Arkansas Football Practice Reports – Teams Getting Better Every Day

 

Arkansas football report - rainy day coaching

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas football team continued its second week of preseason camp with practice on Tuesday afternoon.  Defensive coordinator Chris Ash spoke with the media after practice and discussed the team practicing in rainy conditions on the outdoor practice field.

“When you constantly practice on a dry surface, constantly practice with a dry ball, that’s obviously easy,” Coach Ash said. “You go out there in the rain, you put yourself in a little adversity. It does a couple of things. You want to see how the players handle it and how they respond to the weather conditions like they had to today. You want to see how the offense, the center, the quarterback exchange works, the handoffs work,  the quarterback being able to throw the ball, receivers catching the ball. Defensively, you want to see if you can keep your footing in these situations. It’s good to practice in it.”

Coach Ash spoke about senior linebacker Jarrett Lake.

“The guy that stands out to me is Jarrett Lake,” Coach Ash said. “He’s probably been the most consistent, the biggest playmaker that we’ve had through the course of camp so far. The D-line guys have been steady. Chris Smith and Trey Flowers have been good players. But Jarrett Lake has been a guy that’s really stood out.”

He also noted the development of the safeties on the team.

“We’re getting better every single day,” Coach Ash said. “They’ve got a good mental understanding of what we’re trying to do and the concepts that we have. They’re doing a great job of communicating adjustments and being in the right spot. I just want them to make more plays.”

Arkansas football report - Harsin sees offensive improvement

JONESBORO – Now in its second full week of fall camp, the Arkansas State football team spent its entire 15th practice Tuesday morning working in team periods that allowed the Red Wolves to focus on assignments, schemes and other game situations as full offensive, defensive and special teams units.

The offense and defense were split up early in practice for what head coach Bryan Harsin called “assignment-perfect periods,” where both sides of the ball concentrated on making sure a number of “looks” were correct.  The offense and defense came back together for two 15-minute periods, and the Red Wolves also worked special teams in between with a heavy concentration on punt and kickoff return.

“We had a productive practice on both sides of the ball, so we had a pretty good day,” said Harsin.  “Today was probably the best day the offense has had overall.  They made some nice plays in there and they were executing well, especially our first group.”

The Red Wolves held various other team sessions, but the day was highlighted by a 15-18 play full-contact scrimmage that concluded practice.  Three different scenarios were incorporated into the brief scrimmage, including one where the offense was backed up near its own end zone, another open-field situation that started at the offenses’ 35-yard line, and a final red zone competition.

“We felt like from an offensive and defensive standpoint, we needed another live session before our scrimmage Saturday,” Harsin said.  “We’ve had a few days since our last scrimmage to freshen up, so it was time to go live again today and give our guys another opportunity to tackle, carry the ball in full-contact situations and just hit again.”

The Red Wolves will hold a full-contact scrimmage Saturday at Liberty Bank Stadium as part of their Fan Fest, which will begin at 1 p.m.  Following the conclusion of practice, several members of the team and coaching staff will take the opportunity to greet fans and sign autographs.

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