FAYETTEVILLE --Give Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema another week of improvement like he saw from his team last week and he might be doing cartwheels on the 50-yard line of Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday.
Or the closest thing to a cartwheel that a 45-year-old former nose tackle can accomplish.
The Razorbacks open their final week of spring drills today while heading toward Saturday's 1 p.m. Red-White game at the stadium.
Bielema called the Razorbacks "a good football team, no ifs and or buts about it" after a couple of weeks of spring work, and last Saturday he was equally effusive about the direction of the program.
"From where we were last Saturday to this Saturday, it's really fun to see these guys grow," he said.
Bielema said he challenged his assistant coaches last Saturday "to get these guys a little bit riled up" for the non-tackling scrimmage work, and defensive coordinator Robb Smith did his part, lighting in to a few players for sloppy play calling and recognition.
A change of venue, from the outdoor practice fields to the Walker Pavilion after the rain picked up, didn't slow the team's practice intensity.
"I thought that was really 2 1/2 hours of good work," Bielema said. "I can't tell you how much I enjoy being around these guys. I think they practice very, very hard."
The Razorbacks' work this week will include immersion into a virtual reality program initially implemented last season at Stanford, which has drawn raves in certain football circles.
Bielema said the system will require special filming on Tuesday and Thursday to set up the plays and scenarios to be studied. A story by Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports last month described previous attempts at merging virtual reality with football instruction as unwieldy due to "clunky headsets" and "the fact no one could figure out how to keep folks from getting nauseous from the experience."
Now the camera work -- which will reflect what a quarterback sees at the line of scrimmage as he looks left, right and ahead -- is much more steady and will allow all the quarterbacks to experience the plays, even if they didn't take the live snap.
The same can be done on the defensive side, tracking the head movements of linebackers and safeties to provide game-like looks at what the offense is doing.
Bielema said the technology could become "an amazing teaching tool" and a "game changer" that will assist quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, linebackers and defensive backs.
"It's really, truly a brand-new experience," Bielema said. "It's unbelievable."
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos said last week the Razorbacks will take more scout-team looks this week at specific defensive formations, schemes and blitzes.
The Arkansas defense began to look at some specific offensive schemes last week and will expand on that during workouts today and Thursday in advance of the spring finale.
Bielema said the offense and defense had finished installation of basic formations and special situations. He said he decided to hold off on some of the specialty situations in the kicking game, like a backed-up punt, an end of game punt-block scenario or a "Mayday" field goal, until fall camp.
Bielema said the format for the spring game would be "1s against the world," meaning the starting units on both sides of the ball will take on the rest of the team.
Sports on 04/21/2015