FAYETTEVILLE — A few observations from Arkansas' second spring scrimmage:
-Chad Morris said things were a bit sloppy on Monday in Arkansas' first day back from spring break. Wednesday, things got chippy. Several times extra whistles had to be blown and players had to be separated. Cornerback Ryan Pulley and receiver La'Michael Pettway were the first two I noticed who got into it. Pulley was very animated any time he or an Arkansas defensive player made a solid play, especially in the passing game. Kam Curl, who Morris said is "at home at safety," was another guy who was pretty amped up throughout.
In one instance, Pulley perhaps got away with holding and batted down a ball intended for Pettway over the middle. Pulley got up and danced, definitely letting Pettway know what just happened. Another, Pettway had a ball go through his hands in front of the Arkansas defense's sideline. Pulley said something, Pettway responded with a shove to Pulley's chest. Pulley and most of the defensive guys were pretty lively on Wednesday.
Aside from a pair of drops in the rain, Pettway did have a couple of nice catches, one for a touchdown. Cheyenne O'Grady did as well. Jonathan Nance had two catches for around 20 yards. O'Grady was probably the most targeted pass-catcher in the scrimmage.
Jalen Merrick and Gabe Richardson later got into it as Arkansas was working on its red zone packages. The two exchanged some blows, but Richardson ended up on the ground in the end. The two had to be separated. Once Richardson returned to the sideline, a teammate said, "You gotta keep your hands up next time."
-Morris said Cole Kelley had a good day. Early on, Kelley threw a really nice touchdown pass to Grayson Gunter on a seam route. Pretty ball and nice run after catch got Gunter in the end zone. Kelley threw another touchdown pass just a play or two after Merrick and Richardson's altercation. Kelley got in Santos Ramirez's ear a little bit after the score. On the previous play, Ramirez marked Kelley down with a two-hand touch inside the 5. Following the pass, Kelley yelled "That's six, baby!" He then told Ramirez there was no way he would have kept him out of the end zone in a game scenario.
-Daulton Hyatt was another guy who Morris mentioned had a solid day. Hyatt's best play of the day, arguably, came on a score when he hit freshman Mike Woods on a back-shoulder throw along the left sideline. Woods adjusted to the ball in the air very well and scored with no resistance. I've been very impressed with Woods this spring.
-Jared Cornelius was back fielding punts during the special teams portion of practice. He was not in a green jersey, but was still not being hit. You need a really smart guy who is able to communicate well at that position, and Cornelius, I think, can definitely be that guy. TJ Hammonds was working with kickoff return as well.
-Morris said the quarterback competition is "a wash" at this point this spring, but Kelley definitely held the upper hand in today's scrimmage work. He underthrew a couple of balls, but overall, was strong with two touchdown passes. Ty Storey, it appeared to me, struggled a bit with the wet ball. He had several throws that slipped out of his hand. The final play of the scrimmage, Storey telegraphed his throw and was picked off.
-With the weather as nasty as it was, we got to see quite a bit of the running backs. Maleek Williams had a couple of really nice runs after Morris placed the ball at the offense's 1. His runs got the offense well across the 50. Williams and Chase Hayden, who ran the ball pretty well up the middle for 4-5-6 yard gains, showcased some great patience, waiting for his hole to open up before sticking his head in for decent yardage.
-Asked about next weekend's spring game in Little Rock, Morris said: "We're going to go 1s on 1s. We're going to get after it. How we keep score and all that stuff, we'll figure it out - we get a stop we'll get some points. I want to get some really good good-on-good work. There are some guys that will be limited, and that's by design. They'll get some work early, then we'll get them out, and that'll be by design. It's moreso about the younger guys and bringing them along."