Bielema: Hogs do 'good work'

Arkansas running back Chase Hayden (left) receives the ball Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, from quarterback Austin Allen during practice at the university's practice field in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema had high praise for quarterback Austin Allen and the emerging tailback trio of Devwah Whaley, David Williams and Chase Hayden after the team's second and likely its final major scrimmage of training camp on Saturday.

Bielema opened up the final 75 minutes of the scrimmage to the media and the final hour to spectators at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on the team's annual Fan Day.

"The scrimmage itself ... we got a lot of good work in there, man," Bielema said. "That was almost two hours, 45 minutes of good work, hard work and good competition."

Complete statistics were unavailable because the first half of the scrimmage was closed to media. Allen played half of the scrimmage, giving backup quarterbacks Ty Storey and Cole Kelley chances to work with the No. 1 offense.

"Offensively, Austin again was really, really productive," Bielema said. "Very, very accurate. Very in control."

Hayden, who rushed for 123 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown, with the second unit in last week's scrimmage, had 11 carries for 65 yards in the part of Saturday's work open to the public.

"Chase Hayden is a guy that belongs on the field. He's a guy that stands out. With those three tailbacks, you just go back to what you had in the past," Bielema said, making reference to the trio of James White, John Clay and Montee Ball at Wisconsin in 2010.

White rushed for 1,052 yards, Clay had 1,012 yards and Ball had 996 yards that season.

Bielema said Storey had a stronger full day with the second-team offense on Tuesday than Kelley had on Wednesday, but the two essentially reversed those performances on Saturday.

Kelley directed a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive while working with the starters. There was an 18-yard completion from Kelley to Jonathan Nance on third and 12 and Deon Stewart's 28-yard catch and run to the 3. The drive was capped by Whaley's 3-yard scoring run on the next snap.

Storey, with a 20-yard completion to Whaley down the left side, drove the starters into range for Connor Limpert's 53-yard field-goal attempt, which was wide.

Later, Storey later threw a deep ball for Jordan Jones, but freshman cornerback Kamren Curl made a diving interception.

The defensive starters made plays during the part of the scrimmage that was open.

Of note, McTelvin "Sosa" Agim secured a safety on a snap from the 4, a combo "sack" by end T.J. Smith and linebacker Randy Ramsey, a blitzing "sack" by linebacker Grant Morgan, and a pass breakup in the flats by linebacker Karl Roesler.

Inside linebackers Dre Greenlaw, who is returning from foot surgery, and De'Jon Harris, who suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament last Saturday, played exclusively in the first half.

A large number of defensive starters were on the field late in the scrimmage when walk-on quarterback Jack Lindsey directed a 64-yard touchdown drive in 10 plays.

Lindsey completed 4 of 4 passes for 45 yards on the series, including a 26-yard blitz-beating shot to freshman Koilan Jackson on a third-and-3 play to reach the 6. Two plays later, Lindsey found tight end Will Gragg over the left side and Gragg battled across the goal line for the score.

"Jack did a lot of good things, didn't turn the ball over and made wise decisions and made a couple of big plays in the throw game," Bielema said.

Bielema said the Razorbacks might have one more live-tackling day next week, with the emphasis on the younger players, before the team's mock game.

"We've tackled pretty well," Bielema said. "I'm going to take an assessment tomorrow [Sunday]. I know coach [Paul] Rhoads and I had a discussion of doing something next week, maybe on Thursday or Wednesday.

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"As well as we've tackled, I don't know how much more we'll do. Maybe with the younger guys, but the guys that have shown me they can tackle, I'm not overly pressed on that right now."

Sports on 08/13/2017