FAYETTEVILLE — The winter walkthroughs and meetings that have been allowed by the NCAA in recent years have smoothed the rough edges off the start of spring drills and made new systems, particularly on offense, look better oiled than in previous years.
For the Arkansas Razorbacks, the return to a Bobby Petrino offense has been evident through two days of practices, both of them held inside the Walker Pavilion.
Coach Sam Pittman said the Razorbacks have played more cover 3 zone defense early on, which is a contributing factor to the Arkansas offense seeming to be ahead of the pace it was off to at this point last year.
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In a nutshell, there has seemed to be cleaner running lanes, more open receivers and a freer flow to what Arkansas has been doing offensively, and Petrino’s schemes are part of that equation.
“The greatest thing, and I think the NCAA understood each team is going to have a lot of new players, so they’ve allowed us to have walkthroughs and meetings.” Coach Sam Pittman said after Friday’s two-hour plus second practice of spring.
“It seems to be pretty good, doesn’t it,” Pittman said of the adjustment to the Petrino brand of offense.
“We’ve got quite a bit in. You can tell by the speed. How fast does a guy play? Or whether he’s thinking about his assignment or he’s thinking about, ‘Where’s my fit or what am I doing? What’s my depth of my route?’ and all that kind of stuff.”
Of course things could change when the full pads go on Sunday, but it appears the Arkansas offense will considerably better than the anemic version on display last year.
PHOTO GALLERY: Arkansas football spring practice
Pittman used a question about how well the offense is picking up Petrino’s schemes to dwell for a minute on his reputation.
“I think any time you’re quoted as a 'good coach,' or a 'brilliant coach' or whatever the terms that Bobby’s had and things, it’s your ability, first and foremost, to teach,” Pittman said. “And then obviously your mind has to be a little bit different than others, which his is.
“But it’s the ability to teach. It’s the ability to communicate. And he’s exceptional at that.”
Petrino said new offensive assistants in receivers coach Ronnie Fouch and offensive line coach Eric Mateos also fall in the mode of good communicators and teachers.
“Those guys have done a really good job of buying into Coach Petrino’s system,” Pittman said.
Junior quarterback transfer Taylen Green has taken all his reps with the starters thus far, while junior Jacolby Criswell and redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton split time with the second and third units Friday.
The quarterbacks had a solid day, though it could have been better with a handful of misses on open targets during team periods and 7-on-7 work.
In the extensive 7-on-7 period Friday, Green completed 8 of 11 passes, while Criswell went 6 of 9, Singleton 5 of 8 and true freshman left-hander KJ Jackson was 3 of 6. Thus, those quarterbacks combined to complete 22 of 34 throws for 64.7%.
The day was filled with big plays on both sides of the ball, including interceptions by young defensive backs Tevis Metcalf (in 7-on-7) and RJ Johnson (in a team blitz period).
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Both of the interceptions came against Jackson. Johnson’s which he peeled off the back hip of receiver Bryce Stephens, who also had his hands on it for a moment, would have gone for a pick-six.
“RJ’s very quick,” Pittman said. “He’s long. He didn’t do a lot last year, and that’s OK. He came back, he didn’t go in the portal, and I think it’s starting to pay off for him.
“Tevis Metcalf is a baller. I mean he’s a tough guy, obviously comes from the Metcalf family. But knowledgeable, comes from a really good high school and is a knowledgeable player.”
Pittman said he praised Metcalf on the play after the interception, when good defense forced a Singleton pass out of bounds.
“I told him … the next play, when he redirected the slot [receiver] to me was even a better play than the one he picked,” Pittman said. “He put two really, really good — and he had more — but he put two really good plays together.”
Veterans Andrew Armstrong and Tyrone Broden both had outstanding catches in team or 7-on-7 work. The 6-7 Broden, now thicker and wearing No. 5, went about 10-feet high to bring in a high crossing route from Green during the second play of a team period, and tight end Luke Hasz followed that with a one-hand catch going the other direction in traffic.
On the final play of one team period, almost every receiver and several tight ends ran all the way down the field to congratulate redshirt freshman Dazmin James after a phenomenal over-the-shoulder catch down the right sideline from Singleton.
Tight end Var’keyes Gumms had another strong day, and on one play he snatched away what looked like was a sure interception for safety Jayden Johnson on a quick pass over the middle and turned it into a solid gainer from Singleton.
Perhaps the day’s most impressive play was a wheel-route catch by tailback Rashod Dubinion from Criswell deep down the right sideline against solid, step-for-step coverage from linebacker Juju Pope.
The Razorbacks will conduct a closed practice Sunday, then come back with a morning workouts Tuesday and Thursday before the teams on Spring Break. The program’s annual Pro Day is scheduled for Wednesday.
The team will return for its sixth practice Tuesday, March 26.