Cramsey on Hogs’ offense needs KJ Jackson to forget bad snaps fast

Tim Cramsey doesn’t take the snaps, but running the Arkansas offense means he’s spent this week working on what goes on inside KJ Jackson’s head.

After Saturday’s loss to Auburn, his advice was pretty basic.

“As a person, you have to be able to forget about what just happened,” Cramsey said.

Jackson has been hot and cold all season, sometimes inside the same half. Cramsey believes a shorter memory would fix a lot of it.

The Auburn loss also showed an offense that stalls with points sitting there. The run game worked early, Batten gave it some juice on the outside and the defense held up in the first half.

“Bottom line: we need to finish drives,” Cramsey said, pointing to blocks, throws and catches once the Hogs get close.

He wants the offense to “count by sevens, not by threes” in the red zone. The defense gave Arkansas room to breathe and the offense didn’t take advantage.

“We got to have more than a seven-point lead at that point,” he said.

Jackson has shown he can do it, like on the late drive that needed a touchdown. Other times a bad opening snap follows him around.

“If the first play isn’t good for him, we got to get that out of his head and be able to move on and just play the next snap,” Cramsey said.

Part of that comes from the pressure Jackson puts on himself, which Cramsey likes.

“You love that from a kid, but you got to be able to have the confidence to deal with that too,” he said.

The reads don’t change

Cramsey also wants Jackson trusting the call sheet. The Razorbacks teach that a play’s reads stay the same every time it’s called.

“If we run that play five times in a game, your read is still bang eight to the swing,” he said.

Where Jackson gets in trouble is guessing. If the swing route has been covered three straight times, it’s tempting to skip it. Cramsey said that’s usually “the time the swing pops open.”

With three weeks left, Jackson’s play will help decide what Arkansas does at quarterback this offseason. Cramsey called the stakes “enormous,” since the quarterback usually decides who wins.

“When it’s good, we’re good. When it’s bad, we’re bad,” he said.

Auburn sacked Jackson six times, much of it in the second half.

“I will say every sack is a quarterback’s fault,” Cramsey said. In his offense, the ball needs to be gone in about 2.5 seconds.

He added that receivers have to be open on time, running backs have to handle their blocking and the line has to buy 2.8 to 3 seconds. Six sacks says somebody didn’t get the memo.

Jackson does play looser once he’s run it a few times. He had two designed runs against Auburn plus some read plays.

“He feels more confident, he feels more into it,” Cramsey said.

Settles, Batten and a tough front

Cam Settles keeps getting better as a pure runner by trusting his footwork and hitting his landmarks. Cramsey said Settles is “making his read, making one cut and going,” and his long run against Auburn backed that up.

Batten hadn’t been seen all season before getting five carries. Auburn crowded the middle, so the Hogs went looking for speed from a back who “turns his legs over real, real quick,” as Cramsey put it. Most of those carries went to the D gap or wider.

Expect more of AJ Antonio and a healthy Chris together. Auburn doubled Chris, which opened chances for others. Asked if Arkansas can use that look more, Cramsey answered, “Yeah, 100%, 100% can do it more often.”

South Carolina’s defense ranks middle of the pack, but Cramsey sees a group built from front to back.

“Their two defensive ends are as good as we’re going to see this year,” he said, which isn’t comforting after what Auburn did.

No. 6 missed three or four games early and is back to full speed. “Number six, you better have a plan for him,” Cramsey said. The Gamecocks blitz about 4% of the time on base downs and still have 24 sacks.

A 300-pound-plus tackle eats double teams and frees linebackers No. 0 and No. 17. Cramsey wants blockers on the ends first, then up to the linebackers.

That’s a lot of heat coming at the quarterback, and Cramsey’s fix hasn’t changed.

Jackson has to go play the next snap.