Twilight Practice Once Again Proves Successful for Hogs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas football team had another solid practice under the lights of the practice fields, just south of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, on Tuesday. The Arkansas faithful were on hand to support the Cardinal and White as they participated in their fourth fall workout, the first in shoulder pads and shorts.

Practice time was moved to 6:50 p.m. on Tuesday after cooler temperatures proved to aid the squad on Monday night.

“Practicing at night has helped everything,” Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said. “It’s a little cooler mentally. We are still having a very good walk-through in the afternoon but it just helps everything when the weather is like this. The crowd has been great. The fans have been coming out and that motivates us too.”

Nutt is encouraged by the pace and quality of practice and the performances he is seeing on both sides of the ball.

“We had another good practice tonight,” Nutt said, “a very fast practice. The defense was moving around and playing with a lot of confidence now and they should be. They are a year older and those guys have played some snaps. Marcus Harrison, Keith Jackson, Anthony Brown, Jamaal Anderson, they are getting a lot more confident. Antwain Robinson is really doing a good job. Sam Olajubutu and Desmond Sims are feeling much better at linebacker this year. We have got to keep getting better.”

Coach Nutt, aware of the slight edge the defense currently has on the offense, is positive about the pace of the practice. The young receiving corps continued its battle for playing time as the quarterbacks rotated throughout practice.

“Offensively, as fast as they are playing and it’s not a scout team, we are having good practices and it is good on good” Nutt said. “The defense is a step ahead and that is alright. I like that.”

There was a slight change in tonight’s practice as the coaching staff moved freshman Van Stumon from linebacker to fullback.

“We made a switch and moved him to fullback to give him a look there,” Nutt said. “He came over and did some good things but he is behind a little bit. That’s to be expected. He looks good and he has good hands. He did some good things for us today and we are going to just keep him going.”

The Razorbacks return to the practice field at 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday. Practices will continue to be open to the public until Aug. 12, when the Razorbacks will scrimmage at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Fans are also reminded of the Aug. 19 scrimmage that will be held at Razorback Stadium.