Correcting a 25-year-old myth

When you make a mistake, it’s best to fix it as soon as possible. When it concerns family issues, get out front in a hurry.
If you don’t, the snowball coming at you will grow until it smashes everything.
I knew this summer it was time to step up. So this commentary is a confession, albeit 25 years late.
Family is not the issue, unless you consider Razorback Nation to be family. I do.
I’ve had the story wrong on Code Red as implemented in 1998 by defensive coordinator Keith Burns. The true story might be as good as the one I’ve written about or took to the radio all these years.
The truth began to come out last month after an interview with Dahrron Moss for Hogs+. Moss lettered as a cornerback in 1996-99. We sat down for a video interview in the Broyles Center for a feature to go with a documentary on the 25-year anniversary of what some recognize as a football turning point in year one of the Houston Nutt coaching era at Arkansas. The feature is called Resurgence.
What that 1998 team did in an 8-0 start led Frank Broyles to push for an expansion of Razorback Stadium, including enclosing the south end zone with multiple levels of premium seats. The legendary athletic director embraced the job Nutt did in motivating a veteran team and instantly sold new suites by the dozens.
Everyone knows the Code Red story that I finally understand in more accurate detail. I broke a lot of the Code Red facts in Hawgs Illustrated after the 42-6 victory over Alabama in game three.
It was the interview with Moss that got me to thinking maybe I had one thing wrong. He did not question my facts, just pointed me in the right direction. An editor at Hogs+ did ask the right questions to make a phone call to get it straight.
The Code Red story began to leak in the locker room as I went player to player to discuss the great victory over the Tide. Moss described it best this summer. He said, “We beat them like a dirty rag.”
I reminded him that safety Kenoy Kennedy told me they rocked the bus on Friday. That was after he had described bits and pieces of Code Red, the concepts put in over the spring and summer by Burns.
Part of Code Red is knocking on the opponent’s locker room door on Friday after the walk through. It was just a defensive deal and they usually left a note with a promise that “hell was coming” the next day.
I wrote in 1998 that the defense – led by Burns and defensive captains – went behind the south end zone to rock the Alabama bus while the Tide was dressing in the visitor’s locker room.
No one ever challenged that story. I believe the team let it stand because they wish they had rocked the Alabama bus.
“That was myth,” Burns said in a phone interview this summer after his high school team finished a lifting workout. He’s head coach at Fort Worth Country Day.
“Of course, you and me can write a book about Code Red. There is so much detail to what we did and it was all about making players accountable. If you are going to knock on the locker room door of your opponent on Friday, you better be ready to go on Saturday. You better back it up.”
After talking to players in the locker room after that Alabama game, I decided I needed something from Nutt, already done with his media duties. I knocked on the coaches’ locker room door. I did that in those days. He came out, but seemed reluctant to talk about Code Red.
“You need to talk to Keith,” Nutt said. “That’s his deal, for the defense.”
It was pretty fun stuff for the defensive players, but maybe a little controversial for Nutt.
Burns used Code Red for motivation, but he was good with the Xs and Os, too. His blitzes were consistently effective. Part of that was a collection of standout players.
“We may not have known it at the time, but we had NFL players,” Moss said. “I remember the hit Kenoy made on the Kentucky tight end in Little Rock. He came in from the side and the hit turned the tight end’s head sideways. He was puking and bleeding through the nose.
“I thought I was about to see a player croak.
“Those guys like Kenoy and David Barrett made plays look so easy. After the hit that Kenoy made against Kentucky, I thought to myself, so that’s what an NFL player looks like.”
That was not a myth. Among the 1998 defensive contributors eventually: David Sanders (seventh round, ’98), Melvin Bradley (sixth round, ’99), Ryan Hale (7th round, ’99), Barrett (4th round, ’00), Kennedy (2nd round, ’00), Randy Garner (6th round, ’01) and Quinton Caver (2nd round, ’01).
Burns used exotic animal names for the position groups. The players loved it.
“The defensive line we called lions, king of the jungle,” Burns said. “Linebackers were tigers, possessing the ability to come out of anywhere to make a play. We called the secondary cheetahs, fastest animal in the jungle.
“The mentality we created: we must constantly hunt. The defense does not have the luxury of storing the kill in a deep freeze. Offense can punt. The defense must force a punt or get a turnover every time.”
Burns explained the myth of rocking the bus.
“We just knocked on the locker room door,” he said. “The rocking the bus was the dance line we had going to the movie (in the bus) on Friday night.
“We’d dance down the aisle of the bus. We’d invite one offensive player to ride (the defensive bus) and it was usually Fred Talley. He could dance and rap.”
I’d never heard that story until this summer. Of course, so much that goes on behind closed doors never makes print.
That ’98 defense deserved the print.
“We did,” Moss said. “I don’t know many times I’ve heard the crowd cheer when the defense took the field. They did for us.”
They rocked. That’s no myth.