FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coaches were so impressed by the violence in the Razorbacks’ first live tackling work they decided to scale back noticeably on the contact drills.
Until today.
The Razorbacks will go through their first scrimmage of the scalding summer at 9 a.m. today at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“They’re gunned up for it,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “It’s about time.”
Arkansas has conducted just a couple of short periods of tackling during team periods, plus a brief 1-on-1 tackling drill earlier this week. Now it’s time to see what game action will be like.
“I want to see us play violent and be extremely tough, mentally and physically tough,” offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said.
“If we start fast, are we mentally tough enough to keep going and keep executing, or do we go to the sideline and let down? Get a drink of water ... and come back out there and we’re not as passionate and not as focused and we let down?
“Or if we’re not doing as well early in the scrimmage, are we tough enough to turn it around and get the thing going?”
Cornerback Isaac Madison said the defense was “licking its chops” over the full-contact periods.
Petrino has advocated rugged, hard-hitting tackling in camp since he’s been at Arkansas, and now that he appears to have his most physical team, it seems he’ll be more selective with the full-contact periods.
“I’m not sure how long we’re going to go, but I tellyou one thing, we’re going to be out there ready, beginning to end,” safety Elton Ford said.
The heat wave that has produced a string of days with the heat index soaring above 100 degrees has made the rigors of camp even tougher.
“We’re used to practicing hard, so we can’t expect anybody to bow down or complain,” offensive tackle DeMarcus Love said. “You have to go out there and attack it and really try to defeat the heat.”
Defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell said effort will be his watchword today.
“I always tell them, if for some reason you don’t know what to do on this snap, just get your butt off the ball and go make something happen,” Caldwell said. “Don’t be standing around thinking.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 08/14/2010