WholeHogSports
Working overtime : Hogs brace for long, tough spring scrimmage today
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/64043/
Sounds like no able-bodied Razorback will leave today’s 4 p. m. scrimmage saying he didn’t get a chance.
“ We are going to have a good, long hard scrimmage, ” Petrino said.
Well, the scrimmage he had Sunday went some 80 plays.
“ Aw that was a short, easy one, ” Petrino said. “ This will be a good, long one. ”
Petrino seems interested how long a day the defensive pressure can make it on the quarterbacks and in turn if the quarterbacks can beat the pressure.
“ We want to put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks for the defense, ” Petrino said. “ Liven it up a little for their calls. We do need to run the ball and hopefully we will continue to tackle well. That’s one of the things we have done well on defense is tackle. ”
Some other things the defense hadn’t done well, Petrino said, because too much was on its plate.
“ Defensively we held back the installation we were supposed to do today and our execution picked up, ” Petrino said after Thursday’s practice. “ We were making too many assignment errors on defense. We just slowed it down a little bit, catch on to what we’ve been doing and catch up with the installation later. We’ve got to be patient and keep putting pressure on them to execute and eventually we will get it where we need it to be. ”
Defensive backs Ramon Broadway and Shedrick Johnson and outside linebacker Jermaine Love all posted interceptions during Thursday’s passing drills.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Dick launched one TD bomb to wideout Reggie Fish.
Jermaine Love got more outside linebacker work Thursday because senior first-teamer Elston Forte didn’t practice.
Apparently Forte is injured, but Petrino made it plain he doesn’t intend to field questions on injured players post-practice.
“ We are not going to talk any more about injured players, ” Petrino said. “ We are going to talk about the guys that practiced. You can ask me any questions about guys that practiced. ”
Torrential rains Wednesday night into Thursday morning seemed all but certain to force practice inside the Walker Pavilion. But with the sun eventually shining and the wind blowing and the artificial turf practice field quickly drying, the Hogs worked outside after all.
Working outside made it easy for the attending 150 high school coaches at the annual Razorback Coaching Clinic to watch practice. Outside is always Petrino’s favorite venue.
He thinks too many (3 ) of these first six practices have been forced inside and that it showed with receivers dropping too many Thursday passes in the wind.
“ We’ve got to catch the ball, ” Petrino said. “ We’ll do better than that. We come out here and it’s windy and we haven’t been outside enough. ”
Sophomore tight end / Hback D. J. Williams has been catching on better than anyone.
“ D. J. is a good football player, ” Petrino said. “ I have a lot of respect for him. We need to get him the ball. He can run, runs good routes and runs well after the catch. I have been very impressed with D. J. ”
Had they been healthy, incumbent starter Ernest Mitchell and fellow senior Marcus Shavers would have started spring drills 1-2 at one defensive tackle spot.
But neither will practice this spring rehabbing from knee and shoulder surgeries, which has turned tackle into a Gray area for senior Cord Gray of Wynne.
“ Cord Gray has really been a nice surprise, ” defensive tackles coach Bobby Allen said. “ I think he sees the light that he’s got an opportunity as a senior to step up and play. ”
Gray opened spring drills second-team to sophomore letterman Patrick Jones but moved ahead once the Hogs got into pads the third practice.
“ Cord was doing things better, ” Allen said. “ At the point of attack he’s been reading his blocks well, he’s been holding his gap and in the run game he’s been a good anchor point for us. He’s putting himself in position to go and make plays. ”
Malcolm Sheppard, the other first-team tackle, is a returning starter but as a defensive end in 2007.
Sheppard is generally regarded as the defense’s hardest worker but the junior from Bainbridge, Ga., is having to adjust going back inside having lettered as a reserve tackle in 2006.
“ Malcolm is giving us great effort, ” Allen said. “ That’s one thing you always know about Malcolm Sheppard. The thing you want to see him do is be able to play under control and play with a little bit more technique. You love the effort, but by the same token you want him to be a more fundamentally sound player. ”
The Razorbacks have nine practices remaining of the 15 allotted by the NCAA.