ARKANSAS SPRING FOOTBALL

Allen impressive, others get kicks in

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen goes through drills Saturday, April 11, 2015, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' longest scrimmage of the spring featured a three-touchdown day for quarterback Brandon Allen and ended with impressive long-distance field-goal kicking.

Allen, a senior, completed 17 of 23 passes for 229 yards with 2 touchdown throws to Jeremy Sprinkle and Chris Jones and a 3-yard touchdown run, all with the starters.

The 122-play workout, before a crowd of about 1,500 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on a sunny late morning and early afternoon, wrapped up with cheers from the crowd after redshirt freshman Cole Hedlund made a 59-yard field goal.

"Well, just from a day of work, I couldn't be more pleased," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "That was probably our more heavy work day."

The Razorbacks cut way back on their penalties, with only a couple of 5-yard infractions against the offense and one personal foul penalty on the defense that appeared to be a face mask call against linebacker Randy Ramsey.

Bielema said he instructed the officials to be extra tight on penalty calls, and they were quick to blow their whistles on defensive players in the neighborhood of quarterbacks for sacks.

The defense was credited with 14 "sacks." Deatrich Wise led the way with four sacks for 27 yards in losses, while Armon Watts and Karl Roesler had three sacks for 19 yards in losses apiece.

The defense also appeared to notch its first takeaway in spring scrimmage work, with the second unit recovering what looked like an unforced fumble from reserve tailback Connor McPherson. Bielema said he couldn't see who recovered the fumble in a massive pileup, and neither could media observers keeping statistics.

Bielema split the scrimmage into two distinct parts, situational work in the first half that consisted of 68 plays and then after a short break a traditional move-the-ball sequence in the second half that lasted 50 plays before the long-distance field-goal finish of five plays.

Allen drove the starters 63 yards in 15 plays in the second half, with Kody Walker rushing nine times for 29 yards on the series, including a 9-yard gain on fourth and 1 and a third-down conversion. The lengthy drive ended with Allen's 3-yard touchdown run up the middle on a play-action pass on which he couldn't find a receiver. Linebacker Khalia Hackett was converging on Allen at the goal line but could not make contact with the quarterbacks being off limits.

"I liked that long drive there with our ones on offense and liked the way our defense responded," Bielema said. "I don't know if B.A. would have got in there on that scramble there at the end. Defensive coaches of course thought he was sacked. Offensive coaches thought he got in."

In red zone work earlier, Allen found Sprinkle crossing in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Three plays later on play-action, the fullback Jones leaked out of the backfield and grabbed a 7-yard scoring pass from Allen.

Austin Allen conducted a seven-play, 41-yard drive in the second half that ended on his 6-yard, play-action touchdown pass to tight end Jack Kraus. That sequence included Allen's 9-yard throw to Luke Rossi, a 10-yard run by Connor McPherson and Kraus' 17-yard catch over the middle on the snap before his scoring play.

Senior tailback Jonathan Williams was held out of the scrimmage along with redshirt freshman Denzel Evans, who tweaked a groin muscle last week. Alex Collins, an 1,100-yard rusher last season along with Williams, ran six times for 28 yards. Collins stayed on the ground for a few moments with a twisted ankle 17 plays into the scrimmage and came out for a while but was able to return.

Walker had 20 carries for 69 yards, and McPherson added 17 carries for 48 yards.

Keon Hatcher, back earlier than expected from a bruised knee that kept him out last Saturday, had three catches for 39 yards. Hatcher made perhaps the best catch of the day, reaching behind on a crossing route to haul in a 21-yard pass from Brandon Allen.

Sprinkle had four catches for a team-high 78 yards, while fullback Tyler Colquitt led the way with five receptions.

The second-team work was split pretty evenly between quarterbacks Austin Allen, Rafe Peavey and Ty Storey. Allen completed 10 of 12 passes for 80 yards, while Peavey was 4 of 7 for 53 yards and Storey 4 of 7 for 30 yards.

The competition for place-kicker looks to be tightening up after each of the three competitors made long kicks Saturday.

Hedlund went 4 for 4 on field goals (29, 47, 55 and 59 yards). Returning starter Adam McFain made kicks from 38 and 55 yards and came up short on his 59-yard try, and Lane Sailing was successful from 37 and 47 yards and missed from 55 yards.

Junior Toby Baker had a big day in his quest to take over punting duties with punts covering 53 and 58 yards.

The Razorbacks have six more spring practices, including the Red-White game April 25. Bielema said he intended to get in specific opponent work during the coming week and would make a decision on whether the Razorbacks would scrimmage Saturday later in the week.

Sports on 04/12/2015