Working on a couple of stories from today’s scrimmage. Make sure you check out the stats here.
Before I duck my head and start writing, here are a few thoughts:
• Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino was disappointed in the way his first-team defense opened the scrimmage, but the group was much better in the second half. The defense limited Arkansas’ first-team offense to one touchdown in the first half and didn’t allow another until late in the scrimmage. And even then, it came on a – ahem – 6th down play. The Razorbacks stuffed kept the offense out of the end zone on a 4th-and-goal, then kept them out again on an extra play. Broderick Green finally crossed the goal line on a one-yard touchdown run. Petrino said he thought the defense ran to the ball well all day. There were some missed tackles and mistakes, but it was another sign that the group just might be better than it was last season.
• Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett’s numbers don’t look impressive. He was 24 of 46 for 274 yards and a TD by my count. But it wasn’t a terrible day. Mallett seemed to be plagued by a rash of dropped passes from Arkansas’ receivers. Bobby Petrino said he noticed two mistakes from Mallett, but that was it. He graded the rest of his scrimmage as a pretty good one even though the offense struggled to get in the end zone.
• Broderick Green got a big share of the carries today. In fact, he touched the ball 27 times out of the backfield. Green said afterward it felt like high school all over again, but he certainly didn’t mind the work. Arkansas’ four-back rotation was limited to three for much of the scrimmage because sophomore Knile Davis is dealing with a hamstring issue. So Green, Dennis Johnson (10 carries, 68 yards) and Ronnie Wingo (13 carries, 81 yards) got most of the work.
• Jake Bequette had a pretty impressive day. He stripped the ball out of Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett’s hands on one play (although he and Petrino said it was a mistake because it could’ve injured the QB) and would’ve scored a touchdown if the play continued. Later, he broke up a pass in the end zone on a fourth down play. He also had another forced fumble that was recovered by the defense. DE coach Steve Caldwell said he challenged Bequette after Friday’s practice. It seemed to work.
• Here’s the best story of the day: RB De’Anthony Curtis said he noticed LB Ross Rasner throwing up before one play early in the scrimmage. So what did Curtis do? He took advantage of it. Curtis got by Rasner pretty easily and was open deep downfield, hauling in a pass from Tyler Wilson. He shook by safety Anthony Leon and scored on a 67-yard touchdown catch. I asked Curtis if he had ever caught a break like that before. He said never.
Going to work on my practice report now, which will have more notes and quotes.
