Arkansas Razorback Football Practice Turns Fight As Coach Sheds Light On..
10 minutes of video from Arkansas football’s fourth spring practice of 2024 on the team’s outdoor turf field in Fayetteville was a serious drama.
New practice times, more tackling, a more open-door policy and longer passing periods will highlight spring drills for the University of Arkansas under fifth-year Coach Sam Pittman.
The Razorbacks will hold three open scrimmages and the media will have longer viewing periods during the 15 practices of spring, which start Thursday.
Arkansas, coming off a 4-8 season, will hold five practices prior to Spring Break on Thursday and Friday this week, followed by Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday next week.
Most of the midweek practices will start at 8 a.m. as the Razorbacks experiment with shifting workouts to the morning to reduce the number of players who miss the ends of afternoon practices due to class schedules.
Pittman said he hoped to resolve the quarterback order before the end of spring drills, as returners in junior Jacolby Criswell and redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton battle with junior transfer Taylen Green, signee KJ Jackson and Austin Ledbetter, who came over from the baseball team.
“I think we can [sort the quarterback depth],” Pittman said in his pre-spring news conference on Tuesday. “With some of the things that we’re doing, 7-on-7 … it’s going to be a lengthier period, more reps.”
The Razorbacks held 12-minute 7-on-7 periods during practices with quarterbacks Feleipe Franks and KJ Jefferson leading the unit the last four years, but that time frame will be increased to 20 minutes to rep everyone involved.
“We have to, to see who can throw and catch,” Pittman said. “We need work in the secondary because we brought in three news guys in the secondary, too.
We need to…make sure everybody gets the right amount of reps so we can get evaluations on the quarterbacks, the receivers, the safeties and the corners, so we’ve added that part of it.”