FAYETTEVILLE — Three weeks out from the 2024 season, Arkansas football went through a dry run of sorts with its first scrimmage of fall camp Thursday morning.
Although it was closed to the public and media, head coach Sam Pittman provided some details from the 2.5-hour workout afterward, telling reporters it was about 150 plays with each of the three units — first-, second- and third-team — getting about 50 reps apiece inside Razorback Stadium.
The scrimmage started with the first-team offense facing the second-team defense and vice versa, but most of the day was “good-on-good,” as Pittman calls it went it’s 1s vs. 1s, 2s vs. 2s and 3s vs. 3s.
In addition to some traditional move-the-ball situations, the Razorbacks also had situational work. They repped third downs, red zone, low red zone and capped the scrimmage with a two-minute drill.
With 42 seconds on the clock and only one timeout, the offense was tasked with moving from its own 44-yard line into field goal range in that final situation. Pittman said the first-team offense failed to do so, but the second-team offense was successful in setting up a 51-yard “game-winning” field goal by Matthew Shipley.
Pittman said the early portion of the scrimmage was dominated by the offense, especially in the run game, but then it struggled to run the ball in the later situational periods.
That was reflected in the short list of notable running plays provided to reporters by the UA. The longest run was a 37-yard touchdown by quarterback Taylen Green, but it’s worth noting that the defense is not allowed to touch, much less tackle, the quarterbacks in these settings.
Outside of that, freshman Braylen Russell had a 15-yard run and then both he and JUCO transfer Tyrell Reed Jr. scored on 8-yard runs in the red zone period. Noticeably absent from those plays are Ja’Quinden Jackson and Rashod Dubinion, as neither of the Razorbacks’ projected top two running backs participated Thursday.
“I thought the offense started extremely fast, 1s and 2s offense started extremely fast,” Pittman said. “Defense won a lot of situations, felt like they came back a lot in the second half.
“I talked to the team after the game, we got to figure out on offense how to finish the game. On defense, we got to figure out how to start the game, because we weren’t very good defensively at the beginning.”
Linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. echoed that sentiment.
“We just got to come out there with fire,” Sorey said about the defense. “It was kind of early, but that can’t be an excuse. We’re going to have early games, morning games, so we just got to get after it. Go out there and put our foot on the gas. Let’s go.”
Arkansas brought in an SEC officiating crew that has worked four of its games in the past and, unlike the first scrimmage last fall, Pittman sounded happy with how his squad came out in terms of penalties.
He said there wasn’t a procedural penalty until late in the scrimmage and even then, it was on the third unit. There were three defensive pass interference flags, too, but Pittman wasn’t too concerned about that.
Here are a few other takeaways from Thursday’s scrimmage, which are based on what was related to the media afterward because it was closed to reporters…
Special Teams Improvement
One of the most glaring issues for Arkansas football coming out of spring ball was on special teams. Hawaii transfer Matthew Shipley and Vito Calvaruso were wildly inconsistent in their efforts to replace Cam Little — so much so that the Razorbacks went out and brought in an FCS All-American in Kyle Ramsey over the summer.
However, Sam Pittman was clearly pleased with Shipley following the scrimmage, talking about his 51-yard field goal in the two-minute drill with a big smile on his face. It was an especially big moment because most of his inconsistencies came inside Razorback Stadium.
Shipley did miss a 42-yarder, but made kicks from 43 and 48 yards, in addition to the aforementioned 51-yarder. Ramsey went 2 of 2, with successful attempts from 38 and 46 yards, while freshman walk-on Charlie Von Der Meden booted a 42-yarder.
“We had one extra point, but then I moved it everywhere because I know they can make an extra point. I wanted to see if they could make other distances. I was really proud of all those guys. Competition in anything really helps and that’s what we have and it’s been really, really fun to watch.”
Pittman also went out of his way to praise punter Devin Bale, who was awarded a scholarship and the starting job when Max Fletcher entered the transfer portal.
It wasn’t just handed to him, either, as he and Fletcher were in the midst of a legitimate battle when the latter opted to join his brother at Cincinnati.
Two of Bale’s punts in Thursday’s practice were fair caught and the other was angled out of bounds 50-plus yards down the field. Pittman mentioned his performance without even being asked about special teams.
“Devin Bale, man, he can punt the ball,” Pittman said. “I mean, he punted it three times a day and I don’t know what he averaged, but it was over 50, I promise you. … He’s had a phenomenal, phenomenal camp.”
Pittman also dropped another nugget about Bale during the press conference: He apparently won the kickoff job during the spring, despite special teams coordinator Scott Fountain recently saying it was still an open competition with Calvaruso, who was excellent in that role during his first stint at Arkansas from 2020-21.
Lengthy Injury Report for Arkansas Football
Perhaps one of the biggest storylines from Thursday’s scrimmage was the lengthy list of notable players who did not participate.
Sam Pittman revealed that 14 Razorbacks were held out, many of whom are either projected starters or expected to play significant snaps in 2024.
The most notable of that group might be left guard Patrick Kutas, as he’s been out since last Friday with a back issue — an injury he’s dealt with in the past.
“We’ve rested it for a few days,” Pittman said. “We feel like we’ll get him back. I’m not positive but it may be another week, it may be another week and a half. But we feel good we’re going to get him back.”
Optimism was the theme with the other injuries, too. Offensive lineman Luke Brown is the only one expected to be out for an extended period of time, but even he could be back in a couple of weeks.
In fact, Pittman estimated that he could have pushed about half of those players to play, but the Razorbacks opted for a more cautious route.
“I think they could have played if we pushed them,” Pittman said. “We’re trying to get better today and we felt like as a staff that it would be better to hold these kids and get them back healthy because we still have another scrimmage and some other live reps going on.”
Here’s a rundown of those players, in addition to Kutas…
- WR Khafre Brown (knee): Has been limited in practice and was held out of the scrimmage because of lingering knee issues.
- OL Luke Brown (knee): Did not participate in the scrimmage because he had some cartilage trimmed a couple of days ago. He’ll be out “a couple of weeks,” Pittman said.
- RB Rashod Dubinion (knee): Did not participate in the scrimmage because of some swelling in his knee.
- RB Ja’Quinden Jackson (ankle): Did not participate in the scrimmage because he was dealing with what Pittman described as a “mild ankle sprain.”
- WR Tyrone Broden (turf toe): Has been limited the last couple of days at practice and was held out of the scrimmage because he’s been dealing with turf toe.
- WR Andrew Armstrong (hamstring): Got dinged up in Tuesday’s practice and wasn’t out there Wednesday with what Pittman described as a “slight” hamstring issue, so he didn’t participate in the scrimmage.
- DB Dylan Hasz (back): Did not participate in the scrimmage because of a back issue, but expected to be back Friday.
- CB Jaheim Singletary (hamstring): After being limited in Tuesday’s practice and not being at Wednesday’s practice, he was held out of the scrimmage because of a hamstring injury.
- K Vito Calvaruso (groin): Did not participate in the scrimmage because of a pulled groin muscle.
- DE Anton Juncaj (concussion): First day he missed was last Friday, so he could be back sooner rather than later.
- DB Marquise Robinson (concussion): First day he missed was Monday.
- DE Jon Hill (concussion): First day he missed was Wednesday.
- TE Luke Hasz (concussion): First day he missed was Thursday.
Stepping up in Place of Injured Players
It was hardly surprising that neither Andrew Armstrong nor Tyrone Broden scrimmaged Thursday. Reporters had already noticed that Broden was limited in the previous two practices and Armstrong wasn’t spotted during Wednesday’s viewing portion of practice.
Those two are almost certainly going to be among quarterback Taylen Green’s favorite targets this season, so the scrimmage led to an opportunity for other receivers to step up in their absence.
As the lone healthy projected starter, Isaiah Sategna seems to have done just that. He had a 45-yard catch on the first play of the scrimmage and followed it up with a 65-yard touchdown. Later in the scrimmage, the Fayetteville High product added a 20-yard reception. All three of those passes were thrown by Green and they totaled 130 yards.
Another guy Sam Pittman mentioned as stepping up was tight end Var’keyes Gumms. With Luke Hasz out, he reeled in a 20-yard pass from Green.
Outside of the more known commodities, wide receiver Davion Dozier was a guy that caught Green’s attention. The redshirt freshman caught a pair of touchdowns — 35 and 12 yards — from Malachi Singleton.
“He made some big catches,” Green said. “What’s really stuck out has been his (running) after the catch and just knowing what to do with the ball and his opportunities. With Drew (Armstrong) and Ty (Broden) out, our receivers did a great job of stepping up with the opportunities they had. That was pretty cool to see.”
Despite going about a decade without playing organized football, former MLB player Monte Harrison also had a big day. Two days shy of his 29th birthday, he had a 55-yard touchdown reception against a busted coverage, but that wasn’t all that stood out to Pittman.
“He also made a couple of stop routes and turned the ball up and made some plays there,” Pittman said. “He’s going to help us. He’s a good kid, good young man.”
Up front, Addison Nichols and Amaury Wiggins have been switching back and forth between center and left guard at practice while Patrick Kutas has been out. During the scrimmage, Nichols was primarily at guard, which is how Pittman said they’d likely line up if they had to play a game right now.
Singleton Locks Down QB2 in Fall Camp
There has been little doubt that Taylen Green would be the starting quarterback this season, as he’s taken virtually every first-team rep since stepping on campus, but the backup job was seemingly up in the air entering fall camp.
After one week of practice, though, it’s become clear that Malachi Singleton has locked that down. During the scrimmage, he threw a couple of touchdown passes to Davion Dozier, plus added a 45-yard completion to Rodney Hill on a wheel route and was the quarterback who found Monte Harrison on the busted play for a 55-yard score.
Some of this was seen coming, given Singleton has taken all of the second-team reps seen by the media this fall. Still, Sam Pittman confirmed the Georgia native’s status ahead of KJ Jackson and Blake Boda on Thursday.
“KJ and Boda are fighting it out there to continue to move up on the depth chart, but Malachi’s played… I tell you what, he’s throwing the ball well. He’s getting the ball out of his hand and he’s a terrific runner, as well.”
Green spoke highly of his backup following the scrimmage, too.
“He’s really grown just from the spring and into the summer, just the consistency that he’s had at each practice,” Green said. “A big thing I see him doing, when he does not understand something, he asks questions. Say something was wrong, he didn’t understand a defense or something like that. Right after that rep or right after that play, he’ll turn around and ask a question.”
Playing with the third-team offense, Jackson and Boda each had a touchdown pass — a 60-yarder to walk-on wide receiver Kamron Bibby and a 6-yarder to tight end Andreas Paaske, respectively.
Other Tidbits from the Arkansas Football Scrimmage
- Sam Pittman indicated that his staff likes their two three defensive ends and defensive tackles, but they’re searching for a fourth at each of those spots. One of the possible defensive tackles is Ian Geffrard, a 388-pound redshirt freshman who Pittman said notched a 2-yard tackle for loss on his first snap Thursday.
- At SEC Media Days, Landon Jackson said there was talk that safety would wear the helmet mic allowed by the NCAA because they don’t rotate as much. However, Pittman said it’ll likely be a linebacker — specifically Xavian Sorey Jr. — but it wasn’t a super big deal on that side of the ball. “We haven’t found that that communication is necessarily a plus for us defensively.”
- It sounds like running back Braylen Russell will play as a true freshman, but he still needs to get more consistent with hitting the hole hard. “He’s going to be in the rotation and he’s going to help us,” Pittman said. “He’s a good player. He’s a hard runner but he’s also faster than what you might think and he’s also got a bad-to-the-bone stiff arm.”
- Utah State transfer Anthony Switzer has been working at both linebacker and nickel in practice. He played both positions – with both the first and second units – in Thursday’s scrimmage.
Arkansas Football Scrimmage Stats
The following plays were provided to reporters by the UA. The scrimmage was closed to the media.
NOTABLE PASS PLAYS
- Taylen Green hit Isaiah Sategna for 45 yards on the first play of the game.
- That was later followed by 65-yard touchdown pass from Taylen Green to Isaiah Sategna.
- Late in the scrimmage, Taylen Green hit Isaiah Sategna for a 20-yard gain.
- Taylen Green hit Var’Keyes Gumms for 20 yards.
- Malachi Singleton connected with Davion Dozier for a 35-yard touchdown.
- Malachi Singleton later hit Davison Dozier for a 12-yard touchdown.
- Malachi Singleton hit Rodney Hill on a wheel route for a 45-yard gain.
- Late in the scrimmage, Malachi Singleton threw to Monte Harrison for a 55-yard toudhdown on a busted play.
- KJ Jackson hit Kamron Bibby for a 60-yard touchdown with the third bunch.
- Blake Boda found Andreas Paaske for a 6-yard touchdown.
NOTABLE RUSHING PLAYS
- Taylen Green had a 37-yard touchdown run.
- Braylen Russell had a 15-yard run, and then in red zone had an 8-yard touchdown run.
- Tyrell Reed Jr. also had an 8-yard touchdown in red zone work.
NOTABLE DEFENSIVE PLAYS
- Jabrae Shaw – 1 Interception
- Jayden Johnson – 1 Interception
- Brad Spence – 1 Sack
- Danny Saili – 1 Sack & 1 TFL
- Stephen Dix Jr. – 1 Sack
- TJ Metcalf – 1 Sack
- Jaylen Braxton – 1 TFL in Red Zone
- Landon Jackson – 1 Sack in 2-minute
- Quincy Rhodes – 1 Sack in 2-minute
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Kickers made all but one field goal
- Matthew Shipley – Made from 43, made from 48, missed from 42 and ended it with a made 51-yarder in 2-minute
- Kyle Ramsey – Made from 38, made from 46
- Charlie Von Der Meden – Made from 42
Arkansas Football Post-Scrimmage Interviews
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More coverage of Arkansas football and fall camp from BoAS…
