FAYETTEVILLE — Every other foursome was hacking around for second place when Coach Bobby Petrino and his loaded team attacked the par-72 course at Paradise Valley Country Club in Thursday’s annual golf outing with media members, car dealers and other business associates.
Petrino’s quartet recorded one eagle and scrambled for a 16-underpar 56 that easily outdistanced the second-place group, which included Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas coach and athletic director.
Petrino and his coaches, who participated in full force, hope the Razorbacks, who are loaded with 17 returning starters, can have the same kind of performance in the SEC this season.
Arkansas coaches spent the past couple of weeks putting the finishing touches on practice schedules and are ready for practice to begin next Thursday.
“Tired of talking,” Petrino told reporters. “Tired of hearing what’s going on out there. We’re just ready to get on the practice field and get to work.”
What’s going on out there is Arkansas is projected to finish second in the SEC West and contend in the conference that has produced the past four BCS national champions.
Quarterback Ryan Mallett, who came out of the orthopedic boot for his surgically repaired left foot last week, has continued to increase the workload on the foot he broke in February.
“We’ve got to get him in shape, get his timing back and just get him back in rhythm,” said offensive coordinator Garrick McGee, who expects Mallett to be “ready to roll” Thursday.
“He’s doing some controlled situation running right now, where we’re on a treadmill and you reduce the amount of weight that’s on there,” Petrino said. “By Monday he should increase that, and by Tuesday he should be running full speed.”
Petrino has also elected to split up practices in the early going between veterans and younger players.
“The first four days we’re going to practice ... with a young group of guys, not all of them newcomers, and the vets, instead of all of them together,” Petrino said.
“The idea there is to give the newcomers more reps, a little more understanding. So we’ll install for four practices, then the fifth practice start it over again and practice together like we normally do.”
Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said he was excited about having depth all over the defensive depth chart and that the split practices should help the Razorbacks.
“To bring on the development of these freshmen and newcomers, where they’ve been kind of buried in the depth chart, you can kind of get them exposed,” Robinson said. “We’re excited about it. I think Coach’s biggest concern is if our older guys on staff can survive the practices.”
Petrino said the split practices would amount to 18 periods apiece, roughly 90 minutes. There will be a two-hour gap between the split practices Thursday through Saturday and a larger gap on Sunday, when the veterans work from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the newcomers practice from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Arkansas practices on the outdoor fields will be open to the public, while practices that move inside the Walker Pavilion will be closed to fans.
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/30/2010