WholeHogSports
Razorbacks report
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/234399/
Injuries slowing defense
FAYETTEVILLE — The misery seems to be loading up on the defensive side of the ball as the Arkansas Razorbacks fight through this more rugged brand of two-adays under Bobby Petrino.
The unit has not played well in two scrimmages, freshmen are outperforming upperclassmen in some spots, and key players have gone down in recent days or have one leg in the coaches’ doghouse.
Senior captain Elston Forte has missed the past three practices with an injury believed to be related to his knee. Senior defensive end Antwain Robinson went down with a hyper-extended knee in the first of two practices Friday.
“I pray and hope that he’s all right, because, as a team, we’ve already been banged up a bit,” junior end Adrian Davis said. “We’re a little sore. We’ve got to push through it as a unit on the Dline. Things like that happen.”
Robinson’s injury does not appear to be as bad as it looked originally, but he’ll certainly miss today’s 9 a. m. scrimmage and will need time to recover.
With players like defensive tackle Ernest Mitchell and defensive end Jake Bequette limited to one practice with contact on two-aday sessions, and guys like linebacker Ryan Powers and safety Rashaad Johnson slowed by various ailments, the depth chart looked like a who’s who of freshmen Friday.
True freshman safety Elton Ford and Khiry Battle have earned time with the top defense the past couple of days. Battle is playing at weakside linebacker, where Forte and Powers had been the top options.
“Obviously you miss having an older guy [Forte ] out here with us,” linebackers coach Reggie Johnson said. “But we understand and [middle linebacker ] Jerry Franklin understands, and our older D-linemen understand that we have to go get ready to play. The show doesn’t stop.”
Not-so-subtle signals are coming down from the coaches. They are looking for tough guys who play through pain.
“It’s been a physical twoa-days and we’re out there banging,” junior safety Matt Harris said. “The good thing is the game’s going to be easy compared to these two-adays. We’re putting in 16-hour days here.”
Harris has been helping Ford get up to speed at free safety, where the two are splitting reps.
“Ford’s a challenging guy,” Harris said. “He’s a physical specimen. You can look at him and he looks like a small Hercules out there.
“ We need depth, and with Ford getting reps at ones and stuff, he’s building confidence. It’s just competition.” Backup quarterback
The notion that redshirt freshman Nathan Dick might comfortably slip into the second-team quarterback job behind his brother, Casey, hasn’t turned out.
Nathan Dick wrapped up spring in the No. 2 slot, but he’s struggled in camp, while senior Alex Mortensen continues to show he can move and score with the offense and true freshman Tyler Wilson continues to impress.
“I thought [Wilson ] was real instinctive and did a lot of nice things [in the last scrimmage work ],” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said.
“Tyler Wilson had a very good scrimmage,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “He was impressive on how he distributed the ball and his accuracy. He’s still behind on his understanding of the offense.
“ Nathan knows the offense better, but he has not thrown the ball as accurate as he did all spring. So he needs to come out and play well [in today’s scrimmage ]. Alex Mortensen has been doing a good job every time he goes in. He operates the offense and really understands the running game. He has an opportunity to move the team because he gets us out of bad plays.”
Petrino time Coach Bobby Petrino typically approaches the media contingent after practices and announces, “OK, just fire away” to open up for questions. His brother, offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, exhibited the hurry-up attack with the media this week. “All right, go !” Paul Petrino said as a way of indicating he was ready for questions. “What do you guys want ?”
Battle tested Freshman Khiry Battle has taken whatever has been thrown at him in camp, including position switches, and continued merrily on his path to playing time on the defense. Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino has taken note of the toughness displayed by Battle, who ran with the first defense some Friday. “He had a big move in one of our tackling drills one day with his aggressiveness, and he was cutting in line, cheating, because he couldn’t get enough reps in there, running full speed and hitting,” Petrino said. Battle has played safety, the jack spot and now weakside linebacker in camp, and he’s eating more to try to gain weight. “He’s got tremendous instincts, so he’s impressed me a lot,” Petrino said.
Bequette back Defensive end Jake Bequette is looking forward to getting quality work in today’s scrimmage after missing the first two preseason scrimmages recovering from a concussion.
“The hardest thing is standing there watching my teammates get tired making up for my reps,” said Bequette, who was sidelined for a week. “It’s really motivating to get back out here.”
Bequette, a redshirt freshman from Little Rock Catholic, took part in contact work Friday morning and said he’s “100 percent ready” to go today.
Bequette was listed as a starter heading into camp, but now he has ground to make up.
“It was devastating to me,” he said of missing practice. “It was tough to stay positive, but that’s what I’ve tried to do.
“ I’m back out there now and trying to get better every day.”
Coach Bobby Petrino said it’s a plus to have Bequette back on the field.
“It’s good to see him out there, a big man who can run like that and rush the passer,” Petrino said. “We’ve missed him some on defense as a force on the edge.”