FAYETTEVILLE --Linebacker Dre Greenlaw making 17 tackles appeared one silver lining to Arkansas' 28-7 loss to TCU.
No, not really, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads implied.
Bronze, maybe. But probably not silver and certainly not gold.
The junior weakside linebacker from Fayetteville could play better yet not make as many tackles against Texas A&M on Saturday than in the Razorbacks' Sept. 9 home defeat.
Bielema, Rhoads and inside linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves would be all for that. For presumably that would mean the Arkansas defense wouldn't be on the field for 33:52 of the game's 60 minutes like it was against TCU.
Apparently with that much opportunity knocking even 17 tackles wasn't enough.
"I grabbed him on the Sunday after the TCU game," Bielema said Monday. "And I said, 'Hey, brother, you had 17 tackles, but you probably could have had 22, 23.' And he knows it."
He heard it from Rhoads, too.
"I don't think he played a great game even being involved with 17 tackles because he could have had 20-plus tackles," Rhoads said Monday.
Rhoads explained both Greenlaw's vast potential with how well he does for a former high-school safety switched in his third year of linebacking from 4-3 to 3-4 defense while missing all of spring drills because of the twice-broken foot also restricting his practices for much of the August preseason.
"I don't think he is reaching up and scratching the ceiling yet," Rhoads said. "I really don't. I think he is still learning. He is still learning linebacker as much as he is linebacker in the 3-4. You are talking about a high-school safety who gone from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and still missed significant time (out six games in 2016) with an injury as a sophomore, spring ball and all that."
So while knowing silver and gold is the goal, Rhoads appreciates what Greenlaw bronzed.
"We have identified certain guys that are playmakers on this unit and he's one of them," Rhoads said. "When he has the ability to make those plays, he's got to make them and he left some of those out there. But those 17 tackles, I'm sure glad he was out there on the field to make."
And even more glad foreseeing what's to come providing Greenlaw stays healthy.
"We remain excited about how high that ceiling is as he continues to learn" Rhoads said. "Coach Hargreaves is doing an excellent job of coaching him and bringing him along. Week by week you're gonna see that growth continue."
Especially if they keep that twice-fractured foot fit.
"We're aware of it," Bielema said. "If we get further into the season we might back off and not have him in individual and keep him more for the team work period, just to try to back off the volume that he might have in a work week."
Injured during last season's sixth game and reinjured upon returning in the Belk Bowl loss to Virginia Tech, and getting plenty of breathers during this season's opening 49-7 rout of lower division Florida A&M, the TCU game marked Greenlaw's first full game since last season's fifth game.
"Man, it felt good, Greenlaw said. "To be able to go out there with my brothers and play a full game and finish the game ... Just the energy from the crowd and the way that we were feeling on defense. We came up short, but to be able to be out there and compete with them felt great."
Even in defeat, making 17 tackles in his first full game since midseason 2016 seems a major accomplishment.
"Overall I felt like I did pretty good," Greenlaw said. "There were a lot of things I could have done better. I did miss a few tackles and the coaches emphasized this week making sure we're good on tackling and communicating. I feel like I could have done better, but for the first time playing a full game, I thought I did pretty good. And for the most part my stamina was pretty good. I feel good for the most part."
And feeling even better adding last weeks' open date practices preparing for Saturday's SEC opener (11 a.m. in Arlington, Texas).
"Getting that edge on Texas A&M, making sure everybody knows exactly what they're doing," Greenlaw said. "I think that's going to help us a lot."
Sports on 09/20/2017