FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' Tim Cramsey, the offensive coordinator, was asked who was the third running back behind Sutton Smith and Braylen Russell, but was hesitant to answer.
"No, I don't want to say who," Cramsey said. "It's a lot. I think (Jasper) Parker has done a tremendous job. He was banged up a little bit early in spring, and he came back. We had this past Saturday, was not a scrimmagNo, I don't want to say who. It's a lot. I think Parker has done a tremendous job. He was banged up a little bit early in spring, and he came back. We had this past Saturday, was not a scrimmage, but it was, you know, as much live as the NCAA allows you to do before it gets tagged a scrimmage, and he was able to make some plays in that. We had to go indoors. I think that was this past Saturday, right? Yeah, this past Saturday, we had to go indoors, and, you know, he had himself a really good day there. So he's done a good job. Batten has done a tremendous job. You know, Batten is, he falls into the Sutton Smith category, where we're going to be able to move him places. And then TJ Hodges is a freshman, and he has gotten so many reps this spring that, you know, if you ask me, who, I don't want to say who the most improved is, all that type of stuff, but he is a guy that from day one to where he is now, you can see a different player in him, and maybe it's a confidence thing. You get a first-year kid coming into a practice situation, I mean, keep in mind, those guys should still be in high school. You know? His prom was at some point during spring ball. When you start thinking, you know, when you leave high school early, but he's done a tremendous job. So when I say half, that kind of fits all those guys.
"You know, Sutton Smith’s done a great job for us. Big Braylen has done a tremendous job. You know, another guy from last year who admittedly said he might not have been in the best shape he's ever been in last year, to what he looks like right now. You know, he's still a big back. At one point I told him, ‘don't get too skinny’. But he's done a really good job. Then Cam Settles really has stepped up to be a true running back. You say Braylen is a bigger back. You say Sutton's a scat back. They can both do some other things, but Cam Settles is true. I feel confident putting him in space. I feel confident putting him inside the tackles. I feel confident putting him in the protection game, the running back protection game. So that half is kind of a combination of all those young guys. And the thing you keep in mind with the, you know, Jasper’s still got four years of football left. Batten’s still got four years of football left. TJ’s got five years of football left. So, you know, there's some guys with a lot of football left to play in that room, too."
Russell and the other running backs are expected to catch passes in Cramsey's offense. Cramsey was asked how Russell has been in the passing game?
"Hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, but better than I thought," Cramsey said. "Better than I thought. You know, he's done a good job of catching balls, and a big term we use in the offense is fast break. So you catch the ball at three yards and your first step is downfield. That's what we consider a fast break. We run a fast break circuit. You guys probably have seen that a couple times when you were at practice of how we can catch the ball and in old school, you say, get north, south. Old school, you say, get vertical. With kids nowadays, you got to have cooler terms than that. So we use the term fast break, which is just catching and your first step, is gaining two yards, two and a half yards. So he's done a great job of that, and done a good job coming out of the backfield. You know, do I trust him to go out and run a true option route and make him number one? I probably would rather put Sutton in that situation instead of him, but if we run a swing route and the coverage takes us to him, he's been very good catching that ball. We run a UAR check down world, you know, I feel very good in that situation. So he’s surprised me a bit, to answer your question, yeah."
The spring game will be Saturday at 2 p.m. in Razorback Stadium. Arkansas will hold its 14th practice on Thursday evening before wrapping up spring drills on Saturday.
