Razorbacks Report

Support picks up Skipper

Arkansas offensive tackle Dan Skipper goes through practice Thursday, April 3, 2014 at the Walker Indoor Pavilion in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Dan Skipper said Wednesday that teammates are helping him get over the frustration and disappointment of the two key penalties he had in Saturday's 35-28 overtime loss against Texas A&M.

"I pride myself on being a winner," Skipper said. "I hate losing. There's nothing fun about losing. Knowing that I played an intricate role in that, that sucks. I don't really know how else to put it."

A holding penalty on Skipper negated a 34-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Allen to Hunter Henry in the second quarter. A tripping call on Skipper brought back a 55-yard Jonathan Williams run to the Texas A&M 2 on the first play of the fourth quarter with Arkansas ahead 28-14.

"I mean, the ref made the call and that's all we can go with," Skipper said. "Obviously if he throws a flag I did it, so that's all there is to it."

Skipper said he's had a few conversations with Coach Bret Bielema about the penalties.

"All you can do is learn," Skipper said. "It's over. You can't change it now."

Skipper said teammates on both sides of the ball have helped him cope, particularly fellow offensive linemen.

"If anyone was hurting the most, it was him," quarterback Brandon Allen said. "He's a tough guy. He showed in practice already this week he's playing with the same physicality as he always does.

"A guy that works that hard, it's hard to fault him for something."

Tight end AJ Derby said no one on the team is doubting Skipper's ability.

"He's our hardest-working player, and we all love him," Derby said. "We have his back."

Had it won

Linebacker Martrell Spaight gave perhaps the most blunt answer among the Razorbacks when asked how tough it has been for Arkansas to put the loss to Texas A&M behind them.

"It's very tough knowing we had the game won and then just let it slip away from us," Spaight said.

Two practices have helped in that regard.

"The last couple of days actually have been excellent," Spaight said. "We realize we gave the game up, and we came back the next day and watched the film and learned from our mistakes. We're just making sure we're not going to repeat the same mistakes against Alabama."

I did that?

Quarterback Brandon Allen said he had no idea that a throwaway pass he flung out of bounds early in the game plunked cornerback Henre Toliver in the eye until the freshman walked down to the offensive benches.

"He came over ... with an ice pack on his eye," Allen said. "I kind of felt bad because that thing was swollen up pretty good."

Allen said Toliver is back at practice and doing things well this week.

Back rest

Top tailbacks Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams, who rank among the top five in SEC rushing, are being given recovery time this week.

They will be held out of contact work all week, Coach Bret Bielema said.

"The only thing they're going to hit is the bed," Bielema said. "I mean they're going to rep, they're going to run, they're going to work individual, but they're in green jerseys and we won't touch them.

"I've always done that once our running backs reach a certain level or a certain status in my eyes in the way they're playing, and they're both playing so efficient."

Collins is No. 12 nationally with 124.2 rushing yards per game and Williams is No. 34 at 97.2 yards per game.

Sophomore Korliss Marshall, who is averaging 5.5 carries per game, will see extra work this week.

"Korliss ... is going to get every rep," Bielema said. "I grabbed him on Sunday and hit him on it, and I think he's excited because he knows he needs the reps and the practice. So I'm very excited to see him ... especially when we're starting to tackle that fourth quarter ... he needs to be a change-of-pace guy for us."

Marshall said the extra work is helping him focus on areas of concern, like his pass protection, so he can be more valuable to the offense.

"I'm getting a better experience taking some of the physicality and taking things off Jonathan and Alex, because they've played a lot of football," Marshall said. "Five straight weeks of football, especially SEC football at that, I've got to give those guys a breather and jump in there and take a couple of extra reps."

Personnel update

Linebacker Randy Ramsey did not travel to Arlington last week because of an issue related to academics, Coach Bret Bielema said on Wednesday's SEC teleconference. He added that Ramsey is involved in the plan for the Alabama game.

"We addressed it and were able to move forward," Bielema said. "Nothing to get in trouble, it was just strictly my decision."

Alabama beat

The Razorbacks doubled their amount of Alabama-specific work from Tuesday to Wednesday and the balance will move up even more for today's final practice of the week.

"We had a couple of periods [Tuesday] dedicated to their top plays, especially first-down plays on offense and defense, and a basic introduction to the kicking game," Bielema said Wednesday morning. "Thursday's practice will be a heavy dose of Alabama prep in all three phases of the team."

Sports on 10/02/2014