Freshman shows off a big leg

FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas freshman Alex Tejada revved up the crowd at Saturday night's scrimmage with his long-distance kicking display.

Tejada, a scholarship signee from Springdale, made 8 of 9 field goal attempts, including boots of 55, 51, 47 and 44 yards. His only miss came on his first attempt from 55 yards, a line drive that was on target but just under the crossbar.

"Since we've been here, that's the one thing we've been missing probably, that dependability on three points each time we hit the 30-yard line," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said of Tejada's consistency and range. "You have confidence in him."

Nutt said he's not prepared to name Tejada the starter at place-kicker just yet, because Jeremy Davis was having a good camp before a nerve problem in his foot sidelined him last week.

Davis, the Razorbacks' No. 1 punter, is expected to return to practice Monday.

In the previous week's scrimmage, Davis and Tejada each hit 7 of 8 field goal attempts.

"It's been a good competition with Jeremy," Tejada said. "I'm looking forward to having him back at practice."

Tejada struggled at times in practices during the week, but is now a combined 15 of 16 on field goals in the two major scrimmages.

"We've been impressed with his composure when the most pressure is on and we're in the stadium and people are in the stands watching," Arkansas special teams coach James Shibest said. "I'm glad he's feeling confident going into the season, because that means a lot at that position. But we haven't kicked [a field goal ] in a game yet."

Tejada said last week's scrimmage, in which his longest made field goal was from 46 yards, gave him a confidence boost, and that hitting two attempts from more than 50 yards on Saturday night provided an even bigger boost.

"It feels good to make them from that far out," he said. "And it's nice to hear that the crowd appreciates it, too."

Gift score

Darren McFadden had carried the ball on three consecutive plays and was sent back in at the last second to run a WildHog play during the first sequence of the scrimmage. He made up his mind that tailback Michael Smith would get the handoff after he took the snap.

"He told me, 'I'm tired, go make something happen,'" Smith said.

The 5-7 speedster did just that, accelerating while bouncing around right end and scoring from 50 yards out on the fourth snap of the day. This close

A flea-flicker call on the No. 1 offense's first series came inches away from being a 50-yard touchdown, and caused Coach Houston Nutt to slap his hands and whirl around in frustration.

The Razorbacks had a series of big plays in the scrimmage, but they also had some near-miss huge plays go awry. For example: a deep post from Casey Dick that whizzed through the hands of Reggie Fish; another Fish mishandling of an on-target post from Nathan Emert; and a dropped would-be touchdown by John Aaron Rees on a deep sideline throw from Nathan Dick.

Nice grabs

Carlton Salters and Crosby Tuck made the biggest impact at receiver on Saturday.

The sophomore Salters grabbed five passes for 60 yards, including a 20-yard jump ball reception from Nathan Emert.

Tuck continued his sensational camp with four catches for 93 yards with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Casey Dick.

"I think we found a split end tonight," offensive coordinator David Lee said. "[I ] haven't talked to Coach Nutt yet, but I think Crosby Tuck was exceptionally impressive tonight. That's a real good feeling after losing what we lost two weeks ago in Marcus Monk.

Worth noting

Cornerback Brandon Barnett logged an athletic interception on an underthrown ball by Austin Tucker late in the scrimmage. Barnett returned the ball 30-plus yards before being pushed out of bounds. Sophomore safety Matt Harris nabbed an interception for the second consecutive scrimmage. This one came against the third-team offense with Austin Tucker at quarterback. Sophomore Lucas Miller started at receiver with the first offense, but he did not have a catch.

Return of Alex

Alex Mortensen, a former Razorback quarterback signee who transferred to Samford, is expected to be back on the roster Monday as a walk-on.

" He's been gone to a couple of different places and he wants to come to Arkansas, and I told him he's welcome to come back," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. "He's a great young man with great character and we are glad to have him."

Injury report

Freshman fullback Hezekiah Smith dinged his left shoulder on his sixth carry of the No. 2 offense's first sequence. He returned later in the scrimmage and appeared to hurt the shoulder again.

Players who did not dress out included fullback Peyton Hillis (hamstring ), tight end Ben Cleveland (stinger ), wide receiver Marcus Monk (knee ), offensive guard DeMarcus Love (knee ), cornerback Shedrick Johnson (back ) and offensive lineman Nate Garner (concussion ).