Razorbacks rebound from Kentucky loss

FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorback football team returned to the practice field on Tuesday looking to rebound from a tough loss to Kentucky last Saturday as they prepare to face the Ole Miss Rebels at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium this weekend.

The Hogs went through a slightly abbreviated session on the field before returning to the film room and ending practice.

“I thought we practiced fast today and the kids came back pretty good after a tough loss,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “They came out and flew around. It’s a big week so we need to go out and have a good week of practice, keep working hard to improve.”

Arkansas went through its normal set of drills on Tuesday before working on the running and passing games on both sides of the ball. Several players got extra repetitions as the Hogs worked around potential holes in its starting lineup.

“I think [Michael Smith] is doing better,” Petrino said. “They held him out today, but from what I hear everyone was real optimistic that things are going to be real good.”

Smith sustained an injury near the end of the Kentucky game and the Razorback coaching staff wants to identify a potential starter at the running back position in the event Smith can’t return to the lineup by Saturday.

“Today we kind of mixed between De’Anthony [Curtis] and Dennis [Johnson],” Petrino said. “They took about the same number of reps and would be the next two guys in there. [Brandon] Barnett took about a quarter of what the other two took. We are hopeful that everything will be ok with Mike but those two guys are competing to see who will get the most reps. They both took about the same amount of reps so it will be interesting to look on the tape and see who looked better.”

Arkansas sophomore tight end D.J. Williams has been slowed over the past week but looked much better on the practice field on Tuesday.

“D.J. looked a lot better today,” Petrino said. “A night and day difference from where we were a week ago.”

The Razorbacks take on Ole Miss on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. For more information regarding Razorback football or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.