Special teams may be the quiet part of football, but Arkansas is treating it like a priority as fall camp gets rolling.
That’s where Chad Lunsford comes in. The Razorbacks’ special teams coordinator, who held the same job at Auburn last season and coached Georgia Southern from 2018-21, is now working with a unit that has a lot of new faces and a clear need to get details cleaned up fast. After Arkansas’ third practice of fall camp on Friday, Lunsford said he likes the early effort but knows there’s still work ahead.
"These first three days, I thought the guys have really come out, been intentional with what they're trying to do," Lunsford said Friday after Arkansas' third practice of fall camp. "We got a little ways to go, though, before we play a game.
We gotta make sure we're honing in on some little details. I think we're moving in the right direction for sure.
Fired up about our specialists."
One of the biggest names in that specialist group is placekicker Max Gilbert, the Tennessee transfer who arrives in Fayetteville with a strong track record. In two seasons in Knoxville, Gilbert made 34 of 45 field goals and was perfect on extra points, going 118-for-118.
His time at Tennessee included a 1-1 record against Arkansas, and he’ll get another shot at his former team when the Volunteers come to Razorback Stadium on Oct. 10.
Lunsford said Gilbert has handled the early work well, but the real test is still coming once the pads go on and the pressure ramps up.
"Max Gilbert's done a really good job," Lunsford said. "He's really been a really high-percentage guy for us so far. I'm really looking forward to next week when we're in our pads, we actually get field goal protection and field goal block going at him and get a little bit more pressure on him.
"He did a really nice job yesterday. We had a pressure kick set up for him, and he nailed it right down the middle.
But as always, I hope he hears this when I tell him this, you're only as good as your next kick. He's got to have that mindset.
But leading up to now, he's done a very good job. He's been good with his percentage, and I want to see him continue to get better and really have a good year."
Gilbert is part of a broader special teams plan that also puts a spotlight on Arkansas’ kicking, punting and return game. Lunsford said the modern game can make teams cautious about bringing kicks back, but he still expects chances to be there - and expects Arkansas to be ready when they come.
"I think it's important that you teach your kickoff return team the right time to return a kick," Lunsford said. "If it is a returnable ball that can time up right with its blocks, that's the opportunity you have to make an explosive play on kickoff return."
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