Razorback senior offensive lineman Dalton Wagner (#78) from Spring Grove, ILL sets up for pass protection at practice in Fayetteville, AR.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' second scrimmage on Saturday saw the defense have a better day than it had in the first a week prior.
The return of safety Jalen Catalon, who missed the first one due to family issues, obviously was a big boost to the defense. Sam Pittman praised the defense.
"We had a get the ball back situation at the end where we put 2:07 (on the clock)," Pittman said. "The offense is up by one. Defense has to get the ball back, obviously. Whatever is left over, whether you have one timeout, two timeouts, whatever you do. You punt the ball if you can get the ball back, and then the twos go out and run a two-minute situation with the offense at that point being down a point and trying to get the field goal. In both of those situations where it was ones starting in a lead on offense, the defense won both of those situations. Which was good to see, to be honest with you. I'm not rooting for the offense or defense, but I thought the defense played a lot better today than they did last week. Which a lot of times you say that and think the offense didn't play very well. That's not the case. I just thought the defense made more plays, made the close plays more this week than they did last week."
"From the defensive side, we look really good," Catalon said. "The D-line is pushing really well. We can go from one to two deep and both be really effective. The linebackers are playing really well. There are about six or seven guys in there that are looking to be ones or twos. Coach (Mike) Scherer has got a handful of guys in there that can go play.
"On the back end, I think our depth is so good because we have so much experience of guys playing and being in games, being in hostile environments and knowing college football is. The young guys are catching on too. For the whole group as well, on the back end, we’re looking really g1ood."
The offense had its moments though. The first drive of the scrimmage pitted the first-team offense against the second-team defense. Running back Rocket Sanders accounted for an estimated 70 yards on the drive. In addition to what he got on the drive, he caught a 30-yard pass from KJ Jefferson. The redshirt junior quarterback did score the touchdown on a five-yard run untouched into the end zone.
Jefferson also threw a 25-yard pass to Warren Thompson, 10-yard one to tight end Trey Knox and wide receiver Jadon Haselwood a 15-yard catch. Jefferson's lone touchdown pass came in the red zone when he hit wide receiver Matt Landers from 10 yards away. Sanders also had a nice 15-yard run later in the scrimmage.
Malik Hornsby tossed four touchdown passes including a 65-yard one to wide receiver Ketron Jackson. In the red zone drills, Hornsby threw touchdown passes to tight end Nathan Bax (18) and a pair to true freshman wide receiver Quincey McAdoo (25, 15). Cade Fortin passed a five-yard touchdown pass to true freshman wide receiver Sam Mbake.
Landon Jackson had at least two sacks according to sources at the scrimmage while Eric Thomas also had one. Jackson is a 6-foot-7, 274-pound defensive end transfer from LSU. Dalton Wagner, Arkansas' starting right tackle, talked about what it's like to go against Jackson in practice.
"Yeah, he does a great job," Wagner said. "He’s a long, long guy. He’s a long rusher. He’s got the ability to create separation on the edge that some d-ends aren’t able to do. He does a great job with speed to power as well too. I think we had a pull play today where he might’ve gotten into one of our guards pretty good. His ability to kind of extend on that edge is really, really good. He’s got a lot of power out there. I think as he progresses more, as he develops his speed to bend and really press that edge, he’s going to be an excellent pass rusher."
The offense had less explosive plays on Saturday than it had in the first scrimmage.
"Most definitely," Catalon said. "Yeah. For me, especially when it came to the back end. I mean, I made it known that last scrimmage, they had too many plays out that we had to compete out there and go out there and show what the defense can be about, especially from the backend standpoint as well. So I made that a statement and we came out there and we played really well. There's still a couple mistakes here and there that we've got to clean up, but they're easy fixes for sure.
"But as far as the defense, I think we played with a lot better energy today. We were a lot more vocal and a lot more into it. Not saying we weren't last scrimmage based off what I heard (remember he wasn’t there last week because of a family emergency). But I think this scrimmage, we were definitely more upbeat and were more prepared for the tempo of how scrimmage was going to be. I was proud of the defense, too, and the offense as well for giving us a great look and playing good as well."
Pittman also chimed in on the fewer explosive plays and why he thought that was the case in the second scrimmage.
"I thought we pressured the quarterback better today, contested balls we were better on defense than we were last week," Pittman said. "We've got big wideouts, but they were in better position than they were. You never know, we did break a few runs. I don't know how far they would go, really. Broke a few there, I'm sure we would have run them down on defense and played the next first down, but there were a few openings in there. But overall, I think it's just because the defense played better. I don't really feel like the offense didn't play well. I just think our defense made key plays in there to get off the field."
Pittman admitted that when practice started the first week of August in no way did he expect the wide receivers to be where they are today. Haselwood and Landers transferred in. Thompson did the year before. Haselwood from Oklahoma, Landers from Toledo after previously playing at Georgia and Thompson from Florida State. The Hogs signed Jackson, Bryce Stephens and Jaedon Wilson in the Class of 2021. They added Mbake, McAdoo and Isaiah Sategna in the Class of 2023. That is nine receivers and it appears they hit on all nine. Even former OU wide receiver Jaquayln Crawford saw the writing on the wall and entered the transfer portal on Saturday. Crawford caught three passes last season, but was deep down the depth chart this preseason.
"No. I mean, no," Pittman said. "That has a lot to do with coaching with Coach (Kenny) Guiton, but also has a lot to do with them, too. You can't just say 'well, we went in the portal and got Landers and Haselwood' because Jaedon Wilson's better -- he's beat up right now, too -- but Jaedon Wilson's better, Warren Thompson is a lot better than what he was last year, and Ketron Jackson. So, the strength coach, the way that they've prepared and just the kids, who they are. But I never would have thought Warren Thompson would be the player that he is right now from a year ago. It's a credit to him. No, to answer your question.”
Pittman also talked about the battles at cornerback and where the Hogs are at that point. They have Hudson Clark, Dwight "Nudie" McGlothern, Malik Chavis, Ladarrius "Day Day" Bishop, Khari Johnson and Keuan Parker as options
"There's still a battle there with Malik, Nudie, DayDay," Pittman said. "Maybe DayDay, Malik, Nudie, obviously Hudson Clark. Hudson's really played the best of all those guys throughout the first two weeks. Khari Johnson is playing better, playing a lot better actually. Keuan Parker would be another guy in that mix who's getting better. Think he'll really help us on special teams, as well. Most all those guys will help us, but that's kind of where we're at. We're in kind of a three-guy battle with, close 4-5, with Nudie being close. But right now, we walked out there today with DayDay and Hudson Clark starting for us."
Pittman also was asked about the play of Jefferson, Hornsby and Fortin at quarterback and how they did during the scrimmage other than the obvious stats?
"I can't remember an interception," Pittman said. "I don't think we had an interception. The things we had, we had some balls on the ground as far as snaps. I thought KJ controlled the offense. He's your leading rusher on the team, and you never run him in camp. He's doing his reads, and he can run. If anyone is even halfway close to him, the play is dead and all that. I think you'll see a much different offense. What I'm excited about is he can throw and we can catch. When we hand the ball off, we're still having success. He's just getting better all the time. He really is, and I know probably we all say that, but he's getting better, he's throwing the ball better, he's taking care of the ball and everybody on the field knows he's the guy. So, I've been really proud of him. He's night and day from what he was confidence wise a year ago at this time. We really didn't know what we had to be honest with you going into the Rice game last year, but we do this year."
Arkansas will host Cincinnati on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 2:30 p.m. and televised on ESPN.
Razorback junior defensive back Jalen Catalon (#1 right) from Mansfield, TX works on his coverage techniques at practice in Fayetteville, AR.
Razorback head football coach Sam Pittman watches one on one drills during practice at fall camp in Fayetteville, AR
