FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said the quarterback battle is moving along at the pace he expected through four days of camp.
"Yeah, I think we're right on schedule," Morris said as the lone team representative to talk to the media Tuesday. "I'm excited about watching all these guys compete. I think the scrimmage on Saturday will be big."
Senior graduate transfer Ben Hicks has been seen with the top offensive unit during the media-viewing periods, just as he was throughout the spring.
Junior graduate transfer Nick Starkel has taken snaps with the second unit during the open periods, with John Stephen Jones, KJ Jefferson and Jack Lindsey behind him. However, Morris said the quarterbacks have bounced around with different groups in the team drills, which are split onto two fields.
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"We're going in and doing a lot of good situational work out here," Morris said. "We're putting the quarterbacks with different groups, so they don't just stay with one group, the first group. They may be working with the second group or the third group to see how they move those guys around.
"I've been really pleased watching these guys compete. I think the ball jumps out of their hands. I've been very impressed with all of them, and their decision making is so much better than it was a year ago."
D for 3
Chad Morris said the defense picked up three more takeaways in Tuesday's practice No. 4 of camp and continued to be the pace-setter for the Razorbacks.
"Defensively right now, we're playing at a speed which we haven't since we've been here," Morris said after Tuesday's workout in shoulder pads and shorts. "That's a credit to some depth that we have in our D-line."
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Morris also pointed out strong play in the secondary from safeties Kam Curl and Joe Foucha, and cornerback Montaric Brown.
"Those guys have really stepped up," Morris said. "I've been really pleased with how well our defense has looked.
"Offensively, we're not as consistent as we need to be, but we are much better. I want to credit a lot of that, hopefully it's the fact of we've got a pretty stout defensive line that's very disruptive. But we're going to continue to push on each other and get better."
Top plays
Freshman receiver Treylon Burks made one of the best plays of camp Tuesday with a one-handed catch that occurred in a part of practice after the media-viewing window.
"I saw Treylon Burks make a one-handed catch out here today that I don't know if I've seen a kid make," Coach Chad Morris said. "It was unbelievable."
Morris also commented on Jalen Catalon's pick-six return from Monday, on which defensive coordinator John "Chief" Chavis sprinted down the sideline to celebrate with the freshman.
"He did outrun Chief," Morris said. "I don't know if you saw the video, but he did outrun Chief."
Chavis, responding on Twitter to a clip of the play, wrote that he slowed up so he didn't beat Catalon to the end zone.
Bring the heat
The Razorbacks practiced in full sun with the temperature touching 90 degrees Tuesday after another hot day on Monday. It was overcast and in the 70s for the first two practices.
"It's been beautiful," offensive tackle Colton Jackson said Saturday. "Not having it be in the 90s has been nice.
"But we know the heat is coming. We're ready for it. We worked in the heat all summer."
The weather is expected to continue heating up this week, which center Ty Clary said will be beneficial.
"There's a saying that everybody is an All-American when it's cloudy and 72," Clary said. "Which is kind of true. It's a lot easier to work longer when it's not as hot. But the heat is going to provide something that cool won't. It'll give us an edge over other teams."
Personnel update
Freshman Taurean Carter is expected back in a couple of days after suffering a shoulder injury, Coach Chad Morris said.
Additionally, receiver Daulton Hyatt -- who is transitioning from quarterback -- suffered a strained hamstring and will miss a brief period of practice time.
Defensive end Eric Gregory and offensive lineman Luke Jones did not practice Tuesday.
"Most of those guys will be back ... precautionary," Morris said.
Drew Vest, a freshman offensive lineman from Searcy, has been added to the 110-man roster to take the spot of Noah Gatlin, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Friday.
Utah horizon
College football scheduling is normally a drawn-out affair, filled with lengthy exchanges from the scheduling decision-makers trying to find compatible dates and agreeable details.
That was not the case with the University of Arkansas' most recent schedule addition, a two-game series in 2026 and 2028 with Utah, starting with a game in Salt Lake City.
"So Mark Harlan, the director of athletics at Utah, and I have a very close friendship," Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "He was looking for a series against another Power 5 school as we were. We had a void in '26 that we were really struggling to fill, and the dates worked."
Harlan, a graduate of Arizona, served as AD at South Florida from 2014-18, overlapping with Yurachek's tenure at fellow American Athletic Conference founding member Houston.
"It was really easy to work this out," Yurachek said. "Sometimes football scheduling, contracts, agreements take so long to work out. Because Mark and I have such a close friendship, we really got this done in about a week."
Yurachek said Julie Cromer Peoples, the UA senior deputy AD, worked to schedule the Razorbacks' series against BYU in 2022-23, and that Arkansas wasn't necessarily seeking teams from the western U.S. in its nonconference scheduling priorities.
"Utah has traditionally been a very strong program. That's what makes that game appealing," he said. "As Chad Morris builds his program, those are the types of opponents we want to be playing. Not necessarily where the geography is but the quality of the opponent."
Marquee games
The Arkansas Razorbacks now have their SEC-mandated annual Power 5 or major independent opponents set through the 2028 season.
The Razorbacks are operating in 2019 in the second year of a nonconference-scheduling waiver granted by the SEC due to Michigan breaking an agreement for 2018-19.
Arkansas' marquee nonconference scheduling resumes with a game at Notre Dame in 2020, followed by, in order: Texas, at BYU, BYU, at Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, at Utah, Oklahoma State, Utah.
Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said he'd like marquee series in back-to-back seasons to become the norm beginning in the 2029-30 seasons.
"You'd prefer to do them back-to-back like that," Yurachek said. "We had some holes in the schedule for various reasons, like with Texas coming here in 2021 as kind of the long-range return game. Then you've got the Notre Dame series in '20 and '25. So it really made the scheduling very challenging.
"That's what was very appealing about the Utah game, it filled the void in '26 and '28 with Oklahoma State in '27. Then we can start looking for back-to-back year home-and-home series."
Yurachek said advanced scheduling for many programs has reached beyond a decade, and some schools are now scheduling for the mid-2030s.
New-look field
Arkansas unveiled the game-day design for its new grass field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Tuesday.
For the first time, the field in Fayetteville will include predominantly-red end zones with the word "Arkansas" in the north end zone, and "Razorbacks" in the south. The words in each end zone will be painted white in a font trademarked by UA in 2014.
The Razorbacks' primary logo will be painted at midfield and extend 20 yards to each 40-yard line. Red-and-white SEC logos will be placed on each 25-yard line.
The sidelines will be painted white between the 25-yard lines, and red from the 25-yard lines through the back of the end zones. The grass will alternate between a lighter and darker shade every 5 yards, with the exception of between the 45-yard lines.
Crews are installing the new field this week with sod from Winstead Turf Farms in Arlington, Tenn. The Razorbacks have played on artificial turf since 2009.
Getting kicks
Senior kicker Connor Limpert went 5 of 6 on field goals in the most recent kicks available for viewing by the media.
Limpert made kicks from 37, 41, 41, 42 and 44 yards on Monday, and missed wide right from 45 yards.
Sports on 08/07/2019