Hogs to try to zone out blitz effects

South Carolina scored its biggest victory this season largely by confusing Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter with lots of zone blitzes. The result was five Carter interceptions and a 21-10 South Carolina victory.
Arkansas quarterbacks coach Joe Ferguson said he expects Robby Hampton to see many of the same looks Carter did. A zone blitz is when a defensive back or linebacker blitzes and a defensive end drops back into a passing lane to fill the space vacated by the blitzer.
A zone blitz is something that also is hard to see coming, according to Ferguson, who added that experience is the best way to offset the defensive strategy.
"You read by the secondary and linebackers, then all of a sudden they send a guy and there's somebody in his place," Ferguson said.
With just five starts under his belt, experience, particularly when it comes to dealing with zone blitzes, is something that's in short supply for Hampton.
"They're going to come at you all day and from all over the field," Hampton said.
Hampton said he hasn't seen very much zone blitzing so far this season and that he will need a better, more concentrated effort to have a successful outing on Saturday.

JOHNSON SET TO RETURN
As long as he is healthy -- and he has practiced the past two days -- junior Derrick Johnson will return as Arkansas' starting bandit against South Carolina on Saturday.
Johnson did not play against Louisiana-Monroe after suffering a pinched nerve in his neck during Arkansas' loss to Georgia. He was replaced in the starting lineup by senior Jeremiah Harper, who still figures to get plenty of snaps this week.
Moved from free safety to bandit after spring practice, Johnson has 15 tackles this season. He picked up a fumble and returned it 24 yards to set up an Arkansas touchdown in its victory over Alabama.
Others expected to play Saturday after missing time because of injury include fullback Adam Daily, tackle Shannon Money, guard Kenny Sandlin and tailback Fred Talley.

PLAYING WITH PAIN
Freshman place-kicker Brennan O'Donohoe remains bothered by a nagging groin injury, but said it will not prevent him from handling Arkansas' field-goal and extra-point duties against South Carolina.
"It hurts a little bit, but you've got to play through it," O'Donohoe said. "It's just a little pain, so you've just got to bite the bullet."
O'Donohoe has been somewhat limited in distance work during practice this week, but didn't show any ill effects from his injury on Thursday. O'Donohoe opened Thursday's practice by making 4 of 4 field goals from 35-40 yards, then made another one of roughly that same distance to end the practice.
"Taking what he's done in practice to the game, that's what we're hoping for," Coach Houston Nutt said. "He's been very, very good all week."

POSITIVE PREPARATION
Coach Houston Nutt was noticeably upbeat after Arkansas' Thursday practice, the last of the week before the Razorbacks travel to South Carolina to play the No. 24 Gamecocks.
Thursday's practice, Nutt said, was representative of the Razorbacks' work this week.
"This has been a very good week and I just hope we can take this practice week to the game field, in a hostile environment," Nutt said. "I hope we can take [the game plan] and execute it the way we've been executing this week. That's all you can ask for, you know, for them to come out here and give it all they have each day, and they've done it. Now you've got to take it to the game."
Kickoff is 11:30 a.m. Central, and the game will be televised by Jefferson-Pilot.

NOT ALL BAD
Much has been made of Lou Holtz and his final, stormy days at Arkansas nearly 17 years ago.
Holtz, however, hasn't forgotten the good times he enjoyed during his stay at Arkansas, either, although he insists that neither the good nor the bad means very much once the whistle blows for the opening kickoff.
"In all honesty when you walked in that stadium in Little Rock last year, it brought back a lot of nostalgia, a lot of good memories," Holtz said. "We had a lot of wonderful times there at the University of Arkansas. But once the game starts, you don't think anything about it."

HOLMES CAN'T BE CATEGORIZED
Freshman running back Brandon Holmes will start against South Carolina and expects to see significantly more action than he has in Arkansas' first five games.
The increased playing time means Holmes will have to be responsible not only for running with the football, but blocking on passing plays, something coaches cited as one of the reasons for not playing him more in Arkansas' loss to Georgia.
Holmes, who also has logged time at fullback, said he has been concentrating more on his blocking assignments while getting more reps in practice, and that he believes he can get the job done.
"Really I'm just a football player," Holmes said. "It doesn't matter to me. I like to run at tailback, I like to run at fullback and I like to block, so it doesn't matter to me.
"I don't know if I'll ever be a great [pass-blocker], but I've always got to make sure I at least get a good block because they've got to stay off our quarterback. That's the No. 1 thing. If he gets time to throw the ball, we can make plays."

SIDELINES
Only two of the eight games Arkansas and South Carolina have played since beginning their series in 1992 have been decided by fewer than 14 points. ... According to NCAA rankings, Arkansas has the 11th-most difficult schedule in the nation based on its final six regular-season opponents. Including South Carolina (5-1), Arkansas' upcoming opponents have a combined 23-10 record. Florida (sixth) is the only SEC team with a more difficult schedule than Arkansas. ... South Carolina has 12 interceptions this season after getting eight all of last season. ... Gamecocks kicker Alex Walls has made 21 consecutive extra points and 12 consecutive field goals.

This article was published on Friday, October 13, 2000

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