Spring is cut short for Mallett

FAYETTEVILLE — Several Arkansas players who had been sidelined by injuries returned to practice Tuesday, including receivers London Crawford and Crosby Tuck, running backs Michael Smith and Chip Gregory and linebacker Elston Forte.

But quarterback Ryan Mallett didn’t practice and will miss the rest of the spring, Razorbacks Coach Bobby Petrino confirmed, after injuring his right thumb in last Friday’s scrimmage.

Mallett, a sophomore who transferred from Michigan to Arkansas in January, was taking mostly second-team snaps at the time of his injury and awaiting news of his appeal to the NCAA for a waiver of the transfer rule that requires a player to spend a year in residence before being eligible for competition. Scrimmage rehash

Arkansas’ coaches had plenty of tape to grade after last Friday’s scrimmage, which included 164 plays and lasted more than two hours.

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“The good thing about the number of plays we went is everyone got better as the scrimmage went on and we were able to learn and study from the video,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “I still think our offensive front is going to be very good. They’re learning more and more about pass protection, which will certainly help us.

“ Defensively, our ends provided a good pass rush. Our linebackers are running to the ball and hitting. Now we’ve just got to make sure they’re running the right direction all the time. They certainly are improving, which is good to see.”

Petrino said the Razorbacks still need to run the ball better than they did in the scrimmage, when first-team tailback Michael Smith got just one carry after aggravating a hip injury he sustained in drills.

Smith looked able to run full speed Tuesday.

“He was moving around good today,” Petrino said. “What happened was right before the scrimmage he got hit on the hip and got a hip-pointer, and sometimes those things get real sore real quick.”

Petrino’s plan Bobby Petrino isn’t making predictions on what kind of record Arkansas will put up next season, but he has a general plan in mind. “What we want to try to do is win all of our home games,” Petrino said. “I think that’s something we have to do to be a good program and build a program, and we count the two in Little Rock as our home games. “ We want to win our [SEC West ] division and play for the conference championship in Atlanta. You win that and then you have the chance to play for it all.”

Quarterbacks Senior Casey Dick appears to be solidifying his hold on the starting quarterback job as spring practice progresses. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 277 yards and 2 touchdowns in last Friday’s scrimmage. “I thought Casey got a lot of throws in,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “His decision-making is getting better and better. He’s starting to understand what we want him to do. “ Technically I thought he took a step backwards in his footwork and moving up in the pocket, but we’ll just keep working on that, and he’ll get better at that.” Senior Alex Mortensen is getting more snaps with Ryan Mallett sidelined. “He’s doing all right,” Petrino said of Mortensen. “He threw the ball well early in the scrimmage and then made some mistakes. “ He’s got to get us in and out of the huddle quicker. He’s got to understand our tempo a little bit more and then just make good decisions and get the ball where it needs to be.” An Oaklawn fan Bobby Petrino was among those in attendance at Oaklawn Park last Saturday for the Arkansas Derby. “I won a lot of money,” Petrino said when asked how he enjoyed his first visit to Hot Springs. “So that was a good time.” Petrino coached four years at Louisville, home of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, but said he doesn’t pay too much attention to horse racing. “What I’ve tried to do is make sure I don’t know how to read the program,” he said. “That way it never becomes a problem.”