FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks selected their captains a little earlier than normal with the quartet of quarterback Austin Allen, center Frank Ragnow, safety Santos Ramirez and cornerback Kevin Richardson being announced on Saturday.
Allen, Ragnow and Richardson are all seniors, and Ramirez is a junior. Each is a first-time captain.
"Being named a captain of an SEC school, a prestigious school like the University of Arkansas, it's a dream of mine," Ragnow said. "It's an honor to be one of the guys that represents the team. But the one thing I know about this team is there's a lot more leaders, which is good to know."
Coach Bret Bielema said he went back to the way captains were voted on when he was a player.
"It gave us great leadership into the summer," he said. "One of the things I always used to say is I didn't want to hone in on certain guys being the voices and negate what could happen in the summer and in the fall, because that's when you grow a lot.
"I'm really not shocked by the outcome of those four guys getting in and I was prepared to go to six if there was another couple that were close. But those four ran away with it and I'm excited that they have that voice."
No fans
Defensive end McTelvin Agim said he hoped fans could have gotten a chance to watch the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville wrap up spring football drills.
"I was hoping the rain would hold off because I know these fans love their Razorbacks," Agim said. "I know some people came up and weren't able to see a spring game. I really hate it for the fans. But I hope they were able to catch us on the SEC Network."
Bell rings in
Sophomore Jamario Bell is working at second-team outside linebacker after being moved from tight end earlier in spring practice.
Coach Bret Bielema said the return to defense has been a plus for Bell.
"He's been like a rebirth," Bielema said. "He's been unbelievable. I know when I first brought it up to him, he kind of gave me those big eyes, but he jumped into it 110 percent.
"He has made plays really ever since the day he got there. He had a big interception on Tuesday. He's having fun. After that second day, I just looked at him and said, 'Jamario, I love your smile, man. I haven't seen that in two years.'"
Trip picks
Cornerback Ryan Pulley, linebacker De'Jon Harris and safety Deon Edwards notched interceptions during Saturday's practice.
Pulley's and Harris' interceptions came against redshirt freshman Cole Kelley. Edwards got his takeaway near the goal line on a throw by early enrollee freshman Daulton Hyatt.
Old school
A large contingent returned for the annual letterman's reunion this weekend. Coach Bret Bielema said former Razorbacks who spoke the team were Ken Hamlin, Quinton Caver, Eddie Jackson and Brandon Holmes.
Other former Razorbacks who attended Saturday's practice included Steve Atwater, Trey Flowers Jerry Franklin and Dan Skipper.
One bad day
Cornerback Ryan Pulley said the Razorbacks made great progress through the installation of the 3-4 defense during the spring.
"I think we had one bad practice out of the 15," Pulley said. "I think the defense did pretty good today knowing that it was our last practice out of the 15 and we were not going to be out on the field again for a minute until fall camp."
Slimming up
T.J. Hammonds' move to slot receiver this spring called for him to be lighter on his feet than when he was in the backfield rotation last year.
So the 5-10 sophomore out of Little Rock's Joe T. Robinson High School dropped some weight during winter conditioning.
"Playing receiver I had to lose weight," Hammonds said on Tuesday. "I was at 200-something and I'm weighing 190 now, around that range. I weighed in at 192 yesterday. I think I'm going to maintain at 190 or something like that because I don't want to be out there running and be sluggish."
The coaching staff has the goal of playing Hammonds in the slot and also in the tailback rotation.
"When fall camp comes, I'll be doing both of them," Hammonds said. "I can make a lot of plays outside, so just getting the ball in my hand any type of way outside is great."
Hammonds took reps at both receiver and tailback Saturday.
Teaching points
Offensive line coach Kurt Anderson ran tape of practice on Wednesday and let the players critique themselves.
"The point I was trying to make was they know everything that they're supposed to do," he said. "They know what needs to be done. They know the calls. They know the footwork, they know the techniques, the schemes, all those things. And so they did not know that last year. So they're going to be able to make a huge jump."
Fiery Froholdt
Junior guard Hjalte Froholdt, described as feisty by Coach Bret Bielema, got in a brief tangle with defensive end Armon Watts during the second spring scrimmage, though they only exchanged words.
"Aw, it's just Armon is a very long guy and he knows how to beat me," Froholdt said. "We play against each other every single day, so he's starting to pick up on some things that I'm not very good at. But we're good afterwards. He's a competitor. I love playing against him because he's making me better every day."
Sports on 04/30/2017