Kozeal filling void on the field, In the dugout for Razorbacks

"When Cam came in I thought he was really uptight," Van Horn said. "He’s a really loyal person. That’s the way he’s been raised. Parents are unbelievable. He’s a big brother to all those brothers and sister and it didn’t go good. And then he’s thinking, ‘These guys, they went and got me [in the portal]. I don’t know if I’m going to get to play.’"

Van Horn is spot on in his assessment. When Cam went home back to Nebraska, where he's from his dad saw the same thing. Matt preached to his kids to stay loyal to their high school coaches and Kozeal was pressing at the plate like he had never seen before. He barely hit over .200 in fall ball, according to unofficial stats kept by the media.

"I don't think the coaches wrote him off," Matt Kozeal said in mid-March. "If they would have wrote him off he would have given him a pink slip at Christmas break. I'm pretty sure a lot of the Arkansas fan base who was around in the fall were like 'Yeah, this kid's not gonna work.' He'll prove people wrong. The longer he's in Fayetteville, the more people will like him."

In what now sounds like a prophetic statement as Kozeal's average has slowly shot up the charts to the top of the conference, finding a spot for Kozeal on the field was a challenge.

According to Van Horn, hitting coach Nate Thompson brought Kozeal in for a talk after the fall. They saw gradual progress throughout January and February. The idea of putting a career middle infielder at first base came to the coaching staff.

"I called him," Van Horn said. "I already had the [first baseman's] glove sitting at my desk. It was already broke in. Somebody else probably used it. I was out of the office for a couple hours and when I got back, it was off my desk. It was gone. He got it. He just wanted to play."

Not only has Kozeal emerged as one of the team's most consistent hitters, he's emerged in as one of the team's leaders in the field.

Van Horn tapped Rocco Peppi's energy and intangibles as a potential x-factor for the team before the season. Peppi has been sidelined with a lingering back injury and Kozeal has not only transitioned seamlessly at first base, but in a leadership role on the field.

"Cam is pretty verbal in the field [but] just not as loud," Van Horn said. "He’s a talker. Cam is a former shortstop, a former football guy. He’s got a lot of that in him."

On the field, off the field, it's been a whirlwind few months for Kozeal and he'll be an integral part of the final 25 games of the regular season and beyond. It's forcing the rest of the Razorback fanbase to go through the same linguistics lesson that Van Horn went through, Co-zshul.

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