Hogs start indoors finish outside after scrimmage

FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorback football team started their second practice on Wednesday inside Walker Pavilion and worked out for just over an hour before moving to the outdoor practice fields south of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

The time spent indoors was a small bonus to the Razorbacks who spent more than an hour Wednesday morning in a scrimmage like situation inside their home stadium.

“Although we ran a regular practice it was live tackling similar to a scrimmage,” Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said. “We went through certain drills and ran play action and we got better. There is no question in my mind that we got better, we got better on offense, defense got to the ball and we learned a lot from today.”

The live action simulation from the morning was beneficial to the Razorback coaching staff as it allowed them to see how their players react to the unknown.

“There are certain situations that come up,” Petrino said. “You try to cover them in practice but in the scrimmage they just appear. That’s when the players have to take over and be able to call out and understand what we are looking for.”

Arkansas’ offense and defense were improved from Sunday’s full scrimmage and senior quarterback Casey Dick was one of the players that stepped up in his second go around at live action.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” Petrino said. “He was able to distribute it and I think that he was comfortable with the timing. He was a little rusty when we got started off the bat, but settled in.”

Petrino was also happy with the way his defense came around.

“We tried to build on the defense and stop the run.” Petrino said. “We ran one versus two a lot so that the twos could run the ball at them, give them different short yardage situations so that they could learn how to convert defensively.”

The Razorbacks’ Wednesday afternoon practice was very similar to what they have been doing throughout the week with each position working on fundamentals before moving into inside runs, blocking and passing drills. The nearly two-hour afternoon practice concluded with special teams sessions held outside.

The Razorbacks are back on the field Thursday morning for a 9 a.m. practice session. For more information regarding Razorback football or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.