By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' first scrimmage was generally one that pleased Sam Pittman on Saturday. 

The scrimmage was closed to the public, but Pittman had some praise for the team afterward.

"We had a really good scrimmage," Pittman said. "I'm going to guess somewhere around 105-115 plays. Some things that were good... (Dominique Johnson) coming back. Dom had a nice, long run. Maybe 50 yards or so. Him coming back was nice to see. We tackled live everything. Special teams, everything. I thought our D-line really played well. I don't know that we got a first down the first two series with the ones versus twos and twos versus ones. Offense won most all, not all, but most all of the situational football whether it be 2nd-and-10, play third or 3rd-and-6, play fourth. Red area. Low red area. Offense came back and looked really good in that time."

While there was plenty that Pittman liked he also wasn't happy with one aspect of the scrimmage and emphasized improvements have to be made in that area.

"Obviously, a concerning part of the scrimmage is penalties," Pittman said. "This is the first time we've had an SEC crew out there. There's some pass interference and things like that are going to happen at times. But the pre-snap penalties, most of them were with the younger guys. But we had some pre-snap penalties with the offensive line and things of that nature. Several secondary penalties with holding. 

"We made mistakes as coaches. We had 12 on the field coming out of the huddle a couple times. Some of those things we have to get better at, but that's why you scrimmage. And we will. Overall, I thought it was really good."

One area that is always a concern is injuries and the Hogs didn't escape Saturday without a couple of those. 

"We did have a couple guys get banged up out there with Sam Mbake and Nathan Bax," Pittman said. "At this time, I don't know the extent of either one of their injuries, but they did get injured and were unable to come back to the scrimmage."

Mbake is a sophomore wide receiver while Bax is a redshirt senior tight end. Pittman said he would provide an update when more is known on the extent of the two injuries. Linebacker Chris "Pooh" Paul was also withheld from the scrimmage with an ankle injury that Pittman said wasn't serious.

"If we were playing a game he’d be playing today," Pittman said. "But we weren’t."

However some other linebackers did step up and drew praise for their efforts.

"I thought Jaheim Thomas made a lot of plays," Pittman said. "(Jordan) Crook. I thought those two. Obviously (Antonio) Grier made some plays. I'll tell you who shined a little bit today that is coming on is (Alex) Sanford. Sanford made several plays today. I think they played pretty good. 

"I'll tell you, the defense as a whole played well. The problem is we had too many penalties in the secondary. We were just giving the offense first downs. It had to have been maybe four or five different penalties. You look at that and the world is not coming to an end, guys. We're talking about the ones, twos and threes. We're not talking about just the ones and all the guys who are going to play every snap, but we had too many penalties. We have to clean that up."

The defensive line was an area where Pittman heaped plenty of praise.

"Well, there was a lot of them," Pittman said. "Seven (Trajan Jeffcoat) is hard to block. I'll tell you a guy that flashed was Taurean Carter. He was back there quite a little bit today. And Eric (Gregory) and a bunch of them. 40 (Landon Jackson). 6 (John Morgan). They played hard. They played well today. Deke basically had a four-man rotation going on. He's really got nine with Nico (Davillier). Nico had a really good scrimmage today. He's got nine guys who can go over there. Well, he had eight today because we held Tank Booker out today. Nothing big. I think he'll be ready to go by Monday, but we held him today."

Quarterback KJ Jefferson also praised the defensive line. That's unit that has impressed him.

"Of course," Jefferson said. "Each and every day they’ve gotten better. Our coaches have put together a great plan for those guys to be able to free those guys up and get a lot of one-on-one blocks going on. The chemistry is good with those guys. They’ve worked their tails off and it’s showing."

Redshirt sophomore Cameron Ball is part of the rotation on the defensive line from his tackle spot. 

"I can say all of us were hungry as a whole," Ball said. "You can tell that the chemistry is really there. We all played together and were all on one accord. Basically, we just gave a preview of how it’s going to be this season."

Ball feels the competition is making them all better and should allow the players to be fresher.

"Yeah, most definitely," Ball said. "It’s a competition. We’re competing every day for the defensive tackle spot. I feel like right now, we have a good three-deep and we can rotate a lot. No matter who is on the field, both groups, all three of them, we both are specialists in pass and run. We can handle both."

Taurean Carter is a redshirt senior who has seen Ball make strides each year he's been at Arkansas.

"He’s gotten a whole lot better," Carter said. "Like, when I see 5 go to work, it’s different. Because he, A, has the potential to be a power rusher and a finesse rusher. He can bend the corner, he’s got speed, he’s got quickness, but he also mainly impacts in power. So, he can beat you up the field, club you inside, and you’re going to fly because he’s very powerful. And you’re going to overset because he’s very quick. You’ve got to respect him."

Pittman praised redshirt freshman tight end Ty Washington for making multiple catches on Saturday. It appears Dan Enos will feature the tight ends more in the passing game and Jefferson feels they have the talent to do it.

"I have," Jefferson said. "I mean, being able to have an offense and a system where we have rules and boundaries and also giving the tight ends a little freedom to work some moves and showcase their skill level and their talent. In this offense, they’ve done a great job of taking it on and being able to come out each and every day in practice and work those moves and create mismatches as well. Just having an offense like that to free those guys up."

Redshirt sophomore tight end Var'keyes Gumms transferred in from North Texas. Jefferson praised Gumms as someone who can help the team this season.

"He has really big hands and strong hands as well," Jefferson said.

With Lorando "Snaxx" Johnson working at the Hog on Saturday that allowed Pittman and the Hogs to focus in on four cornerbacks. 

"Well, Nudie (Dwight McGlothern) had a good day," Pittman said. "Jaheim (Singletary) had a good day. 25 (Kee'yon Stewart) had a good day and (Jaylon) Braxton. Those are probably our four right now … moving Snaxx. Those are probably our four guys. Really what I wanted to see today was 40 to 50 reps of the guys playing their position."

Arkansas will open the season on Saturday, Sept. 2, against Western Carolina in Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium at 3 p.m.

Scrimmage Stats

Kicking

Blake Ford 50,49

Cam Little 54, 58

Passing Game

Jaedon Wilson, 33-yards from KJ Jefferson

Davion Dozier, 45-yard TD from Malachi Singleton

Andrew Armstrong 15-yard catch from Jefferson

Isaac TeSlaa had 17-yard catch from Jefferson

Var'Keyes Gumms had 12-yard catch from Jacolby Criswell

AJ Green had 17-yard catch from Criswell

Dazmin James had 50-yard TD from Cade Fortin

Rocket Sanders had 50-yard catch from Jefferson

Luke Hasz had 15-yard catch from Jefferson

Run Game

Rashod Dubinion had 20-yard carry

Raheim Sanders had a 10-yard carry

Dominique Johnson had the 50-yard TD run

Isaiah Augustave had the 1-yard TD

Sanders had a 2-yard TD in red zone

Augustave had 3-yard TD in red zone

Defensive Stats

Eric Gregory 1.5 tackles for loss

Taurean Carter had 1.5 tackle for loss

Marcus Miller had one tackle for loss

Trajan Jeffcoat had a sack

John Morgan III had a sack

Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports