Field Observations
August 11, 2008 by Walking on Sunshine
After battling the sweltering heat earlier in the week, the overcast skies and 74 degrees of Saturday morning’s practice must have felt pretty good to the Razorbacks. About 100 fans, including TipsterHog and myself, took the opportunity to catch a first-hand glimpse of fall camp.
We were not disappointed. What a pleasure it is to watch a Bobby Petrino team practice. Organized, fast-paced, attention to detail…it was all there.
Here are a few of our casual observations made while watching the two hour practice:
– Freshman wide receiver Jarius Wright and running back De’Anthony Curtis were expected to impress…and did not disappoint. Both look like major contributors.
The newcomer that really surprised me, though, was freshman running back Dennis Johnson of Texarkana. Johnson (5-7, 195) is cat quick and showed an elusive burst that is going to make him hard to bring down. For those who have not seen him, just imagine a younger, less experienced version of Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Chip Gregory also looked much improved at running back after his injury-hampered spring. Running hard and breaking tackles with strength is not a problem. Hanging onto the ball, however, continues to be as Gregory fumbled again during one of the Hogs tackling drills.
– As for the quarterbacks, Tyler Wilson and Jim Youngblood are good prospects. Both have strong arms and showed flashes. But both probably need to redshirt if the Hogs can get by without playing them.
Wilson needs to improve his strength (especially in his lower body) and Youngblood needs to improve his mechanics. Both of those deficiencies, of course, are pretty typical for most incoming freshman quarterbacks.
Ryan Mallett is just off the charts. He will be a superstar when his time comes.
Finally, while other units were running their drills, quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee was taking two five-minute periods to work with all the quarterbacks on making the proper pre-snap check (audible) after a defensive shift. Very interesting and fun to watch.
– On the defensive side, I felt a little better about the linebackers after getting a closeup view of Ryan Powers, Jermaine Love, Jerry Franklin, and Freddy Burton. These four along with senior captain Elston Forte might be okay as a group, but they are so ’smallish’ by SEC standards that it’s still an area of concern.
Some of the tackling drills on Saturday seemed to indicate that true freshman Tenarius Wright (6-2, 230) was taking a small step back for the moment. It’s obvious that junior Wendel Davis needs to get healthy again over the next few weeks.
Heavy rains in the Fayetteville area forced the Hogs inside for the second practice on Saturday. Expect some shakeups (like the move of Wade Grayson to first team) after the coaches review the film of Sunday’s scrimmage. It should be a fun week to watch the depth chart.
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14 Responses to “Field Observations”
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That’s good news that the RBs are looking like contributers. Curtis and Johnson are both said to have good recieving hands too, so that fits in well with the type of offense Petrino runs. It’s also good news that Jerious Wright is coming along so well. I hope Joe Adams will be able to get back onto the field soon. If Cleveland and Tuck can continue to heal, without any re-accuring injuries, I think we’ll be fine with talent and depth at those positions. The same pretty much goes for the DL too. We really need Mitchell to fully recover from his knee surjury, back in the spring. He will be a difference maker in the middle. Most sucsessful SEC defenses have that talented 300 pounder anchoring the line. We have to be lucky with getting all of those guys back to 100%. If we can do that, the LBs will definately be our one weak spot, not only because of injuries and arrest problems, but the simple fact is the ones that are left are very young and inexsperienced, and basically, just a tad bit under-sized. This group really need’s another full year in the weight room. I’m keeping my fingures crossed that the LBs will be our only major concerns this year.
Has anyone noticed, besides myself, that the Hogs 2009 recruiting class is almost void of DTs? There are a few talented DEs to mention that are truly considering the Hogs, but the only two interior linemen worth mentioning are Darrinton Sentimore, out of Louisiana, and Eric Smiley of Helena-West Helena. Sentimore has 4 offers from major, div. 1 programs, including the Hogs, but appears to be high on LSU, and looks to be just waiting on thier offer. Smiley was recruited by Nutt, while still coaching the Hogs, and appears to be leaning to Ole Miss and Washinton, which is where he’s from. After that, there are no true interior linemen to mention that the Hogs have offered. It could be a down year for that position.
Bobby Petrino had some very decent defenses at Louisville and I look for the Razorbacks to come around this year, though the young talent must step up. The LB coach played [linebacker] for Petrino at Louisville and is suppose to be a fiery motivator. I see the offense lighting things up and the defense getting better as the season rocks on. They will be better than advertised and in two to three years, with Ryan Mallett at the reins, play for a BCS berth. Go Hogs!
We are going to be young and thin. We have a tough schedule. There is nothing like flying under the radar, having something to prove, having all of the pressure on the other guy who is looking ahead or still getting over a tough loss. It looks like an exciting 7-5 to me. But, the preaseason picks are never right. Some team never jells, one is bit by too many injuries, and one overlooked team always catches fire with teamwork and developed talent no one was looking for. We’ll see how hungry these older guys are and if there are any future All-SEC guys in this freshman class.
[...] a bit behind on this, but the RazorBloggers are cranking out their usual stellar reports at what’s going on in training camp. Those sorts of details are not an Expats speciality, so if you want the scoop on what’s [...]
[...] Razorbloggers have their Practice Impressions up. Freshman RB De’Anthony Curtis has a sprained knee and could be out two weeks. Kicker Alex [...]
I’m glad the knee sprang that Curtis recieved yesterday wasn’t serious. If he stay’s healthy, our backfield could be dangerous this year with him in the rotation. I like our backs. They just need fine-tuning. Glad to see Adams back out there making a long TD grab too. These young kids are getting lots of opportunitys to make plays in this system. These guys are cranking out lots of reps every day, so there’s plenty of action for everybody. Petrino wasn’t kidding about how he was going to run his practices. If any of these young guys are going to play this year, he’s definately going to see what they got, on a consistant basis first. I noticed new names like Jerico Nelson, Dennis Johnson, Chris Childs, and Chris Gragg popping up after the last couple of practices. This is incouraging.
Chris Gragg caught 2 TDs in yesterday’s scrimmage. Lucas Miller caught 4 passes for 150. Good days ahead….on offense at least.
Offensively they look pretty good so far, I am curious to know if Nathan Dick has established himself as the the solid number 2 or is there some competition. It looks like via inter that Tyler Wilson is going to be hard to keep off the field.
Either the Offense is incredible or we are going to have score alot just to stay in the game. Two weeks to go. They can still make some improvement. Six weeks to Alabama. They will improve.
BlindHog, I haven’t seen or read any good article about the defense this year, so hopefully they can improve over the next few weeks. We are probably going to have to out score teams this year.
I think our defense still has a chance to do a lot of improving. We still have 2 weeks until the season kick’s off, and we should be able to get better over the following 2 weeks in games with Western Illinois and La. Monroe, before we have to tackle the Longhorns. Staying injury-free is a must, but not garunteed. Our veterans are going to have to step up on the D, so we won’t have to rely on so many of the new-comers. Leadership is invaluable to these young guys at this point in the season.
It seem’s kind of strange, but we’ve went from having the most talented backfield in the country, to possibly having the most talented TE corps in the country. Huh. I guess it just depends on what kind of offense you run, doesn’t it? Too bad we’re just now trying to utilize all of them. We can only emagine what this offense would have looked like a year ago. I wonder what it would have looked like 2 years ago, with the defense we had to go with it? I’ve got a pretty good idea, but I guess we’ll never really know for sure.
It’s really not that suprising that Tyler Wilson is competing strongly for the back-up QB duties. I’ve watched most of his games for the last 2 years now, and he definately can make any throw on the field. Very accurate passer. He really does need to put on some weight though. I’d like to see Nathan and Alex come on strong enough to secure the depth chart, so Tyler can spend a year getting bigger. He’s going to have his hands full with Mallett next year, but I can also envision 2 very talented QBs for the next few years. GO HOGS!!!