Young guns highlight the 2010 scrimmage

FAYETTEVILLE — Tonight was the high school prom at Westfield High School in Houston, Texas. Jacoby Walker spent it in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium helping lead the White team to a 31-21 victory over the Red in the 2010 Razorback football spring game.

Walker joined the Razorbacks at midterm, graduating early from Westfield. He went 6-of-11 for 183 yards passing with two touchdowns and a long of 50 yards. He also rushed for 30 yards and along with fellow freshman Brandon Mitchell were the offensive stars of the Red-White Game.

Mitchell ran for two touchdowns, including an 88-yard thriller early in the game.

With quarterback Ryan Mallett completing his comeback from off-season foot surgery, the rookies Mitchell and Walker took center stage.

The Razorback football coaches set out to create even teams for the spring game, and got nearly even production from the two teams. The White had the slight edge with 409 yards of total offense to 357 for the Red team.

“It was a fun spring game, really fun for the players," Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino said. "It was a good way to end our spring football. We moved the ball well at times but we struggled to complete some passes. Part of that was the pass rush and the other part was that guys were out of rhythm at times.”

The game was a back-and-forth contest until the final quarter.

Walker connected 47-yards with Jarius Wright, then got the two point conversion to put the White ahead, 21-14.

The Red team came back with a one-play drive as Tyler Wilson hit Cobi Hamilton for a 44-yard touchdown seconds ahead of the end of the 3rd quarter to tie the game at 21-21.

With a running clock for the second half, the final quarter moved quickly. Ronnie Wingo, Jr., 37-yard run moved the White down to the Red 23. The drive stalled, but Alex Tejada came on for a 38-yard field goal with 10:27 left in the game to up the White, 24-21.

Red made a final push in the mid fourth, but a fourth down stand by White set the stage for a final scoring drive. Walker took over at its own 42, and drove his team down to the three. Walker’s 9 yard pass to Jarius Wright then a 26 yard completion to Mitchell Bailey set up a 24 yard run by Walker himself to the six. He injured himself at the end of the play, and Nick Petrino came in to finish the drive, running the last three yards himself for the 31-21 final score.

Both teams struggled in their first drives, but Nick Petrino put together the first long drive of the day by taking the White team down to the Red 12 before giving the ball back on downs.

The teams traded posessions before Brandon Mitchell stepped in at QB for the Red and struck with a 88-yard keeper. His play fake to Johnson froze the defense, and picking up blocks for the initial 20 yards, Mitchell broke free for the score. The point after was good to give Red the 7-0 lead right at the end of the first quarter.

White came back with Ronnie Wingo taking the last four carries to punch it in from one yard out to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive and a 7-7 tie.

Mitchell engineered a quick response for the Red, connecting with Greg Childs for a 69-yard pass to the White 1-yard line. Michell then rushed for the final yard and the 14-7 lead.

White had a pair of drives before marching 55-yards on six plays just before halftime. Jacoby Walker’s passes of 20 yards to Jarius Wright and 31 yards to Wingo for the touchdown accounted for almost all the yards in the drive. Alex Tejada’s PAT was no good, leaving White down by one, 14-13, at halftime.

Wright finished the game with 118 yards on seven catches, including his one touchdown, for the White team. D.J. Williams led the Red with 4 catches for 49 yards, and Childs racking up 80 yards on his two catches.

Wingo led the White team’s rushing with 18 carries for 88 yards, and with his 38 yards receiving had a team-leading 126 yards of all-purpose work.

Nick Petrino finished with 9-17-0 for 63 yards passing as the White starter, plus his touchdown run. Tyler Wilson was 8-15-0 for 133 yards and a touchdown as the other Red team QB.

At halftime, the Razorback athletic department honored its Fans of the Year as a part of the 100 Years of the Razorback contest. Constantino Garcia, the women’s outdoor track selection, was picked as the overall Fan of the Century, winning a prize package including cash, special tickets and gifts from Razorback athletics and a trip next season.

The Razorback football team also handed out its end of the year team awards, and recognized its seniors. Among the individual awards, Clay Bemberg was named the scout team offensive player of the year and Stephen Barnett the scout defensive player. The team captain awards went to DeMarcus Love, Michael Smith, Malcolm Sheppard and Adrian Davis.

The comeback of the year award went to Elton Ford, the offensive coaches award to Micheal Smith and defensive coaches award Jerico Nelson. The newcomer of the year awards were given to Broderick Green for offense and Rudell Crim for defense. The offensive player of the year was Mitch Petrus and the deefensive player of the year Davis. Seth Armbrust was the special teams player of the year.

The scholar-athlete of the year was Jake Bequette and Ryan Mallett named the team MVP.

Download: Spring Game.pdf