Hogs like look of freshmen on campus

Arkansas offensive lineman Shane Clenin goes through a workout Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, at Fred W. Smith Center in Fayetteville.

— Life is going fine for Arkansas’ nine early enrollees, Razorbacks coach Bret Bielema said earlier this week.

“Those nine guys that entered in January have fit in like a well-oiled machine,” Bielema said.

“They’ve been really, really good. Some guys have had great gains in the weight room.”

All are going through off-season conditioning and drills. The conditioning can be monitored by coaches as long as a football and pads are not involved.

“What I basically say is that you can go out and do everything like football, but you cant have a football,” Bielema said. “You can’t have sleds or pads on. You can work linebacker drop, but you can’t throw the football. You can work defensive line movement, but you can’t have pads on and you can’t be going against offensive linemen.

“You can work all the movements and aspects and skills and drills….You want it to be football specific so you want it to be with your eyes up, your hands inside, keep your feet square.”

The nine signees who enrolled early are quarterback Daulton Hyatt; running back Maleek Williams; linebacker Kyrie Fisher; defensive back Korey Hernandez; wideouts Brandon Martin and Jonathan Nance; and offensive linemen Kirby Adcock, Shane Clenin and Dalton Wagner.

“Our upperclassman have been really helpful with them,” Bielema said. “I think that has been a huge part of them being able to adjust well and handle everything pretty well. That’s been fun.”

The 2017 class includes 15 other signees, as well as three blue shirts who will enroll in the fall and go on scholarship later.

“Everybody is on track to graduate and be here in June," Bielema said. "There will be a couple of them in the second session in July, just because they don’t graduate until midway through June and it’s hard to get them in the middle of the term.”