It’s for the long haul of what he hopes will be a 14-game SEC championship season, not their August preseason comfort that Houston Nutt took the two out of two-a-days for his Razorbacks since a still sizzling heat wave engulfed all of Arkansas as preseason practice began on Aug. 3.

The Razorbacks forgot that at their Thursday evening practice, Nutt said, after they had been given Wednesday night off after a morning practice.

So Nutt literally ran the sluggishness out of his Hogs with the sprints every player on every level ruefully call “ gassers” replacing the normal practice at the finish.

“ Don’t mistake kindness for weakness, ” Nutt said. “ Don’t do that. That’s the message I was trying to send because that’s what a lot of the young guys did. ”

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All teams run gassers, but Nutt prefers the gassers be relatively limited after a relatively long practice rather than become a practice within itself.

“ We paid a severe price today, ” Nutt said. “ We lost about 15 to 20 plays because I had to take time to go gas them. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a better tempo and the message will get across. ”

Junior starting quarterback Casey Dick promised the Razorbacks will be rapid ready for what Nutt said will be “ a quick turnaround” with a 10 a. m. practice today prepping for Saturday night’s scrimmage at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Saturday’s 6 p. m. scrimmage is open to the public.

“ We got us some good gassers, ” Dick said, “ and we’ve got to come out here tomorrow and pick it up. I felt it [the coaches call for gassers ] coming a little way through practice, that it was sluggish. We got some good conditioning in today. ”

Nutt said Thursday’s sluggishness was not restricted to one side of the ball.

“ Sluggish to the football, ” Nutt said, “ lining up offsides... things like that. ”

Nutt grumped about the secondary giving up too many deep balls. One of them was a TD from freshman quarterback Nathan Dick, Casey’s younger brother, to wideout Rod Coleman of Camden.

Every year, it seems a true freshman quarterback excites fans’ preseason interest. Two years ago it was Casey Dick.

Last year it was Springdale’s Mitch Mustain, since transferred to Southern California.

But for Casey Dick, how does it feel when it’s your own brother getting the phenom treatment as the freshman breathing down your neck ?

“ We kind of did the same thing in high school, ” Casey Dick said of their days in Allen, Texas. “ He came up as a freshman and played on the varsity as a sophomore when I was there. I helped him along with some different things. He’s taking advantage of those things and he’s definitely making the most of it. ”

The stretched nerve in his neck continuing to idle sophomore tight end Ben Cleveland will be examined by a specialist, Nutt said after Thursday’s practice.

Also still out are starting right offensive tackle Nate Garner (concussion ), fullback Peyton Hillis (strained hamstring ), punter / placekicker Jeremy Davis (foot ) and reser ve cornerback Shedrick Johnson (back ).

Defensive end Adrian Davis, practicing recently after a convalescence from a concussion, also was rested Thursday.

Defensive end Chris Wade, back on a limited basis Wednesday from his concussion last week, took more extensive first-team turns Thursday.

Nutt said Hillis, a proven senior likely to be NFLbound in 2008, likely will be withheld from Saturday’s scrimmage as a precautionary.

Davis, punting spectacularly last Saturday, also likely will be withheld from the scrimmage, special teams coach James Shibest said.

Presently, Shibest has Davis punting, Springdale freshman Alex Tejada leading the field goal derby and Bentonville’s Brian Vavra holding forth as the kickoff incumbent.

However, there is flexibility with Davis also placekicking, and Tejada also kicking off, and walkon Mitchell Smith of Bentonville punting pretty well, too, including a 55-yarder last Saturday.

Mighty mites Michael Smith and Reggie Fish, both charitably listed at 5-7, are Arkansas’ leading punt return tandem, Nutt has said.

Fish also is running firstteam flanker.

Smith would be running first-team tailback at most schools but at Arkansas is mired behind All-Americans Darren McFadden, now the cover subject of ESPN the Magazine, in addition to Sports Illustrated, and Felix Jones.

So running backs coach Tim Horton is glad to see the cat-quick scatback utilized.

“ He’s catching them [punts ] really well, ” Horton said. “ We need to have a role for him. ”