Arkansas Football Practice Reports – Hogs Open Scrimmage Saturday

Arkansas Football Practice Reports from Fayetteville and Jonesboro

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas Razorback football team continued its first week of preseason camp Thursday. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jim Chaney met with the media to offer a recap of the day and an update on the team’s progress.

Head coach Bret Bielema announced the scrimmage, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013, is now open to the public. It had been scheduled as a closed scrimmage.

[tweet https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/365834954283819008] [tweet https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/365846103901470721]

The practice is set to begin Saturday at 3:50 p.m. inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Gate 1 will be the only entry into the stadium and will open at 3:30 p.m. All seating will be in the lower bowl on the west side of the stadium with exception of lower rows near the field due to stadium maintenance. Fans will not be permitted to take photos or video of practice, including with cell phones. Parking is available in all lots west of Razorback Road, as well as Lot 44 on the north side of the stadium. The Fred W. Smith Football Center is not open to the public at this time.

“I think Brandon (Allen) did a nice job today,” Coach Chaney said. “I think the quarterback did a nice job. Playing better every day on the field, they’re improving and I’m excited about watching them.”

Coach Chaney was asked about his evaluation on how the running backs have progressed in camp.

“I like them. I think they’ve all improved,” Coach Chaney said. “They’re very professional. I think they want to get better. Every day they come out with their hats on, ready to go to work, which is always good. For the most part, I’m really proud of how those kids are doing.”

With Friday’s practice being the first of the preseason in full pads, Coach Chaney discussed expectations for the upcoming practice.

“It’ll be fun, I’m looking forward to it,” Coach Chaney said. “I think because of the pads, it’s the mentality. You want to see a team change when they put full pads on, it’s the game. They’re here to play the game of football and get an education. We get an opportunity tomorrow to get the full pads on so we’ll have some fun with that. It’s always fun, the seniors tend to lead that. You hope [the young kids] demonstrate the understanding the differences between shells and full pads.”

JONESBORO – The Arkansas State football team’s eighth fall-camp practice held Thursday night at Liberty Bank Stadium was highlighted by a full-contact scrimmage, which featured a very balanced mixture of positive plays from both the offense and defense.

“Both sides of the ball competed and played hard, and that’s really what we wanted to see in this scrimmage,” said head coach Bryan Harsin.  “We can go back and correct the mistakes, but we asked the players to give us all the effort they’ve got and that showed up tonight.  There were a lot of things we did well, but also an equal amount of mistakes on schemes and things of that nature that we will use as coaching points.  We’ve still got 21 practices left and a long ways to go with corrections to be made, but the mentality we saw tonight is what we want.”

The Red Wolves held their first extended scrimmage since beginning practices Aug. 2, running approximately 80 plays that allowed a large number of players to get as many repetitions as possible.  The team ran nine series that began near the offense’s 30-yard line that were followed by seven more in the red zone before completing the scrimmage with one goal-line series the defense won.

With a competition for the starting quarterback position still in place, the Red Wolves alternated players at the position almost every series.  All six players taking the snaps were part of at least one scoring drive, while senior Adam Kennedy, sophomore Fredi Knighten and freshman Cameron Birse all threw a touchdown pass.

“The quarterbacks did some really good things, but we need to be more consistent,” said Harsin.  “Part of that is because the rotation we had tonight with the quarterbacks makes it hard to get into a rhythm.  They didn’t do anything that you would see from the outside that was bad, but we’ve got to perform within the framework of the play.  Sometimes guys try to make a play rather than taking what a play gives them, and that’s a big thing as they continue to develop within our system and execute.”

Three different wideouts were on the receiving end of the touchdown passes.  Senior Carlos McCants caught a 19-yard scoring pass from Knighten, Kennedy found senior R.J. Fleming for a 19-yard touchdown and true freshman Carl Lee hauled in a five-yard toss from Birse.  Fleming was also responsible for a 29-yard reception, the longest of the scrimmage.

“He’s done well all camp,” Harsin said about Fleming.  “He continues to be consistent on a day-to-day basis and make the plays.  He made the plays tonight he’s made in practice.”

The offense also scored two touchdowns courtesy of a 13-yard rush by senior running back David Oku and 5-yard run by freshman Johnston White.  The offense was responsible for 10 plays covering at least 13 yards and four that went for at least 20, including a long rush of 25 yards by senior running back Sirgregory Thornton.

While the offense picked up 14 first downs, the defense forced nine “three-and-outs” and two turnovers.  Freshman safety Jeremy Fulcher and linebacker Brad Shearin both came up with an interception during the red zone segments.  The defense also posted three sacks and six tackles for loss, largely recorded by the defensive line.  Dexter Blackmon, Darius Dunaway, Chris Odom and Darrius Rosser all posted at least one tackle for loss.

“Our defensive line continues to play well,” said Harsin.  “They’re not playing all the techniques correctly yet, but they’re playing hard.  In a game situation, I thought both the offensive and defensive line gave a winning effort up front tonight.  There are assignments that we’ll get corrected, but the effort was good on both sides.”

A-State went through some special teams work early in practice, but only worked field goals during the scrimmage.  Senior kicker Brian Davis, who is on the Lou Groza Award Watch List, was solid in the kicking game as he made all four of his field goal attempts from 43, 39, 34 and 25 yards out.

“I think he’s got confidence,” Harsin said of Davis.  “This whole camp his demeanor has been very good, and he’s had a good vibe about him.  I think he believes he’s going to make everyone of his kicks, and that’s what you want.”