Fountain's 'Special' Problem Figuring Out Razorbacks' Kicker

With just a couple of weeks before having to settle on one, special teams may be a real competition this time

Arkansas Razorbacks special teams coach Scott Fountain at practice Friday afternoon on the outdoor fields in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas special teams coach Scott Fountain has a problem this year he really hasn't had for three years. No matter how much he may try to convince them, it's hard to find a single person who believed Cam Little wasn't the guy.

"When Cam was here, we made him compete every year for the job," Fountain said after Friday's practice, although he admitted nobody really believed that. "It was not his, and he knew he had to win it in camp."

Since Little was a freshman, the Razorbacks didn't have anyone on the roster as good and it was plain to see. This year is nowhere near that clear-cut.

Kyle Ramsey and Matthew Shipley were the two the media asked about. Apparently, there are really three guys competing for the job because nobody considered the assumed kickoff guy, Vito Calvaruso, was also in that mix.

"Those three are the three," Fountain said. "I really like (Matthew) Shipley and Vito had a good spring, it’s just when we got in the stadium. We try to grade them three ways. One is when nobody is around, just called charting. Nobody but me, just me yelling at them a little bit, and then we have live. With live, we have a rush and then we have scrimmages. They were pretty dang good in live and just charting with nobody watching, but in the stadium is what concerned me. They were 50% in the spring."

For a guy looking for 80% on field goals, that's not good. Considering the number of games Little was the difference-maker, it could be a potential problem. Right now, there's no one on the roster fans would be sitting easy about with a 50-yard field goal to win the game at the end.

They may make it or may not. It's a flip of the coin right now.

Just look back at Razorbacks' history. The first guy to make a splash in the 1960's was Bill McClard, then Steve Little, Ish Ordonez, Bruce Lahay, Kendall Trainor, Todd Wright, Alex Tejada, Zach Hocker and probably a few more.

Especially in years when the Hogs accomplished the most when less was expected, they had a kicker who had a huge impact. Steve Little was the guy on the 1977 team that came close to a national title and Ordonez was a big part of the 1979 team that was 10-1 and played No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

There is a lot of potential with Ramsey and Shipley. Ramsey was 14-of-15 on field goals last year at Abilene Christian. Shipley came in from Hawaii where he was 14-of-18 last season, which is just shy of Fountain's goal of 80%.

"We’ll see who kind of rides up to the top," Fountain said.

He's only got two weeks to figure it out, according to coach Sam Pittman earlier this week.

"Over the next first three days, everybody's got a different snapper and a different holder," Fountain said. "Everybody, because we’ve got three apiece, right? And we're going to do it again the next three days. Then we're going to see how that plays out and we'll go to the scrimmage. That's the tough part right now, but if a guy can continue to make it with a different holder and snapper, it makes you feel better about him. We're going through that process. As we get closer and it kind of starts showing its face then we'll start narrowing it down to those guys. But we're giving them every opportunity to be the guy for the next two weeks."

The Razorbacks will be back on the practice field Saturday, but it's been moved back to 7:05 p.m. and there won't be any press conference afterward. The first scrimmage is scheduled for Thursday with a second one a week later. Both scrimmages will be closed.

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