FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas passing game suffered a hiccup in last Saturday's scrimmage, but it wasn't the fault of just one player, offensive coordinator Dan Enos said Wednesday.
Senior quarterback Brandon Allen completed only 10 of 23 passes for 110 yards in the scrimmage, but Enos said that wasn't entirely Allen's fault.
"We were a little out of sync Saturday," Enos said. "Not just Brandon, but offensively with just some of our spacing in our routes and some of the timing. So his numbers weren't as good as they had been. Up to that point he'd been pretty dang efficient."
Enos said the coaching staff challenged the entire offense Monday, which at that time was still coming to grips with the loss of tailback Jonathan Williams to foot surgery.
"We kind of took a step back we thought in some areas [on Saturday] that we hadn't done in the first nine practices or so before the scrimmage," he said. "We've gotten back to where we were this week, and it's been very, very encouraging."
Enos said Allen's confidence wasn't shaken.
"You have good days and you have not so good days," he said. "It's not like he had a bad day. As I mentioned, it was not just Brandon. We were just a little out of sync. Guys weren't in the right spots sometimes.
"That's what happens in preseason. We don't get preseason games to work the kinks out or get to practice against other teams like they do in the NFL. So we've got to try to create all these situations in practice and put pressure on them. And, again, he's had such a really good spring and fall camp.
"It was really just a small blip on the radar as far as we're concerned, and he was right back on Monday to his normal self."
Captains
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema announced the Razorbacks' captains for 2015 on social media Wednesday evening.
The Razorbacks voted tailback Jonathan Williams and quarterback Brandon Allen, both seniors, as their offensive captains and two juniors, linebacker Brooks Ellis and end JaMichael Winston, as their defensive captains.
Allen is the lone returning captain from last season. Williams will have to do his leading from the sideline on game days after undergoing foot surgery Monday that will keep him out for the regular season.
Harris earned it
Linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves had a simple explanation why 5-10 redshirt freshman walk-on Josh Harris is working with the starters at middle linebacker.
"He's just performed well, and at some point you need to reward that," Hargreaves said. "He's earned it. The productivity. He's made a lot of plays and the guys see that. They know who can play and who's doing well.
"That's not to say that the other guy wasn't doing well, but this guy was doing a little bit better."
The "other guy" is sophomore Khalia Hackett, who moved to middle linebacker during spring drills.
"Was he totally OK with it? Probably not," Hargreaves said. "I mean, who ever is if you get demoted? But he knows we're going to need him, and now the charge is, you've to continue to get better and get your job back. Because guess what? If you get your job back, you just made us a whole lot better from a depth standpoint and everything else."
Defensive coordinator Robb Smith said Hackett was still in the starting group against certain personnel packages, like one-back looks.
"Josh just does a great job when there's a fullback in the game of playing downhill and finding his way through there, where sometimes his size is even an advantage for him," Smith said. "Both those guys have made progress this camp."
Pass pro
Offensive line coach Sam Pittman isn't in a panic about the defensive front getting a good pass rush on quarterback Brandon Allen last Saturday.
"I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill," Pittman said. "I think we're going to be OK. We've got work to do. It was our first scrimmage, and we've got to get better."
Pittman said there weren't any defensive linemen turned loose by the offensive line, but that Allen didn't have enough room to step up in the pocket.
"Our D-line's pretty pretty good at rushing the passer as well," he said. "We'll give them a lot of credit for that."
Fullback light
Running backs coach Jemal Singleton said the Razorbacks have not been super heavy with two-back sets in camp.
"If we had to play today, I don't think we would play with a fullback," Singleton said. "We've got the hybrid guy with Austin Cantrell to get in there and in essence be the fullback. He's a guy with the opportunity, still a freshman, but he's shown some flashes that he's capable of doing what we're asking him to do."
Fullback Tyler Colquitt caught five passes for 19 yards in Saturday's scrimmage.
Don't overreact
Tyler Wilson said he isn't reading too much into starting quarterback Brandon Allen completing 10 of 23 passes against the first-team defense in Saturday's scrimmage.
" I know he probably wishes the numbers would have been a little more favorable for him that day, but I don't think you can overreact to one scrimmage," said Wilson, the All-SEC first-team quarterback for the Razorbacks in 2011. "You try to look at the large body of work and look at a number of things that were going on that day."
Wilson said circumstances such as leading receiver Keon Hatcher sitting out the scrimmage and the Razorbacks not focusing on passing to their established tight ends as much as usual in favor of getting more work for less experienced receivers could have factored into Allen's numbers.
Wilson said he considers Allen, a third-year starter, among the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
"I think he's one of the top guys," Wilson said.
Speakers please
The lineup of speakers this fall at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club features Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and Athletic Director Jeff Long, along with several former Razorbacks.
Speakers announced Wednesday also include Dan Hampton, an Arkansas All-American defensive lineman and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former Arkansas quarterbacks Clint Stoerner and Matt Jones, and former Arkansas defensive coordinator and 1992 interim head coach Joe Kines.
Other speakers will be Little Rock native George Schroeder, who covers college football for USA Today and previously worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; former Georgia Coach Jim Donnan; and SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears, a former LSU and Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman.
Split day
The Razorbacks underwent further installation and meetings Wednesday morning before working out in the evening at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Coach Bret Bielema said in a message on Twitter that the Razorbacks planned to install their two-minute offense and defense.
Sports on 08/20/2015