FAYETTEVILLE — After giving up six sacks against Auburn, Arkansas’ offensive line will go no rest when No. 17 South Carolina comes to town on Saturday.
The Gamecocks have 24 sacks this season, and a stout defensive line that includes the likes of Tomiwa Durojaiye and Anthony Addison awaits.
“You look at their defense line and you say, ‘Holy smokes’,” Arkansas head coach Ryan Silverfield said Monday. “Speaking of NFL prospects, it looks like an NFL D-line. Defensively, they are a four-down structure. Ideally, they stay out of the quarters and then try to go to a three-man rotation, whether it’s boundary or free safety, based off of which linebacker they’re bringing. Base downs, they’ve pressured — again, you guys are going to sit here and say, ‘Well, it’s going to change for us.’ Yes, they’ve blitzed four times on base downs and base situations, true blitzes, and a six-game breakdown, and so that’s quite unique. But they do bring single backer dogs, but they rely heavily (on D-line). They think their defensive line is going to be able to handle the offense line in front of them.”
In addition to USC’s defensive line, linebackers Fred Johnson, Justin Okoronkwo and Shawn Murphy have combined for 3.5 sacks.
“Their two defensive ends are as good as we’re going to see this year,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said Tuesday. “I think number six specifically, he missed a couple games early. I think he missed three or four games early. He’s back 100% right now. But they’re a defense that, like I said, is built from front to back. They create pressure from their defensive line. Linebackers, good players, secondary solid players across the board. But they’re D-line’s where they make their money and where they get people off course.”
Arkansas’ offensive line played well against Vanderbilt before a so-so performance against Missouri. Against Auburn, QB KJ Jackson had plenty of time to throw in the first half before the Tigers racked up five sacks and eight TFLs in the second half alone.
The Gamecocks don’t often bring pressure, bringing pressure on only four percent of base downs, but Arkansas tight end Ty Lockwood says there’s a reason why.
“I think that’s probably the reason why they’re not a super heavy pressure team is those ends, they’re pretty phenomenal.,” Lockwood said. “They do their job and they do it well. They’re twitchy and fast and physical and the backers are going to be athletic as well. So that’s going to be a challenge we’re willing to face.”
If Arkansas can’t give Jackson time to throw on Saturday, it may be a long night for the Razorbacks. Againt a stellar defensive front, Arkansas’ offensive line will have to play its best game of the season.
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