Petrino Praises Defensive Effort

It’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of Bobby Petrino‘s offense, but Monday the Arkansas defense was given its due for a near flawless performance against Tennessee Tech.

Yes, there was the one long pass play that gave the Golden Eagles the ball at the Arkansas 1 in the first quarter, but little else went wrong as the Razorbacks gave up just 155 yards of offense in the season-opener.

Arkansas responded to the long passing play with a goal line stand, holding the Golden Eagles out of the end zone on first- and second-down run plays before Anthony Leon recorded a sack. Tennessee Tech kicked a field goal to take a 3-0 lead but never dented the scoreboard again.

It was the first time a Willy Robinson-coached defense had kept an opponent out of the end zone at Arkansas and the first time one had held an opponent to single digits. Monday the defensive players out-numbered the offensive players at the Razorbacks’ weekly press conference.

“I was impressed with our defense,” Petrino said. “We have a better understanding of what we’re doing which really allows us to play faster and not hesitate. We did a nice job of tackling and getting guys to the football, and playing aggressive. It was a good opening game for us on defense.”

Leon, playing his first game at outside linebacker, was the defensive star Saturday night, recording eight tackles, four of which were for loss and two of which were sacks.

“He played pretty good,” Petrino said. “He was fast and aggressive, and did a very nice job of tackling. He’s big and long in there and can make good tackles.

“We did not miss a lot of tackles. We were hard on (the players), too, if they got close or got an arm, we counted it as a missed tackle. But we did a nice job of tackling. We’re faster and when you’re faster you tackle better.”

Leon said his goal Saturday was to record 12 tackles. Though he didn’t make it, he was happy with his first game at a new position.

“I was pretty impressed,” Leon said. “It was my first game at linebacker and I just tried my best to execute and fly to the ball the best I can. I did most of my assignments right but I did miss a couple of plays. For the most part I did pretty good.

“I got a lot of repetition in practice and been working with the ones a lot in practice, and just the repetition got me ready for the game. I’ve been hitting on my teammates forever and it just felt good to go against another team and hit another team.”

The performance was a far cry from last season when Leon struggled to make into games as he struggled at his safety position.

“Last year I was just drinking a lot of Gatorade most of the time and this year I was just out there playing a lot,” Leon said. “It was real fun and I had fun.”

Petrino was mum Monday on the status of defensive tackle Zach Stadther, who wasn’t listed on the preseason depth chart or spotted on the sidelines Saturday night.

“At some point you guys have got to understand I’m only going to talk about the guys that play and practice,” Petrino said.

Of the 10 true freshmen that played Saturday, six were on the defensive side of the ball. Byran Jones, Chris Smith, Jarrett Lake, Eric Bennett, Darrell Smith and Jeremiah Jackson were all listed on the participation roster.

Jackson, a defensive tackle, was the most surprising of the group. Petrino said the Hoover, Ala., native played out of necessity when Patrick Jones was unable to go with an injury.

“It was kind a situation with Pat Jones out where we needed another guy in there,” Petrino said. “Jeremiah is a very, very intelligent football player. He’s very explosive inside and can use his hands. We felt like with the number of games we had left we weren’t going to redshirt him. He did a good job.”