FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas returned to the practice fields on Tuesday as they continue to get several injured players back.
A large number of players missed the first scrimmage due to minor injuries. Wide receivers such as Tyrone Broden and Andrew Armstrong, edge Anton Juncaj, running backs Ja'Quinden Jackson and Rashod Dubinion, cornerback Marquise Robinson and numerous others have returned to practice this week.
On Tuesday during the fastball portion of the open media session, quarterback Malachi Singleton threw an interception to safety Miguel Mitchell, a Florida transfer. Third-string quarterback KJ Jackson had a very nice completion to wide receiver Monte Harrison. Quarterback Taylen Green, with the ones, just missed a long completion that would have been a touchdown to wide receiver CJ Brown.
Following practice, Bobby Petrino, Arkansas' offensive coordinator, met with the media and talked about Green and Singleton. Petrino likes the growth he has seen from Green since the spring.
"I think he’s made tremendous strides," Petrino said. "He did a really nice job in the summer on working on his technique, on his drops, his sets, keeping his front shoulder where it needs to be and we’ve worked really hard on getting him to have more of an over-the-top release. He’s 6-foot-6, he’s an outlier, so his advantage is to be a 6-foot-6. When he first got here, he was dropping down and sometimes making him 6-foot. So, I think that’s been a tremendous improvement. Just his technique and his release and his accuracy has went way up."
At Boise State, Green completed 121 of 212 passes (57%) for 1,752 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Petrino was asked what completion percentage he would like to see from Green this season and explained why that number can be misleading.
"There’s so many things that go into completion percentage," Petrino said. "You can’t just judge a quarterback on that because it starts with all 11 guys being on the same page between your pass protection on your offensive line, between your pass protection with your outs with your running backs and tight ends and then the precision of your wide receivers with routes. So, I’ve never really — anytime I recruit somebody, I really don’t look at the completion percentage. I’m looking at how they throw the ball, how they compete, what their decision making is as opposed to staying away from percentages."
Some were concerned with Green throwing nine interceptions last season to only 11 touchdowns. Petrino feels they are correcting the issue that led to the interceptions at Boise State.
"We we're working on it every day," Petrino said. "You know, we, uh, we've done a pretty good job throughout camp taking care of the ball. Yesterday, we turned it over a number of times. Had tip pass, uh, tip pass has always resulted in interceptions in the SEC because everyone's so fast. They close and make the plays on the ball. Uh, they weren't tailing yesterday, though, but they were, um, tipped in their perceptions. But that's a big part of playing quarterback is you gotta especially in practice because you gotta challenge yourself enough to see if I can stick that post, if I can make that throw. Uh, and then you have to be smart enough to, um, dump the ball off and take your check it downs.
"I err in this part of the camp of being aggressive and challenge him to make the throw, and, 'oh, you just took the easy pass there.' Because I think they need to see if I can stick that post for a touchdown or I can't. And if they always just, 'Oh, I'm afraid to throw an interception,' they're not gonna pull the string and throw the pass they need to throw to win the game. So, I like his mindset. I think he's been very aggressive, and there's a certain route that we've been working on that he's been awful at. And I asked him, 'Hey, give me a list of plays that you would like to run-in practice tomorrow.' That was the number one play on the list, which was great to see because he wasn't shying away from it. He was aggressively trying to attack it so he could make the throw for a touchdown."
Green talked about how Petrino is working with him on his release so he does it as a 6-foot-6 quarterback and not reverting back to old habits.
"I feel like he does a great job in indy of concentrating on the fundamentals," Green said. "He always tells us that it starts with footwork and with me saying “ Don’t throw at 6’3, be 6’6. Use all of my frame to throw.” Since just the warmups, he tells me every single time when I don't do it and just making it a habit. I’m strict on myself on the fundamentals."
Reporters tried to get Green to disclose the play that was causing him trouble that Petrino mentioned, but the quarterback wasn't biting.
"It’s just learning the timing and how to throw it and just the different coverages that goes with it," Green said. "When I struggle with something, it bugs me a lot. That’s what practice is for, honing in on your weaknesses and building your weaknesses. Honing on your strengths too. When he calls that play, I’m like “OK, it’s game time”. I feel like he does a great job of watching film, drawing it up. It’s just on myself to execute that and that’s what I’m really hard on myself. That’s what I plan on doing this week and the week and a half that I have."
Arkansas has a deep wide receiver room and Petrino feels the chemistry between Green and them is very good.
"I think they’re doing a great job," Petrino said. "They worked hard on that this summer. Even in the spring, I almost had to tell them to not go out on the weekends and throw. We’re doing so much during the week that you want to stay healthy, you don’t want to overtrain. They were wanting to go out on Saturdays and Sundays, we cut it back to just Sunday. But, they’ve worked hard together and the ability to be on the same page, we do some reads by our receivers, give them options to break in and out or take it over the top. We are continually improving on that. We’re not where we need to be yet by any means, but we’re getting better at it."
Arkansas will return to the practice fields on Wednesday before having its second scrimmage on Thursday.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
