FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas held its first preseason scrimmage on Saturday exactly three weeks from the opening game against Alabama A&M.
Sam Pittman was generally pleased with the scrimmage and talked to the media afterward along with quarterback Taylen Green and linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr.
"Had about a 140-play scrimmage," Pittman said. "Thought we punted the ball well. (Scott) Starzyk made 5 of 6 from all over the place on his field goals. We kicked off well. Offense started hot with ones versus twos. I think they scored three times in that 15-play series. Two offense scored on one defense, and then one defense pretty much started playing a lot better after that. We had high-red area, low-red area, third down and then we had two 15-plays in a row racks between 1 verse 2, 1 verse 1 and so on down. We came out pretty injury-free. (Andreas) Paaske possibly has a high-ankle injury.
"Really had two guys that didn't play today that didn't play today that probably could have played on a Saturday with Cam Ball and Rodney Hill. A couple of AC sprains there that aren't bad. Like I said I think both of them could have played today if needed. We elected to hold them until Monday. Penalty-wise we were really good. I think we had eight penalties between the three different groups and, like I say, 140 plays that's most of them were some type of hold in the secondary and it wasn't any specific guy. There was one kind of a penalty offensively, didn't really have offside penalties or any of that that. Ran well. We've got to snap the ball a little bit better, but other than that it was a pretty clean scrimmage and we got a lot of work in, so I'll take questions."
Pittman was asked who stood out on either side of the ball during the scrimmage?
"Mike Washington, I mean he got a 62-yard touchdown maybe second play of the game," Pittman said. "Then he came back, rushed one for about 40 yards, had a 40-yard touchdown run. It's pretty good. And obviously the line's doing a good job and all that too. But Mike stood out to me. Now, there's some other things here with the wide receivers. I thought O'Mega Blake had his best day. He caught a couple of touchdown passes. I thought he had his best day.
"(Raylen) Sharpe showed up today a little bit, catching the football. Braylen (Russell) had a touchdown or two, ran hard behind his pads, but for the most part – line protected pretty good. It's a lot of reps, obviously, to protect what we expect them to protect every time. But (Jaden) Platt showed up, got a touchdown pass, 20-yard touchdown pass. But the one that (stood out) was Mike Washington."
Pittman praised a pair of defensive linemen for the job they did on Saturday.
"I felt Quincy (Rhodes Jr.) and I felt (Justus) Boone, felt both those guys on pass rushing," Pittman said. "Ian Greffard pushed the pocket a lot today. The quarterback had to move a little bit. Not outside of it, but had to move, move around him because he was back there."
Pittman credited the others on offense for helping protect Green.
"We cut T-Will loose," Pittman said. "He could run whatever he wanted to and we didn’t have many mistakes. I thought our backs and our tight ends stepped up and were physical and blocked well. I think our quarterbacks are comfortable. Very seldom did Taylen break the pocket, or KJ have to break the pocket. It was more stepping up and all those things. Yeah, if I had a problem with the protection I probably would have mentioned it real early because that’s one that certainly we needed to clean up and get the right guys to do it. But also had to know who to block, and I think we’ve cleaned that up quite a bit since a year ago."
Other than Washington did any other running back impress and that's when PIttman praised Benton's Braylen Russell.
"Braylen scored a couple touchdowns and ran hard, got the extra yard or two when he got hit, finished forward," Pittman said. "I don't know if he caught any balls out of the backfield. I can't remember. I don't think so, but I don't know exactly how many times he carried the ball. We went in wanting him around eight carries. I don't know that he got that many or more, we'll have to wait and see. But I thought he played well and he was physical. The other guy who has had a really good fall is Rodney Hill. He's bigger. He's really, really running the ball well. He just got dinged up Thursday. He actually practiced a little bit yesterday, but I just didn’t want to hit him. He's a veteran. I didn't want to hit him today until he gets fully healthy. And Cam Ball's the same way."
Former Harding Academy linebacker Wyatt Simmons also continues to impress Pittman.
"Wyatt’s doing a good job," Pittman said. "He can run side-to-side, I want to see him take that A-gap and destroy that A-gap. We need him to step up a little bit more, be physical in the A and B gaps. He can really run, he’s giving us all he can. He will do that and he’ll be a good player for us."
Scrimmage Stats
First couple of drives 1 vs 2
Taylen Green had 62-yard pass to Mike Washington. Washington then had a 4-yard touchdown run.
Green had 15-yard pass to O'Mega Blake. Washington capped that off with 40-yard touchdown run.
Green had a 20-yard scramble on third.down. Green passed 15 yards to Blake, Green passed 15 yards to Raylen Sharpe. Braylen Russell capped it off with a 9-yard touchdown run.
2 vs 1
KJ Jackson had a 63-yard touchdown pass to Monte Harrison.
1 vs 1
Green passed a 20-yard pass to Jaden Platt.Green passed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Washington on a wheel route.
2 vs 2
Russell had a 8-yard touchdown run in the red zone. Jackson had a 45-yarder to Rohan Jones. Jackson had 70- and 45-yard touchdown passes to Harrison.
AJ Green had a 3-yard touchdown run.
3 vs 3
Trever Jackson had a 40-yarder touchdown pass to Courtney Crutchfield.
Defensively
Larry Worth had a sack,
Julian Neal had a tackle for loss.
Justus Boone had a sack
Phillip Lee had a couple of sacks against the 3s.
Taylon Wallace had a tackle for loss in red zone against 2s.
Kani Walker had a pick.
Frank Mulipola had a fumble recovery on bothch handoff.
Scott Starzyk field goals
Made
39
43
36
48
35
Missed
50
