Last year’s Razorback offensive line unquestionably blocked well on the run as Arkansas led the SEC in rushing.

That’s no guarantee these offensive linemen will block the run that great in 2008, says Mike Summers, Arkansas’ new offensive line coach under new head coach Bobby Petrino.

“ Everyone keeps telling me they are such great run-blockers, but they haven’t been run-blocking the plays that we called, ” Summers said after Tuesday’s practice in pads. “ So they are having to learn new technique in the run game and pass game.

“ So I don’t know if we can say there is the carryover to say, ‘ They were good last year so they will be good this year. ’ ”

ADVERTISEMENT

What Summers and Petrino say they do know is the line improved during last Friday’s marathon 164-play scrimmage.

The later the better, in Petrino’s view of how the line looked.

“ The offensive front was getting better at pass protection and communicating, ” Petrino said Tuesday of last Friday’s scrimmage. “ That’s probably the thing that stood out the most to me, was how much improvement we made. That’s the thing, if we had cut that scrimmage 100 plays earlier, I don’t know if we would have seen that type of improvement. ”

Summers said of the fine line that will determine if these Hogs develop into a fine line: “ In order to be a good offensive line, all five guys have got to work together. Now we are getting two, three and four and every now and again, five. Our consistency is not what it needs to be, but I can see us moving in the direction of consistency. ”

Results of last Friday’s scrimmage pinpointed the Razorback linemen aren’t run-blocking for departed to the NFL draft All-American tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones anymore.

Nor last Friday did they block for fourth-year junior Michael Smith, the top understudy in 2006 and 2007 to the McFadden / Jones combo.

Smith suffered a hip-pointer during last Friday’s warmups that exited him after one carry in the scrimmage but did return to practice Tuesday, the first workout since Friday’s scrimmage. Also off the injured list and practicing Tuesday were starting outside linebacker Elston Forte, running back Chip Gregory, wide receivers London Crawford and Crosby Tuck.

Brandon Barnett, the Texarkana native and second-year junior college transfer running back, fumbled five times in Friday’s scrimmage, losing three of them, but also showed some big-play and goalline skills that he’s displayed throughout the spring.

“ We’d like to run the ball better than we did, ” Petrino said. “ With Michael Smith not getting any reps, that didn’t help. Brandon Barnett got some and has to take care of the ball. But he made some nice runs. ”

Petrino said because of the scatback size and “ durability issues” regarding Smith and Barnett, some incoming true freshmen have an opportunity to contribute at running back when they report in August.

With Ryan Mallett out for the spring — Petrino confirmed — because of the injured thumb on his throwing hand suffered during last Friday’s scrimmage, fifth-year senior reserve Alex Mortensen and redshirt freshman Nathan Dick are operating 2-3 behind senior starting quarterback Casey Dick.

Last year, with the offense predicated on tailbacks McFadden and Jones, former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee merely asked Casey Dick to be “ the bus driver keeping us between the ditches. ”

Petrino takes care to put more than caretaking on his quarterback.

“ He needs to run the offense, ” Petrino said. “ He needs to understand what our philosophy is and how he plays a part in the run game and the passing game and go out there and run the show. That’s what I always believed is the quarterback’s responsibility. Casey made some great strides. ”

Dick said of his expanded role, “ It’s a whole different responsibility. The offense kind of lies on your shoulders. You have to go out there and run the show basically and get us into good plays. And switch your protection when you need to and go out there and execute the offense and run it. ”

That the Hogs were off three days manifested itself early in Tuesday’s practice, Petrino said.

“ Not sharp enough, ” Petrino said. “ We need to learn that when we have three days off, to come back... it took us probably half the practice to get going at the tempo and speed we need to work at, but they stayed with it and kept working. ”

With only seven practices left of the 15 allotted by the NCAA winding up with the April 26 Red-White game, the Razorbacks are off today and will practice Thursday and Friday and scrimmage Saturday morning.