third of the plays and figured into many more, serving as a decoy on play-action pass fakes and providing sound pass blocking. The big plays didn't come like Cobbs envisioned but he still averaged almost 100 yards per game and scored four touchdowns.
Adding injury to injury, Arkansas lost its second-leading rusher, sophomore Fred Talley, who had been averaging 7.6 yards per carry in relief of Cobbs. Talley broke his hand and won't return until at least the Oct. 28 Auburn game.
Replacing them would seem to be a difficult task. Not really, players said.
"We're not going to miss a beat," Hampton said.
"I feel good about whoever they put in there," defensive end Carlos Hall said.
Fourth-year junior Alvin Ray of Dallas will start. True freshmen Brandon Holmes of Atlanta and Radale Pearson of Memphis will rotate in.
Even if the Razorbacks wanted to mope, the Bulldogs probably wouldn't buy it. They fell for the "our star back is out and we're vulnerable" gag in 1998 when Tennessee lost Jamal Lewis. The Vols simply plugged in Travis Stephens and Travis Henry, who combined for 160 yards rushing in a 22-3 victory.
"I can remember two years ago us getting fired up about Jamal Lewis being hurt and thinking we had our chance to beat Tennessee because of it," Carter said. "Any time a guy goes down, that's when the other guys get fired up. I'm sure [Ray] is going to be pretty fired up to prove to everybody he's just as good."
Pressed into duty in the fourth quarter against Alabama, Ray rushed six times for 51 yards. His 32-yard burst set up the winning touchdown.
"Cedric is a good back but we have a lot of talented backs that have different styles," receiver Boo Williams said. "As you saw, that was only the tip of the iceberg that Alvin Ray displayed at the game. We see him every day in practice, we see his running style and we know he has the potential to be a big-play back."
Perhaps. Ray's 32-yard run was six yards longer than Cobbs' best this season.
But Ray and the freshmen have fewer tools to break the big play than Cobbs, who's 6-2, 220, and has run the 40 in less than 4.4 seconds. Ray is 5-9, 192, and runs 4.49. Holmes comes within five pounds of Cobbs' size but is more than one-tenth of a second slower. Pearson can match Cobbs' speed but is 40 pounds lighter.
Georgia recruited Cobbs as hard as it has any player under Donnan, the coach said.
"That guy is a special player," Donnan said. "Not many come down the road like him."
What Ray has going for him is quickness, field vision and a thorough knowledge of the offense. He also started the 1998 game at South Carolina when Madre Hill and Chrys Chukwuma were injured, though Hill finished the 41-28 victory.
Since then Ray's patience has been tried as he lingered in the background.
Last week, his mother called running backs coach Danny Nutt and asked what it would take for her son to play more. Nutt said her son was one snap away, which happened when Cobbs went down.
Ray played down the significance of his new role.
"I work hard whether I play or not," Ray said. "I need to go in and run with my eyes. I know the offensive line is going to do their job and I know I'm going to do my job."
Coaches have added a couple of wrinkles to the scheme but overall the game plan has been scaled back from last week to make things easier on the backs, Nutt said.
Nutt likes to call a balanced offense. If the running in the game doesn't work, he'll be forced to use the pass more. And if he leans on the team's strength, a deep receiving group, then Arkansas could use multiple-receiver sets that it has largely avoided this season in featuring Cobbs.
Nutt was the only member of the Razorbacks fraternity who seemed to remember this week that Cobbs was one of a kind and that Talley wasn't far behind Cobbs.
Losing both players "takes the breath out of you a little bit," Nutt said. "The one thing the defense has to do -- I don't care if it's Boise State or Alabama -- they have to realize where No. 4 [Cobbs] is located. He's a home run hitter."
Ray can leg out triples. And Nutt said Arkansas can win with Ray.
To win though, the offensive line will have to hold blocks a fraction longer and the receivers will have to make a few more catches. But, Nutt insisted, the offense will not abandon the run.

This article was published on Saturday, September 30, 2000

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