FAYETTEVILLE — Next weekend, Arkansas will play its first Red-White game under coach Bret Bielema and he announced the first half will consist of the Razorbacks' first team offense playing against the first team defense.
Bielema also made a push to break the annual spring game's attendance record for the third straight season. The attendance for the Red-White game last year was 45,250.
"It's been a steady crescendo from our standpoint, with the coaches and players, all the way to where we are today," he said after the third scrimmage on Saturday. "It looks like we'll have a chance for some great weather next weekend. I know you set a record the last two years with last year being over 45,000. I'd love to break that thing with 50,000 or more.
"What we are going to do to entice it a little bit, we've gotten so much better every day because we have been going good-good the whole time. We've always gone ones-ones in competitive situations, so for the entire first half next Saturday, unless something dramatically changes, we're going to go ones-ones.
"I want our best players to play together and I want them to play against the best competition we can field. I think that is what has made us better all spring and I think that'll carry forward."
Brandon Allen will likely get the start at quarterback, as he has been the signal caller to run with the first team through the first 12 practices and three scrimmages. Allen completed a pair of long throws to Javontee Herndon in non-tackling drills during practice Saturday.
The only tackling that took place Saturday was during a 14-play red zone scrimmage and Allen was 1-for-2 with an 11-yard pass. The Fayetteville native completed 19 of 34 passes for 224 yards in the first two scrimmages.
Allen's only completion in the red zone scrimmage was to running back Kody Walker, who was tackled for the first time this spring on Saturday. Walker suffered a broken leg in the second game of last season. The Jefferson City, Mo. native suffered injuries in each of his first two seasons while wearing No. 40, but made the switch to No. 24 in the offseason for a fresh start, Bielema said Saturday.
In addition to his 11-yard reception, the redshirt sophomore carried the ball three times in the red zone, totaling 6 rushing yards.
Kiero Small took several snaps at tailback again Saturday, including four carries for 10 yards and a touchdown in the red zone and near the goal line. In the scrimmage, the Arkansas coaching staff placed the ball at the 4-yard line for the third, fourth and fifth series and Small carried it twice in a row for positive yardage, including a 2-yard touchdown.
In non-tackling portions of practice, Small carried the ball as a tailback, including a toss play to the right side of the field.
Walk-on running back Patrick Arinze has split time between tailback and fullback as well. After Small's touchdown, he scored in the final drive of the scrimmage by carrying twice, both for 2-yard gains.
Although Bielema said he has been impressed with the improvements backup quarterback Brandon Mitchell has made, the fifth-year senior did make a key mistake in the scrimmage Saturday. In his first series during the red zone scrimmage, he was intercepted by senior linebacker Robert Atiga, who returned the pass 85 yards for a touchdown.
Trey Flowers recorded the only sack in the scrimmage portion of Saturday's practice, tagging Allen for an 8-yard loss.
With the Razorbacks only tackling happening during the brief scrimmage, the team mostly escaped injuries, but Bielema said Johnathan McClure was banged up.
David Hurd also missed the scrimmage. He sprained his MCL Tuesday and was diagnosed with appendicitis Wednesday, Bielema said.
The Red-White game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start time Saturday at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium and is free to attend. The game will be also be televised in high definition by Cox Sports Television.