Arkansas Online

Popping pads

Hogs set to don full pads for first time today.

TOM MURPHY

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks took their first practice-free day of training camp Wednesday, though film study and skull sessions continue apace toward the Sept. 3 season opener against Cincinnati.

The brief respite from on-the-field action is a precursor to the addition of full pads today, when the physicality level is expected to go up a notch. The Razorbacks have already shown in twoplus seasons under Coach Sam Pittman they can work with an edge even without full pads, as the clash of shoulder pads in modified gear has been evident for parts of the first four days of camp.

The atmosphere was sweltering and muggy the first three practice days, and several players suffered cramping or other heat-related issues. However, an overcast and rainy day gave the 110-man roster a bit of a break Tuesday, when the practice was conducted inside Walker Pavilion with fans running.

Today’s forecast is calling for a sunny day with a high of around 88 degrees and winds about 8 mph during practice time.

The stage is set for the work of strength and conditioning coach Jamil Walker

and his staff to start kicking in with the tougher grind of full pads.

“Coach Walker and those guys do a great job,”cornerbacks coach Dominique Bowman said Monday. “One thing that’s unique about him is he has the unique ability to get the whole team to buy in. When he walks in a room, the whole team responds to him.

“The strength coach is with the football team all summer, so he’s kind of like the head coach in summer time. So he kind of gets them all ready and greased up and in shape and he hands them over to us. We just do the football piece of it. He’s done a tremendous job getting those guys ready to go. They’re in shape. They’re strong and fast.

The Hogs will hold their first scrimmage of camp Saturday, which will be closed to fans and members of the media.

The coaching staff has been gearing up the players for the increased contact work by holding compete drills between positions groups during the portion of practice open to media viewing Tuesday.

Sophomore tailback Raheim Sanders showed why it looked smart for Pittman, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and position coach Jimmy Smith to move him to tailback in the spring of 2021 by looking fully in command of his pass protection reps against the linebackers.

A few of the linebackers, notably Jordan Crook and Jackson Woodard, flashed considerable pass-rush ability while mainstay linebackers Bumper Pool and Drew Sanders took just one rep in the protection drill.

Receivers coach Kenny Guiton, speaking Tuesday, said his unit is ready for the rise in full contact.

“You’ve never seen a football game won without physicality, so it’s something I preach on that perimeter with our run game,” Guiton said. “I mean the backs aren’t getting touched until 5 to 8 yards downfield, so now we make the touchdown blocks.

“In order for that to happen, you’ve got to bring a certain level of physicality to the game. Don’t go out and see how somebody else is bringing it and match theirs.

You make them match yours. That’s the mentality we want and that’s the mentality we bring.”

A concern for player safety has caused the NCAA to modify preseason camp practices in major ways over the past decade or so. Where two-a-days were once the norm and three-a-days were employed on occasion, the NCAA began limiting two-adays to a handful of times in camp about a decade ago before banning them altogether in the spring of 2017.

The number of full-pad practices and the amount of practice time that includes live tackling have also been tailored in recent years to take stress off players and hopefully reduce injuries and concussions.

Bowman talked about melding the mental part of football with the physical at his position.

“More or less, it’s about getting it from the neck up,” Bowman said. “The athletic piece of it is good, but you have to be detailed in your technique. Honestly, it’s a demanding position with the progression, so the mental piece of it is the most important piece. Athletically, we’ve got the best guys in the country, I think.”

The Hogs showed they could play in the trenches last season by leading the Power 5 in rushing with 227.8 yards per game.

Four starting offensive linemen are back from that unit in center Ricky Stromberg, guards Brady Latham and Beaux Limmer and tackle Dalton Wagner, who has hard charging Ty’Kieast Crawford on his heels bucking for playing time.

Guiton said his receivers need to help the running backs break off long runs to ultimately help the passing attack.

“I put a bunch of emphasis on [strong blocking] for the simple fact of how good our run game is,” he said. “It’s awesome. As a wideout, you want a great running game.

“You’ve got a great running game, you get one-onones on the perimeter. That’s what every wideout should ask for, you know? I feel like whatever we’re stressing, whatever we’re emphasizing, we’ve got such good guys, they’re going to go out and do whatever we’re asking them to do. So I’m emphasizing it as much as I can.”

The wideouts were practicing blocking for each other on receiver screens Tuesday.

“With our run game, those things on the perimeter are big for us because we throw it out there, we might get light numbers out there, we can make one miss and it should be a big one,” Guiton said.

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2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

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