FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema sported the beginnings of a beard as he barreled into his first media session of his first fall camp with the Razorbacks at the new Fred Smith Football Center.
“We had a good one today,” Bielema said, describing the early afternoon practice as injury-free. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better. If we can keep moving forward and having a good tempo - but the challenge isn’t today.
“The challenge is going to be practices 15 through 20, those days where it starts to take its toll on your body.”
Bielema said the Razorbacks have scheduled 28 or 29 practices in camp before their season opener on Aug. 31 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
All but two players scheduled to be on the 105-man roster attended the closed practice. Bielema said receiver Mekale McKay is looking into transfer options, and freshman signee Melvinson Hartfield, also a receiver, is scheduled to make it to campus in the next day or two.
“It’s all been cleared, but just not officially cleared through NCAA documentation, so that’s the only guy we’re really waiting on,” Bielema said.
Safety Alex Brignoni from Fayetteville High has not been given the OK to go full speed as he recovers from health issues, including a back problem.
“It’s not just his back,” Bielema said. “There’s just some lingering things that he’s had, going back to his high school days. … I know the kid wants to be out there and joining those guys, but he’s just not quite there. I’d say he’s somewhere around 80, maybe 90 percent.”
Bielema seemed most energized when discussing the team’s physical conditioning and its carryover from spring drills.
“I thought there was great recall from the players that you would expect to have it, from our 1 unit on offense and defense,” he said. “Today we installed punt and there was a lot of carryover.
“There were some things we were excited about as coaches; obviously there were things we have to work out.”
Strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert said last week he thinks people will be impressed by how the physiques of many Razorbacks changed over the off-season, and Bielema supported that position.
“There were a couple visitors to practice that were there in the spring and they just kind of made a comment about how different the kids look,” Bielema said. “And they feel it. … The kids just have a confidence to them that’s off the charts. The swagger.
“Obviously it’s got to carry over to the game field, but I couldn’t be happier with the way they looked overall.”
Bielema said sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen, who emerged through spring as the starter, started with a really nice day.
“You could just see the confidence continue to grow,” he said. “The feedback I got from kids in the course of the summer … they talked about the workouts and … how much leadership Brandon Allen had really established all summer. That showed out there today.”
Bielema said the receivers helped Allen with some good catches on out routes.
AJ Derby took the majority of the second-team reps at quarterback, with Brian Buehner getting some snaps and the true freshmen Austin Allen and Damon Mitchell splitting the rest. Austin Allen took snaps as the newcomers worked at the end, after Mitchell had shoe problems, Bielema said.
The Razorbacks continue one-a-days through Friday, then plan to have a short walkthrough before Saturday’s closed 3 p.m. scrimmage.
Sports, Pages 17 on 08/06/2013