Game day preparations continue
FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas football team continued preparations for its season opener on Tuesday evening with a two hour practice behind Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The Razorbacks continued to work on the fundamentals, a staple in the Bobby Petrino practice regimen, before hitting nearly every facet of the game during their session under a clear sky and hot evening sun.
“I thought that the guys came out today and tried to play with great effort,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said after practice. “They flew around. We still had a couple of mistakes, but we have two days to clean that up but I thought the enthusiasm and effort was really good today we just need to keep doing that for the next two days.”
Arkansas’ coaching staff has worked hard to put the polish on a new offense which includes an equal dose of working on the run and the pass. The Razorbacks continued to work on every aspect of their game on Tuesday and coach Petrino explained why keeping running backs in the passing game is important to the success of any offense.
“It’s real important (to throw to the running back),” Petrino said. “It makes the defense cover the whole field. Otherwise they can count on the backs to always be in protection and the linebackers can get underneath a route so it’s important that we use them to stretch the defense out.”
The Razorbacks have also seen the return of freshman running back De’Anthony Curtis who missed last week to an injury. Bobby Petrino commented on Curtis’ return on Monday, but said that he wanted to see how the Camden, Ark., native rebounded after his return to the field. Paul Petrino liked what he saw on day two.
“I thought he moved around well,” Petrino said. “I thought that the last two days were very encouraging with De’Anthony.”
Arkansas continues its preparations for Saturday’s clash with Western Illinois on Wednesday afternoon. For more information regarding Razorback football or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
