The HawgBeat reporter is known as Arkansas sports media's "math guy".
Oftentimes, many students choose to pursue journalism degrees because they believe they won't have to deal with math. In sports, perhaps surprisingly, this same narrative holds true. Though sports require a knowledge of surface-level numbers and statistics, these are often easily distributed through subscription-based services and require little to no extra time for a reporter to include in his or her work. Andrew Hutchinson, a sports reporter for HawgBeat.com, a Rivals subsidiary, represents the minority in Arkansas sports media who not only choose to display deeper statistical analysis in their stories, but have an affinity for mathematics and the precision and mental capabilities required to understand them.
Hutchinson, who has covered the Razorback sports beat since 2012, has always enjoyed math. "I was an AP Calculus student, I scored a five on my AP Calculus BC exam, and so I've always been very good at math," Hutchinson said. "It was something my dad was very good at, so I don't know if I inherited it from him." In his work for the Traveler, WholeHogSports, Hawgs Illustrated, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 247Sports, and HawgBeat, he has made it a point to combine his two passions by giving readers an understanding of the Razorback sports through advanced statistics. Professional baseball's penchant for accumulating these numbers is exciting for future coverage of the college sport, Hutchinson said, but he emphasizes finding them for all sports whenever possible and distributing them through clear, concise writing.
Hutchinson, who has covered the Razorback sports beat since 2012, has always enjoyed math. "I was an AP Calculus student, I scored a five on my AP Calculus BC exam, and so I've always been very good at math," Hutchinson said. "It was something my dad was very good at, so I don't know if I inherited it from him." In his work for the Traveler, WholeHogSports, Hawgs Illustrated, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 247Sports, and HawgBeat, he has made it a point to combine his two passions by giving readers an understanding of the Razorback sports through advanced statistics. Professional baseball's penchant for accumulating these numbers is exciting for future coverage of the college sport, Hutchinson said, but he emphasizes finding them for all sports whenever possible and distributing them through clear, concise writing.
January article contained advanced statistics and introduced fans to transfer quarterback
In a Jan. 17, 2019, article titled, "Deeper look at pros, cons of Ben Hicks as Arkansas' next QB", Hutchinson used advanced statistics to analyze what graduate transfer quarterback Ben Hicks could bring to the Razorback football team. After an abysmal 2018 season for Arkansas' quarterbacks, Hicks' decision to transfer from Southern Methodist to Arkansas could have been a godsend for Razorback fans. Still, it is understood that the American Athletic Conference and Southeastern Conference are incomparable. "Everyone is wondering if this is going to be a good thing, if he's going to be able to succeed playing in the SEC," Hutchinson said. "That's a hard question to answer, so I looked up his stats."
The mathematically-minded journalist charted Hicks' statistics on a game-by-game basis, looked at his "splits" (broken-down charts that compare statistics from two or more categories), and utilized advanced statistics from ProFootballFocus, a subscription-based service afforded to employees of certain sports journalism entities, including Rivals. "They create passing charts for quarterbacks where you can see their deep throws, deep throws down the middle, deep throws down the left sideline, right sideline, et. cetera," Hutchinson said. "I was able to look up and determine what he does...on deep passes."
The mathematically-minded journalist charted Hicks' statistics on a game-by-game basis, looked at his "splits" (broken-down charts that compare statistics from two or more categories), and utilized advanced statistics from ProFootballFocus, a subscription-based service afforded to employees of certain sports journalism entities, including Rivals. "They create passing charts for quarterbacks where you can see their deep throws, deep throws down the middle, deep throws down the left sideline, right sideline, et. cetera," Hutchinson said. "I was able to look up and determine what he does...on deep passes."
Hutchinson included this splits chart in the report. It breaks down Hicks' completion percentage against AP Top-25 teams, Power Five opponents, ProFootball Focus' Top-50 defenses, and worse-ranked defenses. It also includes his yards-per-attempt and touchdown-interception ratio versus those listed categories. Hutchinson used ProFootballFocus' advanced capabilities to compare Hicks' deep-threat ability to other quarterbacks. "
He completed around 40 percent of his deep passes, and alone that doesn't sound great because a 43-percent completion percentage isn't going to win you many games," Hutchinson said. "When you consider the fact that it's deep passes 20 yards down the field, I was able to look up how other SEC quarterbacks did, how Arkansas' quarterbacks did." The results were quite telling and serve as a certain encouragement to Razorback fans who endured watching Cole Kelley and Ty Storey in 2018. "I had to look up each individual quarterback, add it up, and I think Arkansas completed something like 30 percent, which is just terrible...last in the SEC," he said. By implementing these outside-the-box statistics, Hutchinson added a layer to his work that gave his readers a deeper understanding of sports through a mathematic lens.
He completed around 40 percent of his deep passes, and alone that doesn't sound great because a 43-percent completion percentage isn't going to win you many games," Hutchinson said. "When you consider the fact that it's deep passes 20 yards down the field, I was able to look up how other SEC quarterbacks did, how Arkansas' quarterbacks did." The results were quite telling and serve as a certain encouragement to Razorback fans who endured watching Cole Kelley and Ty Storey in 2018. "I had to look up each individual quarterback, add it up, and I think Arkansas completed something like 30 percent, which is just terrible...last in the SEC," he said. By implementing these outside-the-box statistics, Hutchinson added a layer to his work that gave his readers a deeper understanding of sports through a mathematic lens.
Self-maintained database allows for history-oriented storytelling
For the story on Hicks, the work was tedious and time-consuming. After Arkansas' 2018 season-opening game against Eastern Illinois, Hutchinson charted each pass Storey made and created his own ProFootballFocus-style statistical outline. The process took an entire weekend and required the journalist to jot down information about every single pass the quarterback threw, and that information alone is enough to cause even the most detail-driven journalist to stay away. Luckily, Hutchinson created and maintains his own statistical database that formats a number of interesting categories, including 100-yard rushers, quarter-by-quarter breakdowns, halftime leads, and Arkansas recruits. Most of the statistics were derived from historical documentation provided by Razorback Athletics, old media guides distributed throughout the 20th century, and recruiting newsletters written by Otis Kirk. The database requires constant upkeep to keep the statistics current and relevant, but its existence takes away a lot of the preparation typically required for advanced-statistical writing, Hutchinson said.