Arkansas Focuses on Special Teams

The Hogs practiced in full pads for over two hours on Tuesday evening, using their time to concentrate on punt returns and red zone situations. Mistakes plagued the offense during most of the day, showing the Razorbacks areas they need to improve on during tomorrow’s workouts.

“We’ve got to have a better practice than we did today, our offense was really sluggish and sloppy,” Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said. “We had too many mistakes. We didn’t break the huddle right and we felt a little too bit sorry for ourselves. You can’t have any mental errors. You’ve got to come off the ball with good pad level. We did none of those things today. We have to do much better.”

The punt returner job is still up for grabs with juniors Michael Coe and Cedric Washington and freshman Reggie Fish trying to earn the starting nod.

“We worked on punt return with full speed,” Nutt said. “We’re still trying to figure out who’s going to be our punt returner. We’ve been working with Michael Coe, Cedric Washington and Reggie Fish. Reggie has the most ability, but he’s inconsistent with decisions and when people are coming at him. We’ve got to keep working on it.”

Nutt also addressed who he believed was ahead at the place kicker and punting positions, but is looking forward to seeing how they perform during this weekend’s scrimmage.

“I think Chris Balseiro is really stepping up and he’s been consistent,” Nutt said. “He has a stronger leg this year and hopefully he can continue this weekend. We’ll see what happens with some live rushes coming at him. (At punter) Jacob is ahead right now. He has a strong leg, but he has to be consistent. So far he’s been very good.”

On Wednesday the Razorbacks will once again return to two-a-days. The morning session will begin at 9:15 a.m. and go for about one hour and 15 minutes in the Willard and Pat Walker Pavilion, while the time of the outside afternoon practice is slated for 5:30 p.m. and should run for approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

Arkansas’ annual Fan Day is set for Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon with the festivities being held on the lawn in front of the Tyson Poultry Science Building. A scrimmage will follow at 6 p.m. in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

“It will be the last time we scrimmage before we do it for real,” Nutt said. “We’ll move the ball around in the red zone and just play it like a ball game. We’ll start to zero in on naming people to first team, second team and third team.”

Gates 1, 6 and 10 will be used to access the west side of the stadium one hour before the scrimmage begins.