FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas' second spring practice was open to the media for four periods this morning. A few tidbits and observations:
—Gabe Richardson and Randy Ramsey looked really explosive. John Scott Jr. coached the defensive linemen through sled work, focusing on exploding through the hips. Ramsey and Sosa Agim also worked with Steve Caldwell on proper alignment in their down technique and picked it up very quickly. Agim is the clear leader of the group and bounced around with a lot of energy in and between drills. I’m taken aback by his size every time I see him. He’s a monster of a man.
—Freshman Isaiah Nichols cut his hair and looks completely different from the last time I saw him. He was a solid 6-4, 275 when I covered him at Springdale High last fall. Talking with Springdale coach Zak Clark a couple of weeks ago, he said Nichols has added weight and will put on as much as the coaches want. We'll eventually see if he will figure into the equation this fall. He's one of the hardest working kids I've ever been around.
—Several area high school football coaches were in attendance, including Shiloh Christian’s Jeff Conaway and Greenwood’s Rick Jones, who said well before spring practice started that he was eager to come to Fayetteville and check out how Chad Morris’ practices operate. Thursday I ran into Bentonville West coach Bryan Pratt, who coached high school ball in Texas the same time as Morris. He was honed in on some of the unique things Arkansas was doing offensively to take back to Centerton.
—Ty Storey took reps at quarterback ahead of Cole Kelley today, according to our video guy Blake Sutton, who mostly watched offensive drills while I took the defense. Morris talked earlier in the week about rotating reps among the quarterbacks, so it’s not a huge surprise. Morris said the quarterback competition is wide open this spring.
—Kofi Boateng continues to get individual work on the side as he tries to work his way back from an ACL tear in practice last fall. Boateng was a top 100 player in Texas coming out of high school.