The Arkansas contingent arrived to Hoover, Ala. Wednesday for their sessions with the media. Joining head coach Bret Bielema for the league’s Media Days in Hoover this year was linebacker Brooks Ellis, tight end Jeremy Sprinkle and defensive lineman Deatrich Wise.

Here’s what the three players had to say during their media availability Wednesday:

Senior linebacker Brooks Ellis

On the depth at linebacker:
“It’s going to be a huge help having so much depth. A lot more guys can play out there and make plays for us and that’s going to be huge. Getting a breather every once and a while, it’s going to be nice. And when I do get a breather, people are going to be able to go in there and have an impact for us, and that’s just going to be huge for our defense. And that’s going to happen all over the field. We just have a lot of people coming in that are very strong and know what they’re doing, and going to make an impact for us.”

On developing individuals that we can expect to see this fall:
“Kendrick Jackson, he’s a mike linebacker, he’s made huge strides. He played fullback last year, but he moved to linebacker in the spring and he’s made huge strides. He still has some work to do, but he’s going to make some plays for us. He’s very disruptive and does a lot of great things. All over the field though. At cornerback we have Ryan Pulley. Safety De’Andre Coley. Just a number of guys that can make plays for us and are going to be great impact players.”

On handling coaching transitions:
“So my freshman year, I was working under Chris Ashe, who is the Rutgers head coach now and used to be with Ohio State, defensive coordinator. But when Rob Smith came, I think it was a huge change. It was more detail-oriented, and everybody figured out the defense a lot quicker and a lot better than they did before. And the transition was very smooth, he did a great job of explaining everything. And even with the linebacker coach – from Randy Shannon to Coach Hargreaves, it’s been a smooth transition. Coach Hargreaves does a great job of teaching technique, and just how to be a true linebacker. It’s been a great ride with him, and he’s doing the right things to get me where I need to be at the end of the season.”

On trip to Belize and fall class schedule:
“Well, actually I’m taking two classes in the fall to get my bio minor. There’s an evolutionary class, and then another special populations exercise prescription class so that’s not going to be hard at all. Very easy and I’ll be focused on football mostly so it should be a great fall season. Belize though – that was a very fun time. I stepped off the plane, and did not stop sweating the entire time. Three nights I had no AC and that was probably the worst nights of my life, I need some AC to sleep so – those were fun nights for sure. But it was a great time, learned a lot, great experience. Lots of poverty down there so it was really interesting to see everybody and just the diversity of people down there and how they interact. It was just really cool. Lots of cool sights to see. Lots of caves and Mayan ruins and stuff like that – different animals than I’m used to. It was just really cool.”

Senior tight end Jeremy Sprinkle

On who can step in and be the second or third tight end in the offense:
“Like you said last year we were a two tight end team and really based around a 12-man personnel team. I feel like over the summer it’s going to be who can provide the most versatility, the more things you can do on the football field gives you a better chance to play. Honestly, it’s more of the coach’s job to figure that out, but some people have stepped up over the summer and I’m sure that someone during fall camp will emerge. Anthony (Antwine) has been doing good but he needs to put on a few more pounds. Cheyenne (O’Grady) has stepped up a little bit, and Austin (Cantrell) has been out there competing also. Jack (Kraus) is a veteran, like me as well, so he has the experience. Someone will just have to emerge.”

On playing with Hunter Henry last season:
“Getting to play with Hunter (Henry) last season was a great honor, just having both of us out there last year made mismatches for defenses and so it gave us both opportunities. I was able to learn things from him last year to work on my game and apply what I learned to make me stronger.”

On preparing for teams with less name appeal:
“We can’t overlook anybody, and we have to take each game one game at a time. We can’t look past any team and think about who we have next week. We have to have the one game mindset and take games one game at a time.”

On beating Ole Miss last season in overtime:
“I watch it all the time because it was just a crazy play. I was on the other side of field when I saw the pass caught and I just thought that the game was over but when I saw Brandon (Allen) pick the ball up and start coming my way I was looking for someone to block but he did a good job of putting moves on people and getting the extra yards.”

On Austin Allen:
“I feel like Austin has been developing really well. I see a lot of things that I saw in Brandon (Allen) with his improvement over the spring that I see in Allen in his improvement this spring. But it’s like Coach Dan (Enos) said that he can come in and succeed pretty quick. It’ll be fun to see him come in and succeed.”

Senior defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr.

On only starting one game last year what is it like in the off season with a leadership role:
“I did not see myself as a leader. I was not a starter. This off-season I have been training and grinding with my teammates. And they look up to me as I look to them and we believe in each other.”

On what has it been like to see your name jump on draft picks:
“It felt real great. When growing up as a child and watching games, it makes for a great feeling to see I could reach that.”

On what’s your motivation and why that’s is pushing you this off-season:
“We are very motivated and our goal is to start the way we finished last year. Why is because we want championships and have an outstanding season. And if we have a season like the end of the last season we have great things coming.”

On fixing a slow start to the season:
“We usually start getting into a rhythm at the end of the season, but getting into rhythm at the beginning would have us starting out strong. It’s the small-like communication, something to that nature with a hundred percent till the end of the season. It would be great.”