8 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 8.25.2024
Overhaul
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lead from the moment he stepped foot on campus— a desired characteristic at the position.
Pittman spoke of“ the culture, the leadership” when discussing Green following an early August scrimmage. Petrino said Green was at Arkansas“ to take charge” along with offensive tackle Fernando Carmona, a fellow transfer from the Mountain West Conference at San Jose State.
“ Being a great leader as a player, you first have to be a great follower of the coaching staff and what Coach Pitt wants,” said Petrino, who added,“ That’ s been tremendously impressive to me, by both of them, just because they were so new. They didn’ t know anybody out there, but that’ s what their makeup was. They helped us come together quicker.”
Pittman gave one of the notable responses of the preseason when he was asked what he thought Green would add to the team.
“ Not what we got, to be perfectly honest with you,” Pittman said.“ I knew he could throw the ball. I knew that he was fast. I didn’ t know the kid. The kid is more valuable than the athleticism.”
POLISHING
Fundamentals like drops and sets, plus footwork and a change to an over-the-top throwing motion have been at the core of Petrino’ s work with Green.
“ His advantage is to be 6-foot-6,” Petrino said.“ When he first got here he was dropping [ his shoulder ] downwind sometimes making him 6-foot. I think that has been a tremendous improvement. His technique and his release and his accuracy has went way up.”
Accuracy has been at the heart of questions about Green’ s play last year at Boise State when he completed 121 of 212 passes( 57 %) and threw 11 touchdowns to 9 interceptions. Because he split playing time, his yardage totals— both passing( 1,752) and rushing( 434 with 9 touchdowns)— were less than the year before.
Petrino dismisses talk about Green’ s accuracy.
“ There are so many things that go into completion percentage,” Petrino said.
“ BEING A GREAT LEADER AS A PLAYER, YOU FIRST HAVE TO BE A GREAT FOLLOWER OF THE COACHING STAFF AND WHAT COACH PITT WANTS...”
BOBBY PETRINO ARKANSAS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
“ You can’ t just judge a quarterback on that because it starts with all 11 guys being on the same page, between your pass protection on your offensive line, your pass protection with your rollouts with the running backs and tight ends, and then the precision of your wide receivers with routes.
“ Anytime I recruit somebody, I really don’ t look at the completion percentage. I’ m looking at how they throw the ball, how they compete, what their decision-making is [ and ] staying away from percentages.”
Petrino and Green work daily on taking care of the ball and eliminating the interception issues of a year ago while still maintaining a level of aggressiveness needed late in close games.
“ I think they need to see if [ they ] can stick that post for a touchdown or can’ t,” Petrino said.“ If they are always just,‘ I’ m afraid to throw an interception,’ they’ re not going to pull the string and throw the pass they need to throw to win the game.”
Pittman said Green is a true passing quarterback.
“ He’ s not a running quarterback. … he’ s a thrower,” Pittman said.“ He can run, and guys that have his athletic ability a lot of times get categorized as a running quarterback. This guy’ s a quarterback [ and ] if you break down, he’ s going to take off and he’ s going to hurt you.”
Green has learned to stay calm in the pocket and trust his teammates’ protection and route running. At 21 he is green enough to be molded into the best version of himself and experienced enough how to take Petrino’ s tough coaching.
“[ I’ m ] understanding matchups and understanding not just coverages and not just defensive line, but matchups and how my guys get off the line and how my guys with their 1-on-1 matchups,” Green said.
There is a different feeling for Arkansas than a year ago when there was hope the coordinator would take the quarterback to a new level. This year, there is an expectation that will happen.
A successful 2024 campaign for Arkansas begins with the success of Petrino and Green. Last year showed what happens when those positions are not synced.
There is great optimism about Arkansas’ offense thanks to the offseason reset.
“ Anything that [ Petrino ] says, we’ re not going to question,” said Green, who added,“ That’ s just the belief and the mentality we have, that every single time we step on the field, we’ re going to score.”