Defense steps up for Hogs
FAYETTEVILLE — The defense struck back Saturday for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
With pre-snap movements, twists and blitzes at its disposal for the first time, the defense racked up 12 “sacks,” an interception and a fumble recovery. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville defense also stacked up better against the run at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in a 138-play second spring scrimmage.
The starting offense put together a 67-yard touchdown drive triggered by tailback Devwah Whaley against the first-team defense, but the Razorbacks’ defenders made big strides from the April 8 scrimmage with better tackling and tighter pass coverage.
“I thought defensively we played a lot more aggressive today,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. “I thought that was based on confidence, but I think we gave them more calls and pressures. We
brought some double-edged pressures as well as other variations that helped us out.”
Safety De’Andre Coley picked off a Cole Kelley pass that was thrown behind and tipped by tight end Jack Kraus during second-team work, and Coley also recovered a fumble by Maleek Williams that was forced by linebacker Josh Harris.
Middle linebacker De’Jon Harris led the way with 12 tackles, while Coley and linebacker Grant Morgan added 10 each. Harris and Michael Taylor had nine tackles apiece.
Second-team defensive end T.J. Smith had four sacks, and backup defensive end Briston Guidry and Taylor had three each.
Starting quarterback Austin Allen completed 7 of 15 passes for 60 yards. His lone touchdown was an 18-yard strike to La’Michael Pettway during a red-zone sequence.
The game’s top rushers were Whaley, who had 94 yards on 18 carries, Rawleigh Williams (17-79) and Maleek Williams (17-69). The trio combined for 242 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns one week after racking up 363 yards.
Whaley had the day’s top run, a 51-yard burst around left end on which safety Santos Ramirez made a touchdown-saving tackle at the 11yard line. Rawleigh Williams completed a six-play drive on the next snap with an 11-yard touchdown around left end.
“There was still a couple of big plays, but I think we did minimize those and I think a couple of those came on some things we’re just hamstringing our defense with,” Bielema said.
Rawleigh Williams suffered what Bielema called a “tweaked” ankle on his final carry late in the workout. Williams, who ran for 1,360 yards last season, limped off the field but was standing on his own with no training staff around him just a few minutes later.
Junior college transfer Brandon Martin had his best day, with a team-high 6 catches for 71 yards, including an 18yard touchdown from Kelley during red-zone work.
The defense committed two big penalties, a 15-yard face mask call and a pass interference infraction in the end zone by cornerback Ryan Pulley on a fade pass from Allen intended for Jordan Jones.
The starting offense incurred several penalties, unlike its clean showing last week. The miscues included a false start in the red zone by left tackle Colton Jackson, to which Bielema yelled “We can’t have that! Not down here!”
The first-team defense racked up two sacks by getting in the vicinity of Allen — one by nickel back Kevin Richardson and another combo sack by defensive ends McTelvin Agim and Armon Watts.
“During the course of the week our pass pro, especially with our one unit, had been pretty good,” Bielema said. “If they got near Austin, I was kind of blowing the whistle a little bit premature, probably.”
The second and third units on defense combined for 10 sacks.
The offense performed well in red-zone work, starting with Cole Hedlund’s 24-yard field goal on the play after Pulley’s pass interference flag.
Maleek Williams had a 3-yard touchdown run for the second unit. Tobias Enlow hauled in a 19-yard touchdown from Carson Proctor; River Warnock caught a 15-yard score from Jack Lindsey; Kofi Boateng grabbed an 11-yard touchdown pass from Daulton Hyatt; and Connor Limpert made a 20-yard field goal, all in red-zone action.
The defense snuffed the first move-the-ball series, with a false start and consecutive pass breakups by Henre Toliver and Richardson setting up third and long, on which Rawleigh Williams ran for 9 yards.
Richardson had a pass breakup to start the next series, but Whaley’s 10-yard run converted a third-and-4 play, then Whaley ran for 51 yards, the longest gain of the day.
Bielema said the Razorbacks would hold a physical practice next Saturday but would not scrimmage again prior to the Red-White game April 29 at Razorback Stadium.