Arkansas practiced outside Walker Pavilion on Thursday. It was a perfect day. A bit windy, but otherwise couldn’t have asked for better weather.
Here are a few notes and observations from the open viewing periods:
• The Razorbacks practiced in shells today, but it was a physical thud. In some good-on-good work, Mike Woods caught a short pass from KJ Jefferson, Jalen Catalon picked off a pass intended for Hudson Henry, and Hudson Clark broke up a deep ball intended for Jaquayln Crawford. Malik Hornsby connected with Blake Kern for what would have been a solid gain between a hash and the sideline.
John David White brought in a pair of passes from Hornsby, too, and Lucas Coley completed one ball before Devin Bush broke up a pass. White made several impressive plays and moves after the catch. The kid might be a bit undersized, but he has some wiggle to him.
• Art Briles was at practice today and shadowed the quarterbacks essentially the entire time we were allowed to watch.
• During position work, Sam Pittman watched his offensive line go through a couple of drills. As he walked up, he commended them and said, ‘Y’all look good because y’all work. Gotta keep ‘em off KJ.” After Dalton Wagner went through a rep, Pittman stopped him and talked with him about maximizing his power. He did the same with Drew Vest a few moments later.
Brad Davis was putting his guys through several footwork drills. In one, they simultaneously worked on jabbing defensive linemen in the chest with two hands.
• One of my favorite portions of practice to watch has been when receivers and defensive backs line up 1-on-1 in the red zone from about 6-8 yards out. Hudson Clark won his matchup, Mike Woods made the catch of the day during the drill, skying for a ball, but Montaric Brown kept him out of the end zone by about one yard.
Receivers, for the most part, got the best of the DBs, prompting Sam Carter to tell his guys, “We’re not making enough plays today.” One defensive back got beat pretty good during his rep, and Carter told him to drop and give him 50 pushups.
White, Karch Gardiner and Crawford each caught scores, as did Kendall Catalon and Harper Cole. Devin Bush forced an incomplete pass in his second time through.
• Quarterbacks went through a drill in which they took a shotgun snap then dodged anywhere from 8-10 tennis balls that were tossed at them by team personnel before making a long throw to either sideline.
• Like I mentioned earlier, Thursday was a thud day, but it was pretty physical throughout. In some skeleton work, I was impressed with the speed the defensive backs played with. That’s a group that has a great deal of potential and could be the strength of the defense in the fall, I think. In one collision, running back Dominique Johnson’s helmet popped off. Later on in more good-on-good work, Simeon Blair tallied what would have been a tackle for loss on Trelon Smith.
Blair has received some recognition this spring for the confidence he has been playing with and plays he’s made. I believe Myles Slusher broke up a pass, too, but it was kind of hard to see through a mass of bodies.