Razorbacks look for better focus

Arkansas assistant coaches Sam Pittman (left) and Chris Ash work with the Razorbacks during practice Saturday morning in Fayetteville.

Arkansas assistant coaches Sam Pittman (left) and Chris Ash work with the Razorbacks during practice Saturday morning in Fayetteville.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas coaches want to see better pre-snap alignments, quicker reactions and more toughness today in the Razorbacks’ second major scrimmage.

The Hogs are scheduled to begin the scrimmage portion of their ninth spring practice around 11:30 a.m. in Reynolds Razorback Stadium. If the weather allows the Razorbacks to go outdoors it will mark just the third practice of spring not held inside the Walker Pavilion. Today’s workout is open to the public.

“Hopefully I’ll see our tackling improve,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said. “Guys will be more focused on their assignments rather than just going out and trying to show how tough they are.

“I hope they play with a little more poise and we’ve got a few less mental errors, a few less assignment errors, and we tackle a little bit better.”

Defensive tackles coach Charlie Partridge said excitement led to errors last week.

“They were so excited that some of the early things, just getting the correct alignment, making it perfect, I want to see improvement from that this weekend,” he said.

The Razorbacks held a moderate-length 74-play scrimmage at Walker Pavilion last Saturday.

Quarterbacks Brandon Allen and Brandon Mitchell took most of the reps in that scrimmage. Allen completed 11 of 19 passes for 137 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Mitchell was 7 of 14 for 112 yards and 1 touchdown.

Allen’s score came on a 65-yard pass to Javontee Herndon, while Mitchell’s 4-yard touchdown strike to uncovered tight end Brad Taylor came at the end of a 75-yard drive in which the offense overcame four penalties, one that wiped out a 40-yard reception by Keon Hatcher.

The completion numbers came despite a handful of dropped passes and timing issues that should improve as the installation of schemes continues.

Allen’s interception came on a bad decision to loft a deep ball that safety Rohan Gaines grabbed at his full height.

The only other turnover came when linebacker Jarrett Lake separated receiver Julian Horton from the ball after a short completion.

The Razorbacks’ offensive strategy has been to implement slowly and gain a full understanding of fewer concepts while stressing physicality.

“The beginning of any spring ball, no team is exactly where a coach wants them to be,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said.

“We want to be the Chicago Bears. We want to go out and blast everybody, but what you do is you identify where you’re at and you go to work on it.

“Where we’re at is probably typical of where most teams start spring football. … The pads go on and you find out who can and can’t play.”

Offensive line coach Sam Pittman has put together a unit that features veteran senior Travis Swanson at center, Brey Cook and Mitch Smothers at guard, and David Hurd and Grady Ollison at tackle.

“They played fast and they’re playing physical,” Pittman said of the line’s first scrimmage performance.

The tight end rotation, which includes Austin Tate, Alex Voelzke, Mitchell Loewen, Taylor and redshirt freshman Jeremy Sprinkle, will benefit from the addition of Hunter Henry in the fall but already has been an early bright spot.

The linebacker competition will continue to be under examination as the already thin unit has been hit by injuries to sophomores A.J. Turner (broken wrist) and Otha Peters (hip). Lake has been a leader on the unit, which includes Robert Atiga, Braylon Mitchell, Daunte Carr, Austin Jones and newcomer Myke Tavarres.

Strong safeties Gaines and TQ Coleman had some of the best hits during last Saturday’s work, including one on which Gaines knocked himself silly after a pass breakup and had to come out after the play.

“I’m fine,” Gaines said Thursday. “I came back in the next play.”

Gaines graded out well from the first scrimmage work.

“We have a chart sheet, and on my chart I did pretty good,” Gaines said.

The Razorbacks will have six more practices following today’s scrimmage, concluding with the Red-White game April 20 at Razorback Stadium.

Sports, Pages 21 on 04/06/2013