FAYETTEVILLE -- Brandon Allen is the starting quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
You can love it, hate it or debate it, but barring injury that isn't changing.
Coach Bret Bielema came out of spring practices saying Allen was his quarterback, and after a week of practices, including a 92-play scrimmage Saturday, he stated it even more emphatically and said that Allen showed leadership when he encouraged some players and chewed out others Saturday morning.
He said the race is on between Austin Allen and Rafe Peavey to be the No. 2 quarterback, but Austin Allen clearly received the majority of the snaps, all with the second-team offense, while Peavy played with the third string.
All of the quarterbacks' passing stats are listed with Tom Murphy's story in today's newspaper, but understand there were a few dropped passes.
Anyone who came out of Saturday's scrimmage, which wrapped up the initial week of practice, hoping to have an idea of what to expect for this season might have been somewhat disappointed.
Even Bielema admitted that all he was doing Saturday was trying to find out who is ready to be a football player and be molded into the offensive and defensive schemes.
He knows about the returning starters. What he is searching for now are guys who are new on campus and committed to making the Razorbacks better.
And they looked much better than they did in their final spring scrimmage.
Coming out of that it would have been hard to predict a single conference victory again this season, but there were signs of improvement Saturday. For example, the defense had eight sacks. Granted, they weren't tackling the quarterbacks, but there was more pressure than was seen any time last season.
Most of the sacks were against the second- and third-team offenses, but again, it was part of a different scheme and one that should take some pressure off the secondary.
Running back Alex Collins was among the handful of players who didn't participate because of a nagging injury, and after Jonathan Williams got hurt, it didn't take long for some guys who may not play in a game this season to get some time at tailback.
It was an entertaining hour even if it didn't answer a lot of questions, but it seemed to be pretty much what Bielema expected.
In his postgame news conference he ran down a list of guys who had done well, and a few were newcomers. They included freshman receiver Jared Cornelius, who is going to give the Razorbacks some depth if they don't just throw to him over the middle.
Bielema seemed pleased with the play of most of the veterans, but at this point in practice he and his staff are evaluating who can play and where.
Guards may become tackles, and tackles may become guards.
The centers need to work on their snaps in the Shotgun formation.
Offensive line depth is a concern because there is going to be an emphasis on controlling the clock with a power running game this season. That doesn't necessarily translate into 3 yards and a cloud dust.
The Hogs threw 52 times Saturday. There were no interceptions, which might mean quarterback play was more consistent or the defensive secondary wasn't aggressive enough. Or both.
Overall, it was a decent showing for this early in the season, especially considering they looked vastly improved from the spring.
There is a lot of work to be done before the season opener against Auburn, but the starting quarterback, running backs and most of the offensive line is set, and that's something not every SEC team can say after its first scrimmage.
Sports on 08/10/2014