Not-so-spring game
Chilly conditions for Red-White game don’t bother Morris.
First-year Arkansas Coach Chad Morris doesn’t care that the skies cleared, the sun broke out and the temperature started going up shortly after the conclusion of Saturday’s Red-White game.
“I wish it was raining harder or snowing harder, or whatever it was,” said Morris, referencing the 35 degrees, light rain and snow flurries in central Arkansas at game time.
The bad break from the weather didn’t hamper a relatively clean Red-White game, won 27-25 by the white-clad offense and headlined by a stellar performance from the first unit on defense and two touchdowns by tight end Cheyenne O’Grady. It did affect the crowd at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, which was estimated at 7,000.
“Nobody in that locker room talked about what the weather was like before the game, and that’s what it’s all about,” said Morris, who confirmed there were no heaters on the sidelines and the Razorbacks didn’t need them.
“Offensively I thought our tempo was good,” Morris said. “It wasn’t great and needed to be better, but again, those are things where you put them out there and get the coaches off the field and see how they respond.”
Standout offensive performers included O’Grady, who turned both of his catches into touchdowns covering 53 and 5 yards; La’Michael Pettway, who had a game-high six catches for 91 yards; and Devwah Whaley, who rushed eight times for a game-high 62 yards.
“It was a pretty good day, man,” Pettway said. “We threw the ball around pretty good and we took some shots. It was good to just get some receivers in the open field and watch us make plays.”
Randy Ramsey and Jamario Bell had two sacks each to lead a defense that mustered nine tackles for loss, contributing to the unit’s 25 points.
Hayden Henry had a gamehigh eight tackles, while Bell and Deion Malone notched seven apiece. The Razorbacks also tallied nine pass breakups, led by three from junior cornerback Ryan Pulley.
“We had fun, both sides of the ball,” Pulley said before pointing out the starters on defense did not allow any points. “We’re still progressing.”
As promised by Morris, the offense stuck to mostly base plays without a lot of intricacy.
The battle between quarterbacks Ty Storey and Cole Kelley continued with neither of the signal callers — who rotated in with the starters and the second unit and played only in the first half — taking a clear lead.
Storey, a junior, got the starting nod and completed 7 of 14 passes for 126 yards and 1 touchdown. Kelley, a sophomore who has more game experience, finished 10 of 19 for 126 yards and 1 touchdown.
“Obviously, we would have liked to finish a couple more of those drives,” said Storey, who missed freshman Mike Woods on an open slant that could have been a 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
Kelley had an overthrow on an open Woods, and Austin
Aune threw well short on a deep route to a wide-open Jordan Jones in the second half.
“We tried to keep it really basic though,” Storey said. “I think you’ll see a little something different in the fall. For going in with a basic plan and not really trying to show too much, I think it was a pretty good day.”
Both quarterbacks led touchdown drives in the first half.
Storey cashed in first with a quick-strike score on the opening snap of his second series. Storey rolled left on a bootleg and found O’Grady in the secondary. O’Grady caught the pass 13 yards downfield and rambled through a couple of defenders for a 53-yard score.
Kelley and Storey took turns leading series that resulted in field-goal tries to straddle the first and second quarters.
Kelley conducted a 13play, 63-yard sequence that reached the 15-yard line and resulted in Connor Limpert’s missed 33-yard field goal. Pettway and Tyson Morris each had 19-yard catches on the series. Kelley threw in the end zone for tight end Jeremy Patton just before the field-goal attempt, but safety Kamren Curl read the play and made a breakup to prevent the touchdown.
Storey came on for the next series and led a nineplay, 60-yard drive that ended on Chris Lopez’s 27-yard field goal. Pettway had a key 9-yard catch on the series.
The defense got a threepoint play on the final snap of the first half, but it nearly cashed in a touchdown.
Bell raked the ball free from Storey just as he started to deliver a throw, and end Michael Taylor picked up the loose ball. Taylor was originally ruled to have returned
the fumble 38 yards for a touchdown, but he was deemed to have stepped out at the 3.
The White team led 20-17 at halftime.
The second half opened with a 75-yard touchdown drive engineered by quarterback Daulton Hyatt, who had 25 rushing yards during the sequence, which was capped by Maleek Williams’ 2-yard touchdown run. Grayson Gunter had a 20-yard catch and run on the series.
The only other offensive score in the half came on Lopez’s 31-yard field goal after quarterback Jack Lindsey led an 11-play, 76-yard drive. Kendrick Jackson had backto-back runs of 15 and 11 yards on that drive.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville will wrap up spring drills next week with practices Monday and Wednesday.