By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Fitting that Arkansas’ Chevin Calloway wears defensive jersey No. 1.
Because the sophomore cornerback opposite returning shutdown senior corner Ryan Pulley knows he’ll be the No. 1 target to be picked on by every quarterback opposing the Razorbacks until he can prove otherwise.
Don’t pull Pulley’s chain and try for the pass play, Calloway’s way is bound to be every offensive coordinator’s against Arkansas directive starting with the Sept. 1 season opener against Eastern Illinois at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“Oh for sure,” Calloway said as a sophomore first-time starter dwarfed in Pulley’s reputation shadow. “I’m glad he has the reputation because it gives me an opportunity to put my name on the map and show people what I am capable of doing under the pressure and attention of people coming at me.”
Knowing what’s coming has had Calloway prepping since last spring under the direction of veteran secondary coach Ron Cooper assisted by Mark Smith doubling as recruiting coordinator.
“It’s all a mental state having to keep your confidence up and competing and going hard and learning and getting better each and every day and perfecting my craft,” Calloway said after the Razorbacks’ second August preseason practice. “These last couple of days have been good. I’ve had a pick every day so far in skelly. That’s a good step for me.”
While a rookie starter, it’s not like Calloway is a complete rookie.
With torn pectoral muscles sidelining Pulley for the 2017 season’s duration from the second quarter of the first game, Calloway became the battlefield promoted true freshman backup behind battlefield promoted to true freshman starting cornerback Kamren Curl.
Calloway lettered playing some backup corner and special teams every game and capped the season against Missouri logging a career high 63 snaps including, recording his two pass breakups for the season and making five tackles, half of his total of 10 tackles for the season. Film of that Missouri game and the spring that Calloway displayed sufficed for new head coach Chad Morris, new defensive coordinator John Chavis and new secondary coaches Cooper and Smith concurring Calloway stepping up to the corner opposite a now healthy Pulley, freeing Curl to fill the vacated safety beside returning senior starting safety Santos Ramirez.
“Chevin had a great spring and ended up the spring opposite Pulley,” Smith said.
Calloway said the defense will be better prepared and better conditioned against the uptempo spread offenses bedeviling Arkansas during last season’s 4-8 campaign because now the defense daily defends an uptempo, spread offense in practice since that’s the offense that Morris operates in games.
“It’s very beneficial as far as our conditioning,” Calloway said. “When we go against other teams we won’t ever be caught by surprise. Whereas last year we would go (in practice, other than against scout team impersonators) against an offense where they huddled up and then game day they would go uptempo we weren’t used to that.”
Other than their comeback in their lone SEC success over Ole Miss, it seemed the Hogs defensively wore out in last year’s 3-4 defense since switched to a 4-3 as Chavis’ base defense.
“The biggest adjustment to this defense compared to the other one is we are putting more pressure on the quarterback and just getting after the ball and the conditioning,” Calloway said. “We all are in good shape. Better shape than last year and I’m excited about that.”
Apparently, a Calloway vote would support the 4-3.
“I definitely feel better with it,” Calloway said. “Especially with the pressure that we’re putting on the quarterback and the opportunities that I have to get a couple of picks and pass breakups and getting to the quarterback. I think everyone loves it. I think anything new compared to last year when it was pretty much no good is a good change.”
Not that he knocks former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and his all but two coaches departed staff because he doesn’t.
For it wasn’t old Pine Bluff ties that caused Dallas Bishop Dunne High School grad Calloway to return to his birth state of Arkansas to play college ball for the Razorbacks.
“I know I was born there (Pine Bluff) for sure and grew up a little bit there,” Calloway said. “I was probably about two or three years old when we moved to Texas. I have a couple of cousins in Pine Bluff and an uncle that stays down there and my grandmother stays down there sometimes.”
But was his home state birth a factor for coming back?
“No,” Calloway said. “That wasn’t a factor at all. It was more my experience when I came here and the coaches.”
Those coaches are gone, but Calloway enthusiastically plays on.
“It’s definitely a different coach and different atmosphere and environment around here and a new staff and buying into their process,” Calloway said. “It’s kind of like I went to another school or something. Just another opportunity to give myself an identity and get better with these coaches.”