FAYETTEVILLE — The Razorbacks worked in “shells,” basically helmets, modified pads and shorts, in practice No. 8 of camp on Monday and there was much to note.
Safety Jalen Catalon was back at practice in his No. 1 jersey and going through some drill work two weeks after undergoing a meniscus clean-up on a knee. Catalon was tackling rolling dummies in individual drills during the 15-minute media viewing window, but it is uncertain if he was cleared for team periods.
Offensive line coach Brad Davis returned to meetings on Friday and was back at practice on Monday handling his charges after Coach Sam Pittman, grad assistant Ryan Yurachek and quality control coach Joseph Henry worked with the group last week.
That freed up Pittman to go group to group making observations and taking notes as he had been before Davis went out last week. He observed the safeties and defensive line the most during the media viewing period.
A couple of position groups were down a few players, including the linebackers and offensive line, and other groups were missing a player or two.
Deon Edwards and Andrew Parker were taking some first-team reps at linebacker.
Ty Clary, the starting center the last two seasons, worked more at left guard on Tuesday, with Ricky Stromberg, Luke Jones and Shane Clenin playing center as the media watched. Dalton Wagner, last year’s starting right tackle, was back at that spot, joining Myron Cunningham, Jones, Stromberg, and Beaux Limmer in what appeared to be the first unit, with Clary alternating in at left guard.
Tailback A’Montae Spivey, who Pittman said was “dinged up” and did not scrimmage on Friday, returned to practice in a limited role.
• Quarterback Feleipe Franks and defensive tackle Jonathan Marshall joined reporters on Monday night’s Zoom conferences and they had different takes on Friday’s scrimmage.
“I thought the scrimmage went really well on both sides of the ball,” Franks said. “Then I also thought there were things that we could work on on both sides of the ball.
“I thought it was a really productive scrimmage. Offensively we did a lot of good things. I thought we pushed the tempo really good, a lot of things to help us out offensively that Coach Briles emphasizes that we did really well.”
Marshall was not as expressive.
“The scrimmage, we’re not going to talk about it, but the guys in my position we all competed well and as best we can,” Marshall said.
Franks said his touchdown to interception ratio in camp must be pretty good, because “I haven’t thrown that many interceptions.”
His completion percentage, Franks had trouble making an estimate before finally adding, “I would say over 70 hopefully.”
Franks added that senior cornerback Jerry Jacobs has been doing a good job, particularly in “jam” coverage.
• Jonathan Marshall cited junior cornerback Montaric “Busta” Brown as one of the strongest voices on the defense.
“He’s a leader on the defense right now,” Marshall said. “He’s the one that’s speaking up. He’s doing a great job.”
Asked if he was taking on more leadership as as senior, Marshall replied, “I feel like a leader now. It’s coming in there. I’ve gotta work on my leadership skills a little bit more.”
• The Razorbacks will conduct camp practice No. 9 today at the Walker Pavilion practice fields. The team’s second, and probably final, major scrimmage of the preseason is scheduled for Friday, possibly inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium.