You know…just another Razorback Saturday.  The stadium field gets a name; the legendary Keith Jackson stops by to ‘Call the Hogs’; Felix rushes for 174, DMac rushes for 321 and we completely steamroller Steve Spurrier.  Ho hum?  Yeah, right.  It was a magical night.  What an honor it was to be there to see an ‘Instant Razorback Classic’ in person.

And thanks to YouTube (and GTHogFan), there’s really no need to say anything more.

Felix Jones 40 Yard TD

Felix Jones 72 Yard TD

Casey Dick TD Lucas Miller

DMac TD to RoJo

DMac 80 Yard TD

Just after practice this evening, Houston Nutt announced that Robert Johnson will be the starting quarterback for the Razorbacks against Southern California on September 2nd.

“We have named Robert Johnson the starting quarterback,” Nutt said. “I talked with each of the quarterbacks and feel good about (naming Johnson the starter). Robert has improved greatly and we want everybody to get behind him. Our team is excited.”
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“Right now, we are working with two quarterbacks,” Nutt said. “I feel for Casey Dick. He has been through a lot and he’s very frustrated. This is not what we planned. We didn’t plan for McFadden’s (injury) and we sure didn’t plan for Casey Dick’s situation. [...] All I know is Casey Dick cannot be ready by the first game and you have to go forward. I think it was the proper time to let our team know who the first-team quarterback is.”

Also:

• Alex Abrams: Johnson Named Starting QB for Hogs
• Scott Cain: Experience, health land Johnson start

Updated 8/17/06 7:25 a.m.

Fumbles. Lots. Both teams. Hurt and helped. Hillis fumbles — was simply holding the ball loose. Every team will be swatting at the ball the rest of the year when he’s got it. Monk after reception for a first down. Defense really good at times. Quickness and speed on display, linebackers and secondary. Was nice to see. Too many mistakes however. Gave up an 85 yard run, and a few other things that people will notice on film. The middle was wide open way too many times. Without the early fumbles Missouri State might have hung in longer and perhaps even put a scare in us. Never any doubt about the outcome though. I think we should be disappointed that we gave up over 300 years by the middle of the 3rd quarter.

Running game — 3 people over 100 yards, another with 70+. Can’t complain. Offensive Line was good (consider the competition). Hillis ran well and made a lot of yards after first contact. Felix Jones is a keeper. Emmitt like with speed. Good vision, good cuts through traffic. Ran over 3 guys once to get the extra 2 yards needed for a first down. By the second half Howard had plenty of motivation to perform or risk never seeing the field again. He came through pretty well, showing more speed at times than I thought he had.

Passing — starting quarterback had 88 yards in 12 completions, total of 108 for game and Alex completed 1 for 20 yards. Do you need to hear more? Waco RoJo made a terrible decision on the first pass of the game, but did much better thereafter. Has a gun for an arm and made a few really good throws. Mostly posession stuff, but not a good completion percentage. Houston Dale has to be disappointed with this. We did have 5 receivers in the pattern on one play, but had another with only a long post and a fly pattern — with the new feature this year of a dump off guy, so I guess that’s an improvement. Saw lots of 1 back, multi-receiver sets. Will be interesting to see what that all turns into at some point. As I thought, we didn’t push this much. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up working on this much either, as we got more than a little concerned in the 3rd quarter.

Special Teams — for the most part not sharp. Delay of game on a field goal attempt because we were just dragging around. Opening kickoff of the game was amusing — never seen that before. Except for 1 instance, kick-off and coverage wasn’t impressive.

First game. We saw them for real and know a bit more, but due to the level of competition we are still pretty much in the dark. Pretty much like I thought going in, except I expected to see a sharper passing game and fewer big gains given up by the defense.

Sophomore quarterback Robert Johnson continues to improve as he comes back from a pulled groin and is almost at full speed.

“Robert Johnson did a good job of leading us to get a field goal in the two-minute drill,” Nutt said. “It’s been a slow improvement, but today he went through every snap and it didn’t slow him down that much. He can’t run full speed right now, but he’s almost there. He’s getting the ball to the tailback and he can sprint out, so he’s doing some good things.”

Also:

• Trey Biddy: Razorbacks bounce back (subscription)
• Dudley Dawson: Wednesday Grid Report, 8-23 (subscription)
• Grant Hall: Hogs Try Hillis As Punt Returner
• Bob Holt: Bledsoe’s hard work rewarded
• Nate Allen: UA backups prepare for live action

Updated 8/25/05 8:35 a.m. – Added additional links.

Senior tight end Jared Hicks left practice on Tuesday with a high ankle sprain and Tony Ugoh came down with a virus.

“That is kind of how our day went today,” Nutt said. “Thank goodness we have tomorrow, so we can come out here and get better.”

Starting quarterback Robert Johnson returned to full-scale workouts on Tuesday after missing most of the last week of practice with a strained groin.

“Robert went full speed today and got all of the work in,” Nutt said. “He got loosened up as practice progressed, and if you put a number on it he practiced at something like 75 to 80 percent.”

Hicks showed he’s the best catching tight end on the team at last Saturday’s scrimmage with 2 catches for 34 yards. (Uh…no offense Wes Murphy.) If he’s out for a while, that will definitely hurt. As for RoJo, with the injuries he’s had to deal with, he’s pretty much been 80-85 percent since reporting day.

On another note, it sure seems like there’s been a lot more “we were flat” comments from HDN after practice this season (see here and here) and fewer of the “they bounced around” variety that we’ve become accustomed to over the years. Hmmm…

Also:

• Clay Henry: Tuesday Grid Update, 8/23 (subscription)
• Trey Biddy: Consistency lacking (subscription)
• Nate Allen: Hicks injures ankle at Razorback practice
• Scott Cain: Bad ankle sidelines tight end

Updated 8/24/05 8:30 a.m. – Added additional links.

Starting quarterback Robert Johnson returned to normal drills after resting a pulled groin from last week. Johnson did not participate in Saturday’s scrimmage and was looking forward to getting back out on the practice field.

“Robert Johnson looked good today and I think he felt good,” Nutt said. “I know he’s glad to be back out here and he wanted to be out here last week, so that was good. I expect him to be ready to go.”

Hillis returned from a stomach virus that kept him from participating in Friday and Saturday’s practices, as well as part of Saturday morning’s fan appreciation day autograph session.

Quarterback Robert Johnson is also likely to miss the scrimmage as he nurses a strained groin.

“Right now I would say Robert Johnson probably won’t get in there,” Nutt said. “It is important that he is healthy. It is also equally important that Alex Mortensen gets this type of reps. Then we will go back and discuss who exactly we are looking at. After this scrimmage we will be real close to our two deep.

“He (Johnson) wants to, but we will probably hold him out. He practiced the first four or five periods today, just handing off and doing three-step drops. But, he has to make sure it’s healthy. We don’t want to keep re-injuring the groin.”

Friday’s scheduled afternoon practice was cancelled. With that, all two-a-day practices for 2005 have been completed. (Wow…all four three of them…where did the time go?) The fall term begins at the university on Monday.

Also:

• Clay Henry: Friday Grid Update, 8/19 (subscription)
• Mike Capshaw: Johnson Not Expected To Play Much
• Nate Allen: Hogs hold key starters out of Fan Day scrimmage
• Scott Cain: Razorbacks Football Report

Updated 8/20/05 9:20 a.m. – Added additional links.

Sophomore starting quarterback Robert Johnson continued to observe practice in shorts and shells as he is temporarily sidelined with a pulled groin. Redshirt freshman Alex Mortensen has picked up the extra snaps and has used this opportunity to improve his game.

“It’s very helpful and he’s (Mortensen) done an excellent job,” Nutt said. “I’m really proud of him with the decisions he’s making right now. He did a great job with the two-minute drills today. This is the kind of experience he needs.”

Johnson will wait and see how he feels after tomorrow to determine how much time he will play in Saturday’s scrimmage.

“Dean thought he (Johnson) could go today, but wanted to hold him for another day or two,” Nutt said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. He’s anxious and wants to get back out here. It’s just a bad groin pull and you want to make sure the next time he comes out here he has the endurance to practice and to not go back into the training room. That’s just a precaution. He’s still our No. 1 guy.”

Also:

• Clay Henry: Thursday Grid Update, 8/18 (subscription)
• Jerry L. Reed: Hogs Johnson Remains On Sidelines
• Nate Allen: Injuries modify Hogs’ practice
• Chris Cocoles: Razorbacks Football Report

Updated 8/19/05 8:50 a.m. – Added additional links.

“After watching the film this week we’re going to put Robert Johnson in at the first slot at starter and Alex Mortensen will be behind him,” Nutt said. “We feel good about what he’s (Johnson) is doing now, that he didn’t do in the spring. He’s been accurate, but like we told him, ‘We’re giving you this because you earned it, but you still have to come to work everyday. You’ve got some guys right there on your heels and they’re going to work even harder.’ We’re excited about his progress, but I still think we can get better.”
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“There’s a confidence level there and he’s better in the huddle,” Nutt said. “You can see when there’s pressure he’s doing things better, getting rid of the ball and not holding it. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last couple days. We’ve been real pleased with that. He’s been here for three years, longer than anyone else.”

Also:

• Dudley Dawson: UA Sunday Grid Report (subscription)
• Trey Biddy: Johnson’s the man (subscription)
• Bob Holt: Nutt says Johnson will be starting QB and Razorbacks Football Report
• Nate Allen: Obvious decision

Updated 8/15/05 9:30 a.m. – Added additional links.

The 65-play scrimmage was slowed and eventually cut short after injuries hampered the Hogs’ progress. Right tackle Zac Tubbs went down with a high-right ankle sprained early in the scrimmage for the first team. Cornerback Michael Grant then left a short time later with what appeared to a dislocated finger.

Also:

• Clay Henry: Saturday Grid Update, 8/13 (subscription)
• Nate Allen: Tubbs leaves practice with high ankle sprain
• Bob Holt: Razorbacks Report
• Mike Capshaw: Johnson Leads Quarterback Race

Updated 8/14/05 10:45 a.m. – Added additional links.

Reggie Herring is extremely entertaining and possibly not long for this earth if he continues to exert himself in this heat like he did today. He is colorful, explaining to one player that “Superman isn’t real, he lives in comic books, and you ain’t Superman.”

Howard, Hillis, and company look good. I’m liking the running backs. Quarterbacks have more than a ways to go, with Casey Dick actually providing some impressive moments while serving up balls to the backs and tight ends against the linebackers and safeties. He puts the ball in good places I noticed. Robert Johnson is obviously ahead of Chris and Cole, and fortunately we have many practices days ahead for all, as it appeared many more were needed.

Monk and the other receivers have promise, but that remains a big “we’ll see” with me. Cornerbacks will struggle. As it goes in football, the story will be in the offensive and defensive lines, and nothing happened today to provide any insight to that.

So there you go. No plays, alignments or schemes revealed. A fun time was had by all.

Nate Allen’s already bringing up the quarterback race. Sounds like Robert Johnson’s voice has dropped a few octaves, so now he must be ready to be a SEC QB. Couldn’t that just be puberty kicking in, Nate? But the whole “I’m 85% right now and full speed by Sept. 3rd” thing is a little ominous sounding to me. Let’s just hope he’s 100% by Vanderbilt on September 10th.

• Bob Holt: Making themselves at home
• Mike Capshaw: Hogs Unify During Summer Workouts
• Clay Henry: Hog Gridders Report (subscription)

Finally, as usual, Wally Hall is writing about anything other than things people want to read. What…no softball to write about today, Wally? Can someone please tell him Razorback football practice starts tomorrow?