FAYETTEVILLE — Eli Henderson is in charge of keeping track of a new stat during University of Arkansas football practices.
He counts “daps.”
Henderson, a former center who retired from football after last season for medical reasons, adds up how many times the offensive linemen dap up each other — hand gestures such as high-fives and fist bumps — during practice.
Offensive line coach Eric Mateos came up with the idea to help promote cohesiveness in a room with a lot of newcomers.
“We talk about having 100 daps a day right now,” Mateos said Saturday. “That’s our goal, just because that creates a sense of togetherness.”
Mateos said the linemen had a camp high of 131 daps on Friday and exceeded 100 on Saturday after falling short of the goal in Thursday’s scrimmage.
“I think we were so focused on playing the play rather than, ‘Hey, let’s play it together,’ ” he said of the scrimmage. “So it’s good to see the last couple of days it’s been a high number.”
Senior right guard Josh Braun, who started 11 games last season, said doing the daps seemed corny at first.
“But then as the day progresses and you get used to it, it just brings a sort of energy to the start of the period, that you really need to have a good session,” Braun said. “So we go to do inside run and we’re all dapping each other up. The defense is like, ‘Oh man, these guys are playing together. They’re out here to have fun and they’re out here to basically whup us.’ “
Fernando Carmona, a redshirt junior transfer and 24-game starter at San Jose State the last two years, is working at first-team left tackle.
“It’s just fun, man,” Carmona said. “I think it’s building that mindset of we’ve got to stay together during these long practices and try to keep showing love and just touching up your brothers.”
The goal for the offensive linemen is to do a lot of dapping in games after good plays, which were in short supply last season.
Arkansas ranked 128th in sacks allowed in the country with 47 — resulting in 351 lost yards — and averaged 139 rushing yards to rank 89th.
Those numbers weren’t all on the offensive line, but the struggles up front resulted in Mateos replacing Cody Kennedy, who left to become Mississippi State’s offensive line coach, and an influx of transfers.
Redshirt junior Keyshawn Blackstock, a transfer from Michigan State, is working at No. 1 right tackle. Redshirt sophomore Addison Nichols, a transfer from Tennessee, has been getting reps at first-team center and left guard and Joe More, a seventh-year transfer from Syracuse who also played at Richmond, is getting work at tackle and guard.
Patrick Kutas, a junior who started at tackle last season, moved to guard in the spring and worked with the starters when camp opened. A back injury has caused Kutas to miss the last eight practices in which Nichols and redshirt sophomore Amaury Wiggins have rotated at center and left guard on the top unit.
“I wouldn’t say it’s caused issues,” Mateos said. “It’s given other guys opportunities to rep and it’s never a problem to have too many centers to play.”
Redshirt junior Josh Street and redshirt sophomores Tim Dawn — a transfer from Baylor who followed Mateos to Arkansas — and Brooks Edmonson also work at center.
“It’s been really fun watching those guys with different leadership styles,” Mateos said. “We all have to get better at being more loud with our communication and understand that we’re going to be in some hostile environments.
“You can just never have too many guys ready to play that position.”
Wiggins transferred last season from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College and played in two games.
“He’s a short-legged guy who can play with leverage, but can also set his hip angles for different run schemes really well,” Mateos said. “He’s got really strong hands. He’s got a really good grip.
“He’s done a great job and he’s underrated football smart. People think guys like me and him that played in juco ball, that we’re not smart, but he is a smart dude.”
Fifth-year senior Ty’Kieast Crawford, who played in nine games last season with four starts, is challenging for playing time at guard but has been slowed in practice by an ankle injury.
“Ty’Kieast is right there in the mix,” Mateos said. “He’s doing a great job. He’s really improved his leadership. He’s really improved his football IQ.”
More was limited to three games for Syracuse last season due to a lower body injury after he started 33 games at Richmond.
Redshirt sophomore tackle E’Marion Harris, who played in six games last season on offense and special teams, is also among the players Mateos said can help.
“Our depth, it’s pretty cool, because every day I’m going out there I’m scared, man,” Carmona said of hanging onto his starting job. “E-Harris has been playing amazing.
“It makes you just want to go harder at practice because you know that these twos, they could easily be ones.”
Braun, who transferred to Arkansas last year from Florida, said the newcomers have fit in well.
“They’ve done a great job of coming in and embracing what it means to be a Hog,” Braun said. “I feel like the team from last year has done a great job of embracing them.
“From my own personal experience, this is definitely the tightest and closest team I’ve ever been a part of.”
Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson praised how the offensive linemen worked together in the first scrimmage of camp.
“They’re going to be great,” Jackson said. “Their communication is what makes them great. They communicate through everything, on the field, off the field.”
Mateos said the inspiration for the offensive line dap ups was a video of Steve Nash, the Hall of Fame NBA point guard and two-time MVP.
“There’s an old video I saw a couple years ago, and they counted how many times Steve Nash touched his teammates while he played and just how infectious that becomes,” Mateos said. “It’s just about connecting.
“The game is about connection. You’ve got young people who feel a lot of pressure from the outside and it’s high stakes.
“How can you continue to grow and be resilient? You’ve got to be connected in your room, so it’s just a silly way for me to keep our guys connected.”
Braun said at times in practice receivers have dapped up the offensive lineman.
“They were catching the ball and getting a first down and coming around and dapping up the O-line, then running back to get lined up,” Braun said. “To see it spread through the offense, it just shows how close we are and how we can do anything together.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 20:12:00
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