2011 SEC Media Days: Arkansas Looks To Prove Once Again That Speed Kills

If it’s one thing that the SEC has taught college football fans it’s that speed kills, and Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino likes his team’s speed.

With LSU and Alabama serving as the favorites to win the SEC West in 2011, Petrino told the crowd of media gathered at the 2011 SEC Media Days that he really likes his team’s mindset going into the season.

“I like a lot of things about this team coming back. Certainly three areas that I feel like will really help us, give us an opportunity to be a good football team,” Petrino said.

Those three things Petrino talked about were experience, depth and speed.

“I really feel like we’re a fast football team,” Petrino said. “The speed we have at our skilled position, particularly on offense, at wide receiver and running back, give us an opportunity to be a special offense.”

Arkansas landed the most players on the 2011 Coaches Preseason All-SEC football team with 14, mostly coming from the offensive side of the ball. The Razorbacks had three wide receivers on the list with one of them being senior wideout Jarius Wright.

Wright said the Hogs goals remain the same, and they’re eyes are still transfixed on that coveted SEC championship.

“I wouldn’t say our preseason expectations have changed,” Wright said. “We’ve had the same goals for two years now. We are coming back with the same goals we had last year and that’s to play for an SEC Championship. We came up short last year but our goals are still the same.”

Making the All-SEC second team was junior running back Knile Davis, and he believes that having more weapons on offense will benefit the Hogs rather than cause a rift between players due to limited touches.

“I think it’s a good problem to have,” Davis said. “I’m confident in anybody who has the ball, whether it’s a receiver or a running back.”

Wright believes that the multiple options on offense will open things up for him and his teammates.

“We have great receivers out there besides me already,” Wrigght said. “If any team wants to double team any of the receivers then you’re taking that chance of leaving another great receiver open. If people want to put everybody out and not load the box then we have Knile Davis who is going to run the ball down your throat.”

The 2011 SEC football season is being talked up as the “year of the running back” and with all the great running backs in the league, Davis believes he’s just as good as all the other backs around the league.

“I think I’m right up there with the rest of the great backs in the SEC, and we do have some very good ones,” Davis said. “My main thing is just to get out there and compete with them and see how it turns out.”

Other returning starters on the offensive side of the ball are senior wide receivers Joe Adams and Greg Childs, sophomore offensive guard Alvin Bailey and sophomore center Travis Swanson. Sophomore wide receiver Cobi Hamilton had over 600 yards and six touchdowns for the Hogs last year and is expected to produce for the Razorbacks again this season in the fourth wide receiver slot.

Even though the offense is receiving most of the attention, senior defensive end Tenarius Wright does not buy into the defense being overlooked.

“On defense, we have made a lot of plays, but we know that we have so much more to achieve,” Tenarius said. “We don’t feel like we are sitting on the back burner. We’re just going to perfect what Coach Robinson has in store for us with the game plan.”

Joining Wright on the Coach’s Preseason All-SEC team for the defense are seniors defensive end Jake Bequette, linebacker Jerry Franklin and defensive back Tramain Thomas.

For the hogs to produce like they did on offense a year ago, junior quarterback Tyler Wilson will have to fill the shoes of Ryan Mallet without missing a beat.

“I think Tyler has an opportunity to do a very, very good job for us,” Petrino said. “He’s done a good job when he’s come in games. We all saw what he did in the Auburn game last year.”

Petrino went into further detail about the skills Wilson possesses.

“As far as his ability to run the football, what you see is he can run with power, with speed and has very, very good vision,” he said. “I’m excited to see him take a step forward and make improvements in what he did from a year ago.”

Davis has improved both his strength and speed over the offseason. He improved his 40’ time to an impressive 4.3 seconds and bench pressed the most he has ever benched Monday when he maxed out at 430 pounds. He had a little motivation from Petrino though.

“(Petrino) put an Alabama sign in front of me and said ‘what are you going to do when you’re on the field against Alabama?’” Davis said. “I took it personally of course and moved the weight.”

Tenarius said the Hogs have prepared both mentally and physically all offseason through intense workouts.

“We’ve been challenging our body a lot,” Tenarius said. “We’ve been challenging our body to get more flexible, more powerful and more dynamic. We can go out and push trucks out in the heat and sledge hammer tires all day. We can do different things as a team outside of football that challenge us mentally and prepares us for any game.”

Arkansas will endure a brutal stretch from the end of September to the beginning of October as they will face Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Texas A&M in Arlington, Tx and Auburn at home for three weeks straight. The hype ends and the season begins when the Razorbacks kick the season off at home against Missouri State on September 3.

“All the preseason hype is good, but it doesn’t mean anything until you put the work behind it. We just want to live up to it,” Davis said.

Jake Martin is a Member of Bleacher Report and a sports writer for the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the Concordia Sentinel.