Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/12/2010 at 12:00am

Image by Will Flowers

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett is learning to deal with the spotlight. He's being mentioned as a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate in what is expected to be his final season with the Razorbacks.

Tucked away in a room at The Peabody with his parents and a longtime mentor, Ryan Mallett pondered his future on a cold January evening in Memphis, just hours after helping lead the Razorbacks to a Liberty Bowl victory over East Carolina.

Hidden from the public eye as Hog-calling fans celebrated the thrill of Arkansas’ first bowl win since 2003 and debated the quarterback’s future, Mallett was choosing whether to stay in school or leave for the NFL. An entire state was holding its breath as the lanky 22-year-old discussed his pending decision with the people he trusted most.

They went over the options. Leaving after one season with the Razorbacks would fulfill his childhood dreams of playing in the NFL and likely set Mallett up financially for years to come. The strong-armed quarterback, who had thrown for 30 touchdowns and 3,624 yards in the recently completed season — setting or tying 16 school records in the process — needed to make a decision. And he kept coming back to the idea that he didn’t want to leave things incomplete at Arkansas.

Weighing heavy on Mallett was a sense of indebtedness to the University of Arkansas and its fans for taking him in after he left the University of Michigan. Plenty of schools coveted Mallett’s services, but for the lifelong Razorback fan, Arkansas was where he wanted to go. And he couldn’t come to grips with the idea of leaving Fayetteville too soon.

“Before we left for Memphis I kind of knew,” Mallett said. “I could have said I wanted to stay then, but I wanted to weigh out everything. In the end I wanted to come back for another year. I felt like I owed it to the state and the University of Arkansas for allowing me to transfer and come here and go to school and play.

“I felt like I owed it to the state.”

Few could have blamed him for leaving.

Scouts loved his arm — if not his decision making — and Mallett to the NFL became a trendy topic before the Liberty Bowl. Because he played one season at Michigan and sat out another year before playing for the Razorbacks, Mallett could have turned pro being three years removed from high school.

But when looking at a roster with 15 other starters back from an 8-5 season, Mallett saw the possibility for Arkansas to make a serious run on the national stage. Close losses to traditional SEC powers Florida and LSU in 2009 left Mallett and his teammates thinking they were close to breaking through in the league and beyond.

It was a desire to make Arkansas nationally relevant that ultimately led Mallett back for what — barring injury — should be his final season as a Razorback.

And there was the matter of fulfilling a promise he made to his mother to graduate college, a vow he made before leaving high school early and enrolling at Michigan in January of 2007. Mallett will graduate with a sociology degree in December, paving the way for his exit after this season.

Scott Suratt, Mallett’s high school quarterbacks coach at Texas High in Texarkana, was one of the final people Mallett spoke to before choosing to return. Now a head coach and athletic director in Carthage, Texas, Suratt was in the room with Mallett and the quarterback’s parents that January night in Memphis.

“Ryan knew he had unfinished business,” Suratt said.

Maintaining Position

Mallett didn’t announce his decision to return until a week after meeting with his parents and Suratt. He made his announcement to a room full of statewide media outlets and appeared on national ESPN radio and TV platforms to discuss the decision.

It was during the local media session that Mallett told fans to “get ready” for a run at SEC and national titles. Arkansas’ media relations and marketing departments chose “Get Ready” as the promotional slogan for this year’s season.

That press conference and accompanying national interviews unofficially launched his Heisman Trophy campaign for 2010. Early preseason polls — some released within minutes of Mallett’s decision — had Arkansas ranked in the Top 15.

Things were setting up just like Mallett envisioned. From there, though, the off-season hasn’t gone quite like Mallett pictured in his Memphis hotel room.

Sure, national attention is beginning to turn toward the Razorbacks, but there remains a healthy bit of skepticism nationally about Arkansas contending for a national title, something that is partially due to Mallett’s own health.

Mallett underwent shoulder surgery that briefly slowed him in January. Hours after being cleared to participate in off-season workouts, Mallett broke his foot during conditioning drills, an injury that needed surgery and kept one of the team’s most fierce competitors sidelined during spring football.

By all accounts, Mallett has been the model citizen for how to handle injury rehabilitation. He was on or ahead of schedule while healing and found ways to contribute in the spring even without wearing full pads.

“This has been completely opposite of what he thought when he decided to come back,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said. “I was worried about him for a while, how he would handle this. … He’s handled it well. He has maintained his position as the leader on this team.”

Teammates found Mallett to be extremely active despite his limitations. Mallett was often in the middle of drills, explaining things to the team’s other quarterbacks.

Mallett, who kept weight off with a strict diet and continued exercise, was still involved in throwing the football. He even progressed to the point where he could fill in during 7-on-7 drills in April while redshirt freshman Brandon Mitchell missed time for a death in the family.

“Ryan left no doubt this was his team, even when he couldn’t be out there with us,” wide receiver Jarius Wright said. “He did a great job of leading without playing.”

When he had time he normally would have filled with physical activity, Mallett was in the film room. He reviewed cutups from 2009 and even continued his film study during a week off in Texarkana following the spring semester.

Family members said Mallett wasn’t home three hours before he popped in a DVD from the season. First came a replay of the 2009 LSU game. Arkansas lost to the Tigers 33-30 in overtime, a game that Mallett struggled in early and completed just 43 percent of his passes. Mallett finally ended film study his first night home at 3 a.m., confident he had a better understanding of the blitzes that he’d played poorly against in 2009.

“Anything I can do to get an edge,” said Mallett, whose only real respite from football seems to be a house he shares with two non-football playing friends. If Mallett is going to live up to a junior high boast he made to his mother about making the NFL, there is work to be done.

“Growing up this is all I wanted to do,” Mallett added. “It’s always been a love of mine.”

Growing Up

Growth hasn’t been limited to the field for Mallett. There’s been a noticeable maturation since his arrival in January 2007 and even more of leap since March 2009.

Mallett continues to be frustrated with himself for a misdemeanor public intoxication arrest. He’s been asked about it so often that Mallett will occasionally bring it up before someone else does.

Asked during an off-season interview what people should know about him, Mallett said:

“Obviously, I’m not the Tim Tebow kind of guy. That’s not really my platform. I’d rather do other stuff [to help people]. I feel like people still kind of look back to last spring when I got into trouble and they hold [onto] that. But that wasn’t me. I was immature as a young man. To this point, I’m leaps and bounds compared to last year and the year before.

“So I want to shed that.”

While Mallett isn’t doing mission work in Third World countries or starring in Focus on the Family ads ala Tebow, he is influencing people in his own way. Mallett has become one of the first calls when the Razorbacks’ student life office is planning a community service outing, and he was selected as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy youth camp this summer.

Shedding any negative perceptions about his image starts with shedding bad influences, Mallett said. His circle of friends has grown increasingly tight, also a byproduct of his increased national profile.

Lessons taught by Michigan teammate Chad Henne didn’t immediately sink in, but Mallett has found the advice from his former teammate to be invaluable. Henne, now a Miami Dolphins quarterback, set an example to follow that Mallett said serves him well.

“You can’t trust everybody and I didn’t understand that when I first got here,” Mallett said. “You’ve got to be real selective before you put trust in their hand.”

Becoming more cautious about public outings and whom he surrounds himself with has only added to a big misconception about the big quarterback. Critics say Mallett is cocky and arrogant, and some in the national media have tried to draw unflattering comparisons between Mallett and perceived hot heads like former Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen. It was Clausen’s demeanor that might have hurt him most in the 2010 draft.

Those closest to him said the “arrogant” label has been tough on Mallett, the sort of kid that seems to have never met a stranger and will stop dinner with family or friends to visit and sign autographs in restaurants. Buzz has been building around Mallett since he began working out with the Texas High varsity in eighth grade. Now that Mallett is mentioned as a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate, hype has continued to build.

“Ryan has this label that he’s bigger than life,” McGee said. “… It’s hard for him. I bet it’s hard for Ryan to go to Wal-Mart or McDonalds. It’s not the life of an average college person.”

Complete Confidence

Mallett doesn’t appear to be affected by what is going on around him. He’s not shying away from the national attention, something that goes back to lessons he learned growing up with a large and competitive extended family.

Get members of the Mallett family together and conversation is almost certain to turn to sports. Coaches and former athletes populate the branches on both sides of Mallett’s family tree, and because of that, the talk more often than not escalated into competition.

Mallett was the second youngest of 13 cousins on his father’s side, but he often towered over older relatives. That made him a bigger target for good-natured ribbing and challenges from a large and tight-knit extended family. His size — and occasional trouble growing into that size — positioned Mallett for challenges from a sister that was two years older and a collection of cousins, uncles, parents and grandparents with athletic backgrounds.

“I wouldn’t say they picked on me, but they just made me tough skinned where you don’t back down from anybody,” Mallett said.

Mallett’s physical tools and competitive attitude have made him one of the most high profile quarterbacks in college football entering 2010. Analysts from CBS and ESPN have put him on a seemingly interchangeable list of the top-three NFL prospects at his position along with Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Washington’s Jake Locker.

Former NFL quarterback and SEC standout Archie Manning knows about playing the position. Two of his sons, Eli and Peyton, are now in the NFL. Archie Manning has watched Mallett in person and on TV and sees the physical tools needed to succeed on the next level.

“I just think his size is good. It looks like he’s physically gifted and got a strong arm,” Manning said. “I think he’s got a really bright future.”

Can Mallett repeat last year’s success? Can he live up to the hype that intensified as he explored leaving for the NFL after playing just one season as a Razorback?

Whatever pressure might be mounting on Mallett, he’s not showing it. Mallett continues to handle it all in stride, entertaining those closest to him with his penchant for practical jokes, and, just like his family taught him, there is no backing down from any of the attention.

Even negative attention — like two unflattering fake Twitter accounts lampooning him, outsiders questioning his attitude and pundits wondering if he can handle the spotlight — isn’t enough to shake Mallett’s confidence.

Those closest to Mallett aren’t the least bit surprised.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him doubt himself,” Mallett’s mother, Debbie, said. “We’ve always talked to kids about being leaders and not followers.”

Apparently, that was an easy lesson for Mallett to learn. Backing down isn’t an option. As long as you’ve put in the proper work on the front end, you can afford to meet challenges head-on.

That, Mallett said, is why he always seems confident and doesn’t shy away from anything.

“I’m not the kind of guy that is going to back down from anybody,” Mallett said. “Some people might not like that, but that’s how I was taught. How I was brought up is that you prepare yourself at all times. So that way you know the game plan and you have confidence in yourself going in. Preparation puts you in place to succeed.”

Those early lessons learned are part of what fueled Mallett’s return to Arkansas. He’s not backing down from the idea the Razorbacks can reach an unprecedented level of success in college football’s BCS era.

Mallett By the Numbers

Class    Redshirt Junior  
Height    6-7
Weight    240
Hometown    Texarkana, Ark. 

2    Rushing touchdown
5    Games with 300-plus yar
7    Interceptions
7    Games without an interception
16    School records tied or broken in 2009
30    Touchdown passes thrown
82    Completion percentage over three-game stretch against Eastern Michigan, South Carolina and Troy
408    Season-high passing yards vs. Georgia
3,842    School-record passing yards

What they are saying…
“Playing for Bobby Petrino means he is coming out of a sophisticated system. He’s going to understand the game. He’s a smart football guy. He loves football.” — ESPN analyst Chris Mortensen

“Ryan Mallett has the best pure arm in the SEC.” — Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com

“Mallett’s howitzer arm would be of little benefit, of course, without the ability to control it. Apparently, he can do that quite well.” — Randy Moore of Scout.com
 
“Even in high school, he just had a terrific arm and was really accurate. He could put the ball in places other people couldn’t.” — Former Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr
 
“The guy has velocity like Usain Bolt has acceleration.” — Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com

“It’s clear to me. I’ve seen enough. Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett has the strongest arm in the land. I’m not sure it’s close.” — Rece Davis, ESPN.com

“I love Ryan Mallett. I like the way he goes about his business in terms of how he plays with an extreme confidence. He plays the game with swagger. If you look up swagger in the dictionary it means arrogance and conceitedness, but really what I think coaches talk about is confidence and that is what they are looking for with swagger from different guys and Ryan’s got it.” — NFL Network analyst Charles Davis

“I just think his size is good. It looks like he’s physically gifted and got a strong arm. I think he’s got a really bright future.” — Former Ole Miss/New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning

“Mallett’s a franchise type of quarterback, and those guys are never easily replaced.” — ESPN.com blogger Chris Low on the SEC’s “irreplaceable players.”

Tagged: Archie Manning, Arkansas Razorbacks, Ryan Mallett, Chris Low, Charles Davis, Rece Davis, Bruce Feldman, Lloyd Carr, Randy Moore, Dennis Dodd, Chris Mortensen, Chad Henne, Garrick McGee, quarterback, Heisman Trophy, University of Michigan, Scott Suratt, Texarkana Texas High, Razorbacks, Liberty Bowl