FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks have imported a new character on their offensive front who some are comparing in demeanor to former right tackle Dalton Wagner, a perpetually upbeat and smiling standout on Arkansas teams from 2017 to 2022.
Fernando Carmona already grabbed attention this spring during an in-house “interview” with quarterback Taylen Green in which he referred to offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino by his first name, drawing a social media reaction from former Arkansas tight end DJ Williams, who played for Petrino win he captured the Mackey Award in 2010.
Carmona’s bubbly personality showed through in Thursday interviews with Eric Gregory and Luke Hasz.
Asked what he thought was the biggest difference he has noticed in transferring from San Jose State to Arkansas, Carmona replied, “I would probably say just not winning every rep. It’s different when you’re going up against Landon Jackson.”
Carmona was up front about his work last Tuesday against Jackson and company.
“I had a really rough day two days ago,” Carmona said. “It’s good, though. You need those rough days to become great. That’s just been the biggest thing, the speed and the competition that I’m going up against.
“It’s all I could really ask for, and that’s kind of the reason why I transferred. I want to get good reps at practice and I’m getting that right now with guys like [Gregory], guys like Landon. There’s a bunch of different guys on that defense that really bring it every day and make it challenging.”
Kolby connection
Coach Sam Pittman said new offensive coaches Ronnie Fouch and Kolby Smith have “integrated” quickly with backgrounds in the Bobby Petrino offense.
Fouch came in over the winter and Smith was hired last week to replace Jimmy Smith, who resigned on March 8.
Pittman said he asked for names from the assistant coaches when he knew the staff would need a running backs coach.
“Bobby just gave me a name, Kolby’s name, and didn’t say a whole lot,” Pittman said. “I said ‘I’ll interview him’ and this, that and the other. When he gave me the name, I didn’t know they had worked together or anything like that. He just said, ‘Hey, here’s the guy I’d like for you to talk to.’
“And [Kolby] was the best guy for the job. But the thing about him is he knows the offense too. … I hired him because he was the best guy in my opinion for Arkansas that I interviewed.”
Nico tout
Following positive reviews from Coach Sam Pittman and Landon Jackson earlier in camp, defensive tackle Eric Gregory talked about the good work he’s seen from junior Nico Davillier of Maumelle, who has been running first-team end opposite Jackson.
Davillier is up to 6-4, 271 pounds and in position to add to his 11 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1 sack last season.
“You can just see it by looking at him,” Gregory said. “He’s gotten stronger and he’s more confident in his ability to stop the run and to get out to the quarterback.
“And we see that and we’ve been seeing it in the offseason and from the first day we started practicing. We’ve seen it.”
‘Ballhawk’ Braxton
A big collection of the defensive backs tackled with solid authority on Thursday and sophomore cornerback Jaylon Braxton has been off to a great start running with the ones, with Jaheim Singletary and Kee’yon Stewart largely splitting first-team reps on the other side.
Coach Sam Pittman called Braxton “a really good player, playing with a lot of confidence” on Thursday.
“I think it goes back to the seven-and-a-half weeks of [winter] training,” Pittman said. “He was a good freshman, but every single sprint he would be one or tied for one in every sprint.
“He’s just running and I think that says a lot about him. He’s got great leadership skills too, as a young man. He’s a really good player. We knew he was. It’s just going to be exciting to see him grow. But what he does, he makes plays, just like the Florida game. He makes plays. He’s a ballhawk.”
Braxton’s biggest play last season was his clean takeaway from Florida receiver Ricky Pearsall for a 33-yard touchdown, giving the Razorbacks a 14-0 lead in their overtime win over the Gators.
Braxton had 20 tackles and eight pass breakups as a freshman and he came on late with the touchdown against Florida and an interception against Auburn the following week.
Hasz it
The Razorbacks appeared to dodge a major injury on Thursday to star tight end Luke Hasz, when he stepped on the foot of tailback Dominique Johnson during a walk-through rep in warmups prior to scrimmage work.
Hasz went down and could not put weight on his left foot as he was attended to by head athletic trainer Dave Polanski.
After he was able to get to his feet, Hasz walked around gingerly the rest of practice and did not participate but he stayed engaged with the offensive unit. With Hasz and Ty Washington both sidelined, Var’keyes Gumms wound up having a bunch of catches, and the reps for Shamar Easter, Andreas Paaske and Maddox Lassiter went up.
Two days earlier, Hasz had joined offensive tackle Fernando Carmona and defensive tackle Eric Gregory on the second day of player availability of spring.
Hasz was asked about his early success as a true freshman, when he had 15 receptions for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns through 4 games before going out with a broken collarbone on his first catch against Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium.
The Bixby, Okla., native had 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a shootout loss at LSU.
“I wasn’t sure if I was expecting it or not, but God just definitely put me in the right spot to be able to perform at a high level,” Hasz said. “I just tried my best and gave my best and it all turned out really well.”
Hasz also talked about a key area of improvement on his radar.
“I would say for sure run blocking,” he said. “That’s going to be a big part. I feel like with Coach [Morgan] Turner, he’s the best of the best. Just being with him, even when I wasn’t playing, being able to learn from him on my footwork and technique has been a huge deal for me.”
Kutas the cutup
Transfer offensive tackle Fernando Carmona has already made an impact as a first-teamer at left tackle and in the locker room, calling the transition for him and fellow transfers Keyshawn Blackstock and Addison Nichols a “seamless” one.
Carmona had some interesting thoughts on junior Patrick Kutas, who has been moved inside to left guard.
“He’s a tough guy,” Carmona said. “Tough son of a gun right there, and playing next to him, he’s a joy. If you know him outside of football, he’s just a goofball. Awesome dude to be around.
“Playing next to him, he’s been really communicating well with me, and obviously, he was here last year, so he has a little bit of experience. … He can move well. And on top of that, he’s really strong. Those two things together, that’s all I can ask for as a tackle.”
Carmona, who is from Las Vegas, described the reception he has received from the team.
“Dude, they’ve been awesome,” he said. “They really brought me in with open arms. I think I’m just really trying to change the offensive line culture that we had and I feel like the team’s starting to feel that and they can feel our energy starting to wear off onto them. And everybody’s kind of starting to give us their energy and so it’s really meshing well and I’m enjoying it right now.”
Limmer fan
Count Senior Bowl executive Jim Nagy a big fan of Arkansas center Beaux Limmer.
Nagy posted a thread on X this week touting Limmer’s potential to be one of the first centers taken in the upcoming NFL Draft and using the hashtag “sleeper” to describe him.
Wrote Nagy, “C/G Beaux Limmer has taken full advantage of pre-draft process, going from mid-round pick to possibly first SEC center drafted.”
Nagy added Limmer has “got [the] uncanny ability to stay in a block. Some guys just have natural ability to recover and re-establish position and Limmer’s got that.”
Nagy included a clip from a quarterback sneak this season in which he blasts Mississippi State’s 305-pound defensive tackle Nathan Pickering backward and onto his back to allow KJ Jefferson to pick up a first down.
Muscle men
The Razorbacks had some beefed-up prospects at Wednesday’s annual Pro Day in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams at Walker Pavilion, led by center Beaux Limmer, linebacker Antonio Grier, defensive end John Morgan and track star Roje Stona.
Limmer did not participate in the 225-pound bench press, standing on his impressive 39 reps at the NFL Scouting Combine. Morgan put up 25 reps of that weight, while Stona and Brady Latham did 23 and Grier had 22.
Grier had an impressive day of testing, which included a 36 1/2 inch vertical jump and a 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds, a 4.39 in the 20-yard shuttle and 7.44 in the L Drill.