Hogs hit head-on after long hiatus
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks hit a milestone Tuesday on the long climb back from the coronavirus pause to a possible season opener Sept. 26 against No. 4 Georgia.
In practice No. 5 of training camp, the University of Arkansas donned full pads for live-tackling periods for the first time since the Hogs wrapped up a 2-10 season with a 24-14 loss to Missouri on Nov. 29.
That’s a 270-day gap between live-tackling sessions.
First-year Coach Sam Pittman said the Razorbacks had limited live tackling in team periods and a few tackle drills on the first day tackling to the ground was allowed by the NCAA.
“Team-wise, we only had 18 plays of live tackling today,” he said. “The rest of it was thud up. You know it’s hard to single out guys because I don’t want to divide the team. But I thought everybody played awful hard today.
“I think this was our best practice as a football team that we had. So I liked the physicality of the practice because that’s what we’re preaching, about toughness, about strain, about mental toughness.
I thought guys tried to fight through practice a little bit more than what they had in the past.”
The Razorbacks hardly could have asked for a more explosive start, as tailback Rakeem Boyd broke off what center Ricky Stromberg said was a 50-yard touchdown run on the first play at the Walker Pavilion practice fields.
“Offensive line-wise, I’d say it went good,” Stromberg said. “We really strained today. We executed pretty well. I mean, the first play of team we scored a touchdown, like a 50-yard touchdown, so we were super excited from there on. It kind of carried over to the rest of the team periods.
“Overall, today we executed really well, and I thought the whole offensive line strained our butts off today.”
Pittman, who is doubling as the de-facto offensive line coach while Brad Davis recovers from a medical issue termed as a pre-existing condition,
thought there were pros and cons to the first day in full pads.
“I’ll tell you, I didn’t like our transition on and off the field today, to be honest with you,” said Pittman, speaking of the offensive line. “We talked about it after practice. During the plays, I thought we were going extremely hard. I enjoyed watching them practice. But the transition on and off the field was slow.
“So, to me, if I’m running I need to run to get in shape. So a jog off the field, to me, I’m not benefiting while I’m out to practice. I need to run off the field so I can use that extra conditioning.”
Pittman said the offense has installed around 85% to 90% of the playbook and is not always going to operate at full speed.
A pretty big handful of receivers were not available Tuesday, due either to recent injuries or the fact they had not reached their fifth practice of camp in the NCAA-mandated acclimatization process. Among the receivers not available for live tackling were
Trey Knox, Tyson Morris, Koilan Jackson, Shamar Nash, Darin Turner, Karch Gardiner and Kevin Compton, as well as tight end Hudson Henry.
“We didn’t have a lot of wide receivers out there,” Pittman said. “I thought they fought through the practice. I made a special announcement after practice about those guys because they fought through it. I didn’t know there weren’t as many wideouts as normal out there once practice got going.”
Pittman seemed reluctant to single out strong performers, but when asked who has made him go “Wow!” consistently, he offered up some names.
“Jon Marshall, Julius Coates, Treylon Burks, [Myron] Cunningham at tackle,” Pittman began. “Dorian Gerald has certainly flashed. And Xavier Kelly has been … they’re just big dudes. They’re hard to move, and they can rush the passer. I’m not for sure you’re going to have to take them out of the game on third down. I don’t know that I would.
“Barry’s going to make
that decision, but them guys are hard to block. So those guys have. Jerry Jacobs had a wonderful practice today. He was all over the field. Certainly Mo[ntaric] Brown has been really good, a consistent player. So those are the guys. I hate to name the whole team that I think is doing good, but those are guys just right off the top of my head that come to mind.”
Jacobs, who participated in the post-practice video session with Pittman and Stromberg, said he’s been working with the first unit at boundary cornerback and has enjoyed a fast start to camp.
“I’ve been making a lot of plays,” he said. “I can’t tell you the coverages, but I’ve been making a lot of plays at boundary and stuff like that. I’ve just got to keep going.”
Jacobs said he posted two interceptions in man coverage last week and a few pass breakups in man, but no interceptions yet in zone coverage.
The Razorbacks will return to the practice fields for camp workout No. 6 today in shells or modified pads.