Liberty Bowl: Practice ‘intense’ for Hogs

— Some Arkansas players struggled in 2008 to adjust to the ultra aggressive Bobby Petrino practice regimen.

That hasn’t been the case so much in 2009. Not even when the Razorbacks got physical during their cold December workouts in Fayetteville in preparation for the Liberty Bowl.

“We haven’t slacked off at all,” offensive tackle Ray Dominguez said.

“We flat-out got after it,” assistant head coach Mike Summers said.

Getting after it included plenty of starters vs. starters and hard-core scrimmage work for an Arkansas team that has grown used to tough preparation.

“We approached every day like a work day,” defensive end Jake Bequette said.

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“We started out trying to get our schemes and stuff ready for East Carolina, then he let us put the pads back on and get in some hitting so we didn’t forget what it feels like,” fullback Van Stumon said.

“It’s intense,” linebacker Jerico Nelson added. “It’s very high-tempo during practice. We made it very competitive.”

The down side to the rigorous practices came when freshman defensive tackle D.D. Jones sustained a high ankle sprain and knee injury that will prevent him from playing in Saturday’s Liberty Bowl.

However, Petrino’s postseason plans regarding hitting were forged several years ago at Louisville, after his 2003 team didn’t tackle well in a 49-28 loss to Miami (Ohio) in the GMAC Bowl and his 2004 team survived a 44-40 shootout with Boise State in the Liberty Bowl.

“You always worry about coming out and being rusty and not executing early,” Petrino said. “The first two years I was there, we didn’t tackle well in the bowl game, and we didn’t take care of the ball as well as you need to.”

Summers, who coached with Petrino at Louisville, said the philosophy makes perfect sense.

“It just stands to reason that you’ve been going three or four months a certain way, you can’t take two or three weeks off and then expect to be at the same level,” he said.

Arkansas’ players have grown to expect rugged practices.

“If your head’s not on right, you might get cussed out,” receiver Joe Adams said.

“I think we did a real good job as a team in knowing how to practice - practicing hard, but keeping each other healthy and off the ground unless it was a live drill,” quarterback Ryan Mallett said.

Sports, Pages 23 on 12/30/2009

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