FAYETTEVILLE - With a week remaining before the Red-White game, Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema scaled back the live tackling portion of Saturday’s practice at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The Razorbacks got in a full workout, including a lengthy inside-run segment and plenty of one-on-one battles, pass skeleton and some special teams time, but there were only 14 plays at the end of the workout with tackling to the ground.
“Through the last two weekends, three weekends, we’ve really been very highly competitive, a lot of reps,” Bielema said. “We had over a 100-play scrimmage last Saturday. I thought we might be pushing the envelope a little bit if we did that again today for its entirety and then go do it good against good next Saturday. So we backed off and went a normal practice except for down there during the red zone goal line.”
The defensive front had another good day, stopping all four red zone possessions by the first and second units that started with first downs at the defense’s 18 without allowing a first down.
The day’s scrimmage highlight came when linebacker Robert Atiga jumped a short route over the middle, intercepted a Brandon Mitchell pass and ran 85 yards for a would-be touchdown.
“Can’t have a critical turnover there in the red zone,” Bielema said. “The game of football is played obviously end zone to end zone, but in the red zone everything’s magnified times a thousand. You have a penalty down there, you have a turnover, a false start, anything like that can take points off the board. So to have a turnover there was critical and a great teaching moment for all of us.”
The first red zone series, led by quarterback Brandon Allen, met its end after receiver Demetrius Wilson was flagged for offensive pass interference after he pushed off and made a catch around the 5-yard line.
The third series reached third-and-3 at the 11 after two Kiero Small runs, but Allen couldn’t find an open receiver after several seconds and end Trey Flowers swooped in to record a coverage sack for an 8-yard loss.
Kody Walker gained 4 yards on two runs on the final series, but the sequence was called off after what looked like defensive off sides on third down.
While the defense ruled on the first four series, the offense bounced back and scored touchdowns on both possessions that began with first-and-goal from the 4.
Small banged through for a 2-yard score on a third-down play from a three-tight end set on which 254-pound Patrick Arinze was the lead blocker for the 246-pound Small.
Arinze scored a second-down touchdown from 2 yards out when he bounced from the middle to right tackle to rumble across the goal line.
“There at the end, when it’s in the red zone/goal line, was really neat to see the guys compete,” Bielema said.
Walker, who sustained a broken leg last Sept. 8, was given medical clearance for live action and asked the coaches to let him take hits, which he did. The sophomore tailback had three carries for 6 yards in the scrimmage portion and caught a pass for a 9-yard gain on third-and-13 that ended the first red zone series.
The Razorbacks will have practices Tuesday and Thursday leading up to Saturday’s Red-White game, which Bielema said is likely to pit the first units on both sides of the ball against each other for at least a half.
“Obviously it’s been a steady crescendo from our standpoint with the coaches and players all the way to where we are today,” Bielema said. “It looks like we’ve got some great weather next weekend.
“I know you set a record [for Red-White game attendance] the last two years, last year being 45,000. I’d love to break that thing, 50 or more.”
Sports, Pages 34 on 04/14/2013