FAYETTEVILLE – It was no secret Jim Chaney and Bret Bielema didn’t have meshing styles.

The now-departed Arkansas offensive coordinator Chaney was keen to throw the football often. He was an air-it-out type at Purdue in the late 1990s with Drew Brees at quarterback and at Tennessee in the early 2010s with a host of quarterbacks. Not once did a Chaney offense at either stop finish outside the top 50 in total passing.

Then not once, in two seasons at Arkansas, did the Razorbacks finish inside the top 100 in the same statistic.

Out went Chaney. In his stead, Dan Enos. The former Central Michigan head coach took a lower title, but more money and more prestige, and joined Bielema at Arkansas. Enos played quarterback at Michigan State, served as quarterbacks coach at Western Michigan, Cincinnati and his alma mater, then running backs coach for the Spartans, too, before taking over the helm in Mount Pleasant.

There is a promise for change in Fayetteville with the Enos hire. The only question is how quickly. That answer is not yet evident, though we have seen flashes.

It would be foolhardy to completely dismantle everything Chaney built at Arkansas what with a fifth-year senior quarterback. Brandon Allen is, on the other hand, working with his fourth offensive coordinator in five seasons. Still, change was necessary.

Allen is either mum on the differences between Chaney and Enos or there aren’t all that many yet.

“It’s hard to tell how different,” Allen said. “He kind of wrinkles in different things he has brought with him his whole career. Concept-wise there’s probably 10 or 15 different things he brought that are completely different, completely new. The whole offense as a whole that he brought in, it’s hard to determine how different, but it’s different.”

The Razorbacks didn’t tip their hand whatsoever in the spring. Neither Jonathan Williams or Alex Collins saw much duty then. Wide receiver Dominique Reed hadn’t arrived yet. The most significant difference to common eyes on first blush was the team used a lot more screen passes.

That was a big criticism about Chaney’s offense. The passes were plenty, but they were often intermediate or long routes. In fact, Brandon Allen’s yards-per-attempt last year (6.7) ranked him higher (76th) than his yards per game (175.8, 84th). Several times at Saturday’s scrimmage Allen would throw more dump-off routes. They came on screens and digs most commonly.

But it was also evident that was a work in progress. One of the screens was either muffed or blown up as Allen attempted to get the ball out to his running back, but instead threw it off offensive tackle Dan Skipper’s back. The ball hung on the 6-foot-10 inch giant’s backside just long enough for defensive end Jeremiah Ledbetter to grab it and take it the 30-some-odd yards back for a touchdown.

“You know, we didn’t run a lot of screens a year ago,” Bielema said. “So one of the things we have got to do is continue to work screens in stressful situations and get B.A. – everybody thinks that it’s a short little pass, but it’s all about timing. But B.A. Had a really good week. I thought overall this past week has been really, really good with our wide receivers and tight ends on the routes.”

Ultimately, in Enos’ year one, that’s what’s going to matter. If the personnel can adapt to the so-called wrinkles, the Arkansas offense can take a step forward. And that’s even with the season-ending foot injury to Williams. What it does in years to come with Enos is more of a question. One we will see unfold as these weeks tick off the calendar in fall 2015.