Coaches May Want to Listen to Jimmy Johnson on Preseason

Former Razorback players, assistant got interesting results from survey of NFL trainers on early injuries

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman yells at offense during fall camp in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas just concluded fall camp ahead of opening the 2024 season and, as best as anyone can tell, very little actual tackling has taken place.

All of this has accelerated at the college level as a reflection of NFL teams basically using preseason games to get tape on players who might develop into a decent back-ups. Now the college coaches follow with their own way of protecting starters by having them avoid getting tackled, especially the skill players.

Sam Pittman might want to use the Razorbacks' connection and spend a couple of minutes talking about the whole deal with former Hog and NFL Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, the same one who was the defensive coordinator for the Hogs who moved Dan Hampton from an offensive recruit to the defense, triggering a legendary career with championship trophies.

Johnson was on Fox Sports with Colin Cowherd and the subject of NFL teams holding players out of preseason came up. Apparently, there's more to what he had to say than just taking a guess at trends he's seen.

"I did a study a few years ago looking at all the injuries that happen early in the season," Johnson said about conducting a poll with about 75 percent of the trainers in the NFL. "Every trainer, to a person, said because they don't have a lot of physical work in the training camp and early part is why they are seeing so many injuries. A lot of soft-tissue injuries and stuff like that."

The solution is not be worrying about injuries so much everybody loses sight of the goal worrying about what's going to happen anyway. There will always a certain amount of injuries that happen each season and nobody knows when or how they happen.

"You've got to have full-speed physical work, especially for your offensive line to get into coordination," Johnson said. "Also, players have to be able to take a hit, know how to fall, know how to be in a pile-up. They need the physical work to prevent some of these injuries. That's one reason why you see so many injuries in the early part of the season."

College coaches are more worried about losing a game in September than winning the biggest ones in November and December. Leave it to Johnson to actually sit down and do the research.

In a world where everybody copies what is successful, right now they are looking at the NFL teams. No coach there wants to jeopardize his paycheck and deal with the fans' backlash of getting somebody hurt in preseason.

Now it's the same thing in the college world. Pittman, who worries when he doesn't think he has enough to worry about, is paranoid about anybody reporting on injuries or even the ones that happen and nobody knows about.

Often, members of the media without a medical degree, jump to conclusions over routine stuff anyway. he coaches simply don't want to risk the public relations fallout. The coaches simply don't want to risk the public relations fallout.

They know the risks involved aren't that great. Crossing Razorback Road from the football center probably carries as much risk and carrying the ball around end in a live-tackling drill in practice.

Last year, running back Rakeem Boyd got hurt in the first game and an anticipated big year dissolved into the mess with a 4-8 team, possibly proving Johnson's research applies to the Razorbacks also. Pittman may want to give Johnson a call about it.

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• Pittman's expectations for season contrast what fans, outsiders think

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