Hogs defense gets a turn in spotlight

Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson (left) had four touchdown passes in Saturday’s scrimmage, but Razorbacks Coach John L. Smith (right) said the defense is improving.
Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson (left) had four touchdown passes in Saturday’s scrimmage, but Razorbacks Coach John L. Smith (right) said the defense is improving.

— The days of Arkansas’ offense trouncing its defensive counterparts at will in large-scale scrimmages took a hiatus Saturday.

The Razorbacks’ defense stayed tough at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, posting 27 tackles for loss, 12 sacks and 2 interceptions while trading big plays with the offense throughout a 161-play scrimmage.

“I’d say we took over this scrimmage,” cornerback Tevin Mitchel said.

“They just really came out ready to play and the offense really didn’t,” said receiver Cobi Hamilton, who had a team-high 83 receiving yards.

“We’ve been getting bashed a lot in the past years, so it was a good feeling to come out here and get more production out of the defense and see the defense on the other side of it,” defensive end Trey Flowers said.

Arkansas Coach John L. Smith said the top defenses provided a spark Saturday.

“We’re going to be good offensively, so overall I was quite pleased from a defensive standpoint because we’re going to need a defense as well as an offense,” Smith said. “Getting better on the defensive side was kind of crucial.”

The top offense, led by quarterback Tyler Wilson, scored on 5 of 12 possessions.Wilson, who completed 21 of 39 passes for 288 yards, threw for 4 touchdowns, including two to Brandon Mitchell to open and close the scoring and one each to tight end Chris Gragg and Hamilton.

Wilson also threw an interception to freshman linebacker Otha Peters, who was in the midst of returning it 40 yards for a touchdown when the play was whistled dead.

That series was the second of seven in a row during a stretch of 29 plays when the offenses did not score and took one snap past the 50. Another stretch, in the second half of the scrimmage, featured six consecutive possessions without a score.

“In these scrimmages, usually we get after them,” Gragg said. “They came out with that mind-set they were going to get after us.”

Kiero Small, who took significant reps at fullback and linebacker, saw both sides of the improved defensive play.

“The first-team defense did their thing,” Small said. “It’s what you want to see in a scrimmage. Who wants to come out here and see one team dominate? That means you’ve got a problem when you get to playing other teams.”

Tailback Knile Davis was held out of the live tackling, giving Dennis Johnson and Ronnie Wingo the bulk of the carries for the starters. Johnson carried 15 times for 76 yards and 1 touchdown and had a highlight-reel 19-yard gain on which he broke multiple tackles.

“I thought he ran real hard,” Smith said. “He stayed healthy, and he ran like Dennis should run.”

The offenses combined to pass for 565 yards on 87 attempts, an average of 6.5 yards per play. The run game managed 188 yards on 54 carries by non-quarterbacks, an average of 3.5 yards per carry.

“I like the way we’re running to the ball, and we’re swarming the ball,” Smith said. “That part is good. We have to continue to play with that great attitude and great effort and we’ll be good against the run.”

Reserve quarterback Brian Buehner had a 36-yard breakaway run that was the lone highlight for the quarterbacks in the ground game. Second team quarterback Brandon Allen lost 55 yards on sacks, and the quarterbacks combined for 25 lost yards on the ground.

Defensively, linebackers Alonzo Highsmith and Tenarius Wright and safety Eric Bennett were all held out with injuries.

The best running play of the scrimmage came from freshman Nate Holmes, who took a draw up the middle, broke a couple of tackles, cut right and accelerated for a 23-yard touchdown for the second-team offense.

Holmes rushed five times for 42 yards, while Jonathan Williams had 13 carries for 37 yards, including touchdown runs of 1 and 9 yards.

The day’s most dominating showing came from the front seven on the second-team defense. That unit posted 15 tackles for loss, including 11 sacks of Allen, who completed 27 of 48 passes for 276 yards.

The offensive reserves scored on 4 of 19 possessions.

In one stretch of five series in the second half, the second-team defense posted 6 sacks and allowed 7 yards on 21 plays while giving up 1 first down.

Allen struck back a few minutes later by hitting Keante Minor down the left sideline beyond cornerback Will Hines for a 50-yard touchdown.

But the second-team defense stopped the last three possessions in this manner: a Kealon Kelleybrew interception on a deep pass intended for Keon Hatcher in the end zone; a 5-yard sack by Austin Flynn on a third-and-8; and a 5-yard sack by Brandon Lewis on a fourth-and-goal play-action pass from the 1 after Allen led the unit on a 44-yard drive.

“We’ve always been overshadowed by our offense, because our offense is great,” defensive tackle Alfred Davis said. “Even if it’s a bad day, it’s a good day for those guys.

“Today, we came out with a lot of energy on defense and we played them very hard and it was a different vibe. It was a different feeling, but at the end of the day the offense still played pretty good.”

Scrimmage stats Saturday At Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville NOTE Stats are unofficial.

SCORING PLAYS

Brandon Mitchell 16 pass from Tyler Wilson (Zach Hocker kick)

Jonathan Williams 1 run (John Henson kick)

Otha Peters 40 interception return

Nate Holmes 23 run (Henson kick)

Chris Gragg 12 pass from Wilson (Hocker kick)

Williams 7 run (Henson kick)

Dennis Johnson 7 run (Hocker kick)

Cobi Hamilton 29 pass from Wilson (Hocker kick)

Keante Minor 50 pass from Brandon Allen (Henson kick)

Mitchell 13 pass from Wilson PASSING Tyler Wilson 21-39-1, 288 yards, 4 TDs; Brandon Allen 27-48-1, 276 yards, 1 TD RUSHING Dennis Johnson 15-76, 1 TD; Nate Holmes 5-42, 1 TD; Jonathan Williams 13-37, 2 TDs; Brian Buehner 1-36; Kody Walker 11-17; Ronnie Wingo 10-16; Tyler Wilson 3-(-6);

Brandon Allen 13-(-55) RECEIVING Brandon Mitchell 9-73, 2 TDs; Cobi Hamilton 5-83, 1 TD; Chris Gragg 5-54, 1 TD;

Austin Tate 5-40; Keante Minor 4-78, 1 TD;

Keon Hatcher 4-41; Javontee Herndon 2-50;

Demetrius Wilson 2-26; D’Arthur Cowan 2-22;

Eric Hawkins 2-21; Kody Walker 2-10; Jonathan Williams 1-13; Kiero Small 1-12; Alex Voelzke 1-12; Dennis Johnson 1-11; Mekale McKay 1-10; Julian Horton 1-8 DEFENSIVE STATS TACKLES Austin Jones 9, Trey Flowers 8, Kelvin Fisher 8, Terell Williams 6, Ross Rasner 6, Kiero Small 6, A.J. Turner 6, Tevin Mitchell 5, Deatrich Wise 5, Jarrett Lake 5, Otha Peters 4, Austin Flynn 4, Kaelon Kelleybrew 4, Price Holmes 4, B yran Jones 3, Darius Winston 3, Brandon Lewis 3, Robert Atiga 3.

TACKLES FOR LOSS Austin Jones 4-20, Austin Flynn 3-9, Brandon Lewis 2-10, Jared Green 2-8, Trey Flowers 2-7, Chris Smith 2-7, Kiero Small 2-6, Deatrich Wise 1-6, D.D. Jones 1-3, Terrell Williams 1-2, Alan Turner 1-1, DeMarcus Hodge1-4, Robert Thomas 1-2, Darius Philon 1-4, Jarrett Lake 1-3.

SACKS Brandon Lewis 2-10, Austin Jones 2-9, Kiero Small 2-6, Deatrich Wise 1-6, Jared Green 1-6, Austin Flynn 1-5, DeMarcus Hodge 1-4, Chris Smith 1-2, Robert Thomas 1-2.

INTERCEPTIONS Otha Peters 1-40, TD; Kaelon Kelleybrew 1-0 PASS BREAKUPS Tevin Mitchell 3, Deatrich Wise 2, A.J. Turner 2, D.D. Jones 1, Kaelon Kelleybrew 1, Darius Winston 1, Kelvin Fisher 1.

Sports, Pages 21 on 08/12/2012

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