By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas has now completed four of the 15 spring practices allowed by the NCAA.
Sam Pittman is pleased with where the team is after four practices. Former Morrilton and North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell is one of the players Pittman praised following Tuesday's practice.
"I think you will see more of his leadership as soon as he's comfortable with knowing exactly what he's doing," Pittman said. "Very, very bright and can run. The athlete we thought he was. I will be honest with you I think his arm talent is better than what I thought it was. He's got a strong, strong arm.
"You know he's an older guy. You know he's been there. You know that at practice. He's helping out Malachi (Singleton) as much as he possibly can. But I think right now you will see a little bit better leadership because he's got that quality to him as soon as he fully understands the offense."
Pittman even worked in a Criswell mention when asked about if any freshmen have made an impact faster than he thought they would. He also praised standout tight end Luke Hasz, who is expected to see a lot of action at tight end.
"Luke Hasz," Pittman said. "That's the guy that I think has really come on. I'll tell you what, Jacolby Criswell is doing well, too. He's a guy that came in at quarterback. Doing well, learning the offense. The freshmen, I like some of those DB's. (TJ) Metcalf, (Jaylon) Braxton and Dallas Young. Those guys. There's somebody else over there too that's young. It was Snaxx (Lorando Johnson) that was new. Those guys are doing a really good job. Oh, it was Dylan Hasz.
"Those guys, we did well with that secondary group. Great kids, too. And then the linebacker group, (Brad) Spence and (Carson) Dean. Dean's really coming on, too. So, I like that group. They've done a really nice job for us. These 12, they're never in trouble. We haven't had to discipline them in the morning. Those 12 guys have really been a joy to have on the football team. I mean that. And it doesn't hurt that I think they're going to be really good players."
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jaedon Wilson wasn't practicing on Tuesday and Pittman explained why afterward.
"Jaedon Wilson, everything is perfectly fine with him, okay, so I don’t want to scare anybody," Pittman said. "He was in a car accident today. He’s very, very lucky that nothing was wrong with him more than he cracked his tibia. So he will be on crutches for about 10 days, and then he will be back. I think that’s maybe a six-week deal after that. He’ll be through with spring ball. But I’ll tell you, if you saw the car – cars – in that, we’re just thank the Lord that nothing worse happened. I don’t believe anybody was hurt in the other vehicle, as well."
Arkansas will have its fifth practice of the spring on Thursday before taking off for spring break. The team will scrimmage some on Thursday. Pittman talked about Thursday's scrimmage and the start to Tuesday's practice.
"Well, I was just a little disappointed in team run today," Pittman said. "I didn’t think physicality was there, what it had been the day before on Sunday. We started practice a little slow, I thought. I do think we’re ready. Today was a pretty good install day for us, so we played what I thought was a little slow. That’s probably to be expected on install. It’s not what you want, but probably to be expected. I do think we’re ready.
"Now, what we’re going to do on Thursday, we’re going to have a segmented scrimmage. We’re going to thud, we’re going to thud, and then there’s going to be two separate situations where they get six – ones, twos and threes – get six tackles, six live reps apiece. Then there’ll be two situations like that. So, each one will get 12 reps, each two will get 12, each three will get 12 in a full, live situation. And I think we’re ready for it. We’ll find out after the sub scrimmage, but we need to, and the game’s about tackling. We need to do that, and I think the kids are excited about it."