CAMDEN — FAYETTEVILLE - Bret Bielema added weight to the rumors that Bijhon Jackson is among his most improved Razorbacks.
Some Arkansas players have reported that Jackson, the 6-2, 325 sophomore defensive tackle from El Dorado, has impressed throughout the Razorbacks summer conditioning program.
Jackson so impressed Bielema that the coach tweeted a photo of Jackson squatting 700 pounds.
Last year as a touted true freshman Jackson was the backup nose tackle down the stretch he often shared the position with Taiwan Johnson.
Johnson, now a fourth-year junior though lettering for the first time last season, now is the other starting tackle. Starting together, the combination of Johnson's quickness and improved strength, he is now listed 6-2, 290, after arriving in 2012 as a 230-pound defensive end, and Jackson's strength should be a handful for opposing interior offensive lines.
The Johnson-Jackson effectiveness should be all the more effective with the line depth that Bielema and defensive line coach Rory Segrest believe will keep them fresh.
The depth spans old and new from senior nose tackle DeMarcus Hodge, actually listed ahead of Jackson when spring ball ended and certainly contesting for a starting spot, to Hjalte Froholdt, the true freshman from Denmark behind Johnson.
Froholdt was a mid-term high school graduate UA enrolled last January and impressing Segrest in spring drills.
SCIENTIFIC ROCKETS
Former Arkansas Coach Danny Ford, on the College of Fame ballot for his coaching days at Clemson that included a national championship, amused Arkansas with his malaprop regarding a situation that "didn't take no scientific rocket to figure that out."
Well, it seems when Arkansas visits the Tennessee Vols Oct. 3 in Knoxville that a couple of scientific rockets will take up space.
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs majors in aerospace engineering.
Jemal Singleton, Arkansas' running backs coach hired away last spring from Oklahoma State, is an Air Force Academy grad and Air Force veteran.
"During the interview process we are going through our offensive schemes and philosophies and he's on the board showing me things" Bielema said. "
He said one of the things that makes me laugh is when you talk football how coaches say, "It's not that hard. It's not rocket science.' He said, 'I took rocket science in the Air Force for two years. I know what rocket science is."
Apparently the Air Force football program recognized that Singleton also knows leadership.
"He is one of five players in the history of the Air Force Academy that was a 2-time (football) captain," Bielema said. "He was a captain as a senior and a junior."
REVIEWING AND LOOKING AHEAD
Third-year Arkansas Coach Bielema reviews his second Razorbacks season both smiling and frowning.
Going 7-6 overall and 2-6 in the SEC in 2014 sure beats going 3-9 and 0-8 in 2013 but other than one year pales to what Bielema accomplished going 68-23 head coaching Wisconsin from 2006-2012.
"The No. 1 thing when I look back on a year ago is we were better than Year One," Bielema said.
Many took notice. Some even pick Arkansas to win the SEC West.
"A lot of people are saying nice things about us which is really good," Bielema said. "But I think it's very embarrassing because we really haven't accomplished much in my opinion. We won seven games and that equals the worst record I ever had at my previous institution. By no means is that a landing point but a launching point. I think this group is a very hungry group that is not satisfied with seven wins."
They could again be significantly better and still be 7-6 or barely above it.
Arkansas' SEC West schedule is a murderer's row of Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU and Mississippi State plus SEC East opponents Tennessee and Missouri, the reigning SEC East champion.
"We have a very challenging schedule in the SEC West," Bielema said. "The greatest thing about our schedule is we are the only ones that get to play it. That's the way we sell it to our kids. We don't worry about anybody else but our own."