Bobby Petrino wants to give his young guns a few more chances to impress this pre-season. The result is a different practice schedule compared to his first two seasons at Arkansas.
The Razorbacks will open fall camp Aug. 5 with two practices, one for newcomers and the other for veterans. Arkansas’ first four practices will be split in those separate groups for 90-minute sections.
“The idea there is to give the newcomers more reps, a little more understanding,” Petrino.”… I just feel like it’ll really help us. It’ll help our young guys learn quicker and make sure we do a good job on the practice field right from the start.”
Practices held outdoors will be open to the public from Aug. 5 – 18. A practice on Arkansas’ Fan Day scheduled for Aug. 21 will also be open to the public.
Arkansas’ practice for newcomers Aug. 5 is scheduled for 3 p.m., with veterans reporting at 6:30 p.m.
Second-hand info keeps coaches excited
Arkansas’ coaching staff can’t interact with players in summer workouts, but the reports they’re hearing from strength and conditioning coach Jason Veltkamp have been promising.
The big impressions have mostly been with the big linemen.
Alfred Davis, who had high expectations heading to campus last fall, has improved and dropped weight. “He’s a guy that came in late his freshman year, and obviously needed to drop some weight,” Petrino said. “… They tell he’s running better than he ever has. I’m excited about seeing him.”
Defensive line coach Bobby Allen has heard good reports on Davis as well, citing an improvement in lateral quickness.
Newcomers Chris Smith, defensive end, and defensive tackle Byran Jones have also impressed the strength staff. The talk is that Smith may be one of the first freshmen securing some playing time on the field this season if he can keep up the pace from summer workouts.
What’s been most impressive? Petrino said freshmen like Smith and Jones have stepped in, haven’t missed a beat and are adjusting faster than any other freshmen in the past two years.
Defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell has heard the same news and reports that defensive tackle Jeremiah Jackson, who “had a little knee problem coming off of surgery,” has stood out the last two weeks.
Soon, those reports will stop filtering in at the Broyles Center.
“Tired of talking. Tired of hearing what’s going on out there,” Petrino said. “We’re just ready to get out on the practice field and get to work.”
Kick backs
Arkansas fans aren’t the only people excited about the new punters and kickers on campus.
Freshmen Eduardo Camara and Zach Hocker figure to push for playing time against veteran kicker Alex Tejada and sophomore punter Dylan Breeding.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had competition,” Petrino said. “We have two kickers who will go out and compete for the job, two or three punters that can go out there and compete for the job. Again, that’s going to make each one of them work hard.”
Another highlight with special teams?
“I’m also excited that we have most of our cover guys back,” Petrino said. “That’s the fun thing, when we meet on special teams throughout the last two weeks, we’re throwing on the video and almost everybody on that video is back and experienced. You do get better with experience, there’s no question about it.”
Mallett gets his Shot
Ryan Mallett told me last spring that he expected to run the full set of plays in the Pistol offense being installed by the Arkasnas coaching staff.
That, yes, he could run out of the backfield if needed.
That remains to be seen, but how exactly does Petrino see the strong-armed and prototypical pocket passer fitting in with the Pistol (err, Shot, as it’s called by the staff) formation?
“The good thing about Ryan is, he’s a very quick learner,” Petrino said. “He’s played under the center, he’s played in shotgun. Most of the time, when we put a run play in, it takes him three reps and he’s got it down — where the mesh point is, he’s a great ball handler and does an excellent job with his faking, carrying out his fakes and the play-action game. I don’t think it will take him a long time to pick it up.”
One thing is for certain, Arkansas hopes to improve the running game by using the Shot formation. Last year the Hogs ran out of it with little success.
“One thing I used to tell our staff last year was, if we’re going to run the ball out of Shot, let’s make sure to have our second-and-long calls ready to go because we weren’t very good with it,” Petrino said. “But we did throw the ball well out of it. I do think it will take him some time and some reps to get used to some of the things we’re doing out of it now.”
Full speed
Lost in the shuffle of Ryan Mallett‘s foot injury was defensive end Tenarius Wright, who suffered a similar injury in the offseason.
Wright, unlike Mallett, has recovered completely and participated in voluntary workouts this summer.
“He’s had a very, very good summer,” Petrino said. “The interesting thing about Tenarius is, a year ago when he went through the summer, he was trying to keep his weight down and was trying to convince the (me) he was a linebacker. We gave him a shot at middle linebacker.
“What’s interesting is, some of the video I went back to watch from our early practices from last year, he did pretty well at linebacker. But he can really rush off the edge. His ability to pass rush gives us a different gear and he’s bigger and stronger now. I’m excited to see how he does (at defensive end). It’s unfortunate he didn’t get to go through spring ball, too.”
Running back Knile Davis is also fine after he suffered a broken collarbone in the spring game in April, Petrino said.
RELATED
— Petrino: Mallett running, almost full speed
VIDEO
Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, offensive coordinator Garrick McGee and defensive coordinator Willy Robinson speak to the media before a golf tournament at Paradise Valley Athletic Club in Fayetteville on Thursday, July 29, 2010. The big news? Quarterback Ryan Mallett is almost back to full speed just in time for fall camp after recovering from two foot surgeries in the last five months.
Make sure to check out WholeHogSports.com and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more coverage. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates with @bmarcello and @wholehogsports.
That was great. Thanks.
readeing all this stuff just gets me fired up for the 2010 Hog Season.