Bobby Petrino warned two birds with one stone after Arkansas practiced Thursday.

Arkansas’ first-year coach warned the defensive backs, all replacing graduated first-teamers from last year, they will face faster receivers in the SEC than the Razorback receivers they’ve seen in the spring.

And he warned the receiver crew on hand the incoming freshman wideouts appear to him a fleeter fleet.

“ We need to play against more speed, ” Petrino said of the secondary. “ Hopefully when the freshmen [receivers ] get here in the fall — because I do see us getting in some bad habits simply because some of our defensive backs are faster than our receivers. We are going to see speed in every game. That’s something we will have to improve upon in August. ”

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Many of these current wide receivers were recruited for a Spread offense that never quite materialized as former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt modified the Spread game of former Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn in 2006 to suit All-American tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones who kept running in 2007 right into next week’s NFL Draft.

Now those receivers are getting all those passes in practices they thought they would get in games.

It’s an adjustment.

“ We’ve seen where they have times they can’t maintain their focus, ” Petrino said. “ They aren’t used to having that many balls thrown at them. They aren’t used to getting that many reps and running full speed on every play they run a route. Once we get used to doing that, we won’t have the drops we’ve had. First we have to win it mentally. ”

Petrino does see things taking shape in the trenches offensively and defensively.

Asked about starters, he replied, “ The O-line and Dline are starting to play out a little bit. Knowing [fourthyear junior tailback ] Michael Smith is full speed and running, I think he has more knowledge of what’s going in the backfield.

“ But we still need to get Brandon [Barnett, the Texarkana junior ] and Chip Gregory playing better and more physical. I thought Brandon ran the ball better today, but he’s got to hold on to it. He went the wrong way on an easy pass protection. He still needs more improvement there. ”

The offensive line is closer than ever. Guard and tackles hold hands at the line of scrimmage with the silent count Petrino and offensive line coach Mike Summers teach as they did when Petrino was the head coach and Summers the line coach at Louisville.

“ It came from not wanting our tackles to look in at the football, ” Petrino said. “ Get our eyes on these fast defensive ends. I think the best athletes in football anymore are the defensive ends. We ask our tackles to block them backing up, so we’re trying to make sure we can keep our vision and not have to look in and see the ball snapped. We know it’s going to be loud in every stadium we go into, so we’re really working on it now and not waiting until the fall. ”

How long has Petrino taught it ?

“ Ever since we’ve been at Louisville, ” Petrino said, smiling. “ Just since Coach Summers, he convinced me that we could still be tough and hold hands. ”

Senior Rimington Awardwinning center Jonathan Luigs explained the process.

“ Whenever I snap the ball, the guard rips his hand [away from the tackle ] and that lets the tackle know the ball has been snapped, ” Luigs said. “ The guards watch me and the tackles are watching the ends so they’ll do better with pass protection. ”

Somebody asked Luigs if he fretted about the appearance of big linemen holding hands.

“ Whatever we can do to be successful out here, we’re going to do it, ” Luigs said. “ We’re pretty secure with our manhood. So I think we can get away with holding hands on the football field. ”

The Razorbacks waged a physical practice Thursday with the defense dominating early but the offense “ coming on, ” Petrino said.

Today’s practice, Petrino said, will prep for Saturday’s scrimmage.