Assessing Arkansas' special teams in 2021: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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When Sam Pittman announced that his staff would include the UA’s first-ever dedicated special teams coordinator, many fans rejoiced because Arkansas had struggled in the oft-forgotten third phase in recent years.

The excitement grew when a closer look at Scott Fountain’s resume revealed success at multiple stops, including Auburn and Georgia.

However, special teams were an unmitigated disaster for the Razorbacks in 2020, with blocked punts, botched PATs, alignment penalties, kickoffs out of bounds, long returns allowed and much more. They were among the worst units in all of college football and the statistics backed up the eye test.

Out of 127 FBS teams, Arkansas’ special teams ranked 124th in ESPN’s efficiency ratings, 122nd in the FEI ratings, 120th on Pro Football Focus and 107th in Bill Connelly’s SP+ ratings.

There was really nowhere to go but up in 2021, but just how much have the Razorbacks improved on special teams this season?

They still rank 100th and 109th, according to FEI and ESPN efficiency ratings, respectively, but they’re more middle-of-the-pack on Pro Football Focus (t-67th) and in the SP+ (60th).

With that in mind, HawgBeat decided to really dive into each unit and reveal the good, the bad and the ugly for Arkansas’ special teams this year…

Mr. Touchback

A case could be made that Arkansas has the best kickoff man in all of college football. In fact, the numbers back up such an argument.

Vito Calvaruso’s 87.2 kickoff grade from Pro Football Focus is actually tied with LSU’s Avery Atkins for the best in the FBS. He has kicked off 30 times through five games and 25 have been touchbacks. At 83.3 percent, that is believed to be on track to shatter the single-season school record. (Although it’s worth mentioning that the NCAA moving the kickoff spot up five yards before the 2012 season, making touchbacks much easier.)

Not only is he notching touchbacks, but the sophomore is absolutely booming kicks, with several sailing through the back of the end zone. He has an average hang time of 4.36 seconds, which also leads all of the FBS.

Calvaruso has been so good this year, after struggling with consistency as a true freshman, that Pittman said he’s had multiple conversations with him about the possibility of putting him on scholarship.

“Whenever he goes out there and kicks it out of the back of the end zone you go, 'Man, how much is this worth?' It's worth a lot,” Pittman said. “The way he's kicking the ball has been tremendous for us. It takes that aspect of a return game out of it.”

Big Debut by Little

One reason Calvaruso can focus solely on kickoffs is because Arkansas brought in a heralded high school recruit to be the team’s placekicker.

After struggling during the spring as an early enrollee, Cam Little eventually ran away with the job in fall camp and has shown a lot of promise five games into his career. Going into last week, he was a perfect 8 of 8 on field goals - the most attempts without a miss in the country - with several clutch kicks.

Little’s first career attempt was a game-tying 34-yarder late in the third quarter against Rice, he was a perfect 4 of 4 in a big environment against Texas, he easily booted a 46-yarder to open the scoring against Texas A&M and then added a 24-yarder in the fourth quarter that essentially sealed the victory.

The only blemish on Little’s resume came against the Bulldogs, as he missed a 37-yard attempt wide left in his first game in front of a frenzied road crowd.

Despite the miss, Pittman said he was still really happy with how he’s done this year because there were times last year they were just worried about making extra points. On top of that, Little has bounced back in practice, making all of his attempts Tuesday afternoon.

“I know we’re going to miss a field goal every now and then, and that’s what happened,” Pittman said. “But I’ll tell you this: Every single time I send him out there I believe we’re going to make it. That doesn’t just come from I’m a positive guy. That comes from he’s making them in practice every single day.”

Bauer’s Development

This was the trickiest special teams aspect to place. Most fans would look at Reid Bauer’s 40.9-yard average on punts, see that it ranks 10th out of 11 SEC punters, and automatically say he’s bad.

However, there is a lot more to punting than just sheer distance. Sure, everyone would like a guy who consistently booms 50-yarders, but there’s also a lot of value in placement and hang time.

Bauer has punted 25 times this season and 13 of them have been fair caught, with his 4.22-second hang time - which ranks third in the SEC, according to Pro Football Focus - having a lot to do with that.

Outside of what appeared to be a poorly placed punt on his second attempt of the season against Rice, which led to a 16-yard return, Bauer has done a pretty good job of placing his punts where he wants. In fact, of his 12 punts that weren’t fair caught, only six were returned - and usually for not much, as discussed in the next section.

The one negative for Bauer this year has been his consistency. His average distance would be better if he could eliminate the seemingly random bad punts. For example, against Georgia, he averaged 42.3 yards on seven punts, but that would have been higher without a 31-yard shank at the beginning of the third quarter.

It seems like he has about one of those each game, but then he’s also capable of uncorking a gorgeous 60-yarder with excellent hang time right on the sideline, like he did against Georgia Southern.

Even with the occasional bad punt, Bauer has earned an impressive 82.1 punting grade from Pro Football Focus. That is second in the SEC - behind only Texas A&M’s Nik Constantinou - and fifth in the FBS.

Solid Kickoff/Punt Coverage

The few times Calvaruso’s kicks didn’t sail into the end zone for a touchback, opponents haven’t been able to really make Arkansas pay.

Of the five non-touchbacks, one was fair caught so Georgia Southern could get the ball at the 25. The other four were returned for an average of 21.5 yards. That is tied for 77th nationally, which isn’t great, but a closer look shows the coverage unit has actually been pretty solid.

Texas A&M’s speedy Devon Achane got a 32-yard return on his only chance, but the other three - one by Rice, two by Texas - were stopped well short of the 25-yard line, so the coverage unit has been successful on three of four returns.

It’s a similar story on the punt coverage unit. Opponents have managed just 27 yards on six returns, giving them a 4.5-yard average. That is also skewed by the aforementioned 16-yard return allowed against Rice that wasn’t necessarily the coverage unit’s fault. Take that out and the average drops from 4.5 yards (t-39th nationally) to 2.2 yards (t-14th nationally).