Arkansas practiced outdoors today and went in shells. Here are a few takeaways from the opening viewing period:
• I stood on the offensive field today, but caught a few glimpses of the linebackers working on the turf. I thought Bumper Pool and Grant Morgan moved around well today. Pool brought some good energy, had a bounce in his step and looked to be advising/encouraging teammates when he wasn’t running through drills.
• True freshman Eric Thomas, who began the fall at linebacker and briefly moved to tight end then back to linebacker, was working out with defensive ends today. Marcus Henderson continued getting reps at tight end. I saw him make a few catches on air from the quarterbacks. I could hear coaches and teammates urging him to turn upfield with greater urgency after the catch.
• Got a pretty good look at the quarterbacks today, especially Feleipe Franks and KJ Jefferson. I only saw Franks throw one incomplete pass out of 10-plus attempts against air to receivers and tight ends, and I believe it was a drop. I thought Jefferson was pretty sharp, too. Overall, I didn’t see many passes hit the ground. T.J. Hammonds made a nice lunging catch on a deep ball down the left sideline. I couldn’t see who threw the ball, but it was a great effort and show of speed on Hammonds’ part to bring it in.
• Here is how the offensive line looked during position work:
First group: LT Myron Cunningham, LG Brady Latham, C Beaux Limmer, RG Luke Jones, RT Dalton Wagner
Second group: LT Dylan Rathcke, LG Jalen St. John, C Shane Clenin, RG Drew Vest, RT Noah Gatlin … Freshman Ray Curry was also getting a few reps at right tackle from what I saw
• Players we will talk to via Zoom tonight: A.J. Reed, Beaux Limmer, Blake Kern. I believe we are also going to get special teams coordinator Scott Fountain on Tuesday in addition to players.