FAYETTEVILLE — Since bursting onto the scene with three interceptions against Ole Miss two years ago and earning a scholarship, Hudson Clark has had an up-and-down career at Arkansas.
It’s well known that the redshirt junior and former walk-on has been burned a few times when asked to defend SEC receivers in man coverage, but so far in camp, Clark has been impressive and shown significant improvement in that area.
“Hudson Clark continues to improve his skillset,” defensive coordinator Barry Odom said. “His knowledge base is tremendous, and he’s become a leader for us. … I’m excited about the progress that he’s made.”
During the portion of Thursday’s practice open to the media, the Razorbacks did a one-on-one period between the wide receivers and defensive backs — with a twist. The cornerbacks and safeties had to wear boxing gloves to force them to focus on their technique rather than grabbing the receivers.
One-on-ones are already geared toward the offense and the boxing gloves skew things even more, but Clark did a really nice job of sticking to the man he was on for his two reps.
First, Clark was matched up with Warren Thompson and not only stayed on him, but also punched the ball out for a pass breakup on an attempted back-shoulder throw.
He lined up against freshman Quincey McAdoo on the second rep and once again stayed on him the entire time. This time, he jumped up and had the ball in his grasp, but he couldn’t get a good grip on it because of the gloves and McAdoo plucked it away. Without the gloves, it likely would have been an interception.
It wasn’t just a good day for Clark, either. It was a performance indicative of the camp he’s having, based on what the media has observed in limited viewing periods and bits and pieces of information gleaned from the coaches and his teammates. In fact, he ended the first practice of camp with an impressive interception in a two-minute drill.
He has also been the one cornerback consistently working with the first-team defense, while LaDarrius Bishop has recently replaced Malik Chavis in the starting group.
Other Arkansas Football Practice Observations
Here are a few other key takeaways from Day 12 of fall camp…
- After being in “spiders” — essentially helmets-only, but with light padding under their jerseys — on Wednesday, the Razorbacks were back in “shells” for Thursday’s practice. That means they were in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts.
- Sophomore Jayden Johnson continues to display a lot of physicality at his safety position. Even with the boxing gloves on, he was bodying up receivers and making them fight through contact.
- During one part of practice, the first-team offense lined up with 21 personnel for the first time this camp that the media has seen. That means two running backs (Rocket Sanders and Rashod Dubinion) and one tight end with two receivers. They have typically used traditional 11 personnel with one running back, one tight end and three receivers.
- Speaking of Dubinion, he was actually targeted with a pass from KJ Jefferson, but he dropped it. He also got the third-team running back reps, with AJ Green running with the second team — both of which were in traditional 11 personnel.
- Thursday also marked the first time this fall that the media has seen Bumper Pool and Drew Sanders at linebacker together. Before, one of them was usually held out so coaches could see another linebacker combination (they already know Pool and Sanders are the clear-cut starters).
- During the second-team reps, quarterback Malik Hornsby was sacked on the final play. Several Razorbacks got back to him before he had a chance to do anything, led by Jacorrei Turner coming on a nickel blitz. (Turner appears to be back at nickel after practicing with the safeties earlier in camp.)
- Legendary baseball coach Norm DeBriyn was in attendance for Thursday’s practice, likely in his role with the Razorback Foundation, as he was accompanied by a group a fans.
Click here to read our Day 11 observations from practice.
Check out some flips from Day 12 of fall camp:
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”5t2am4LJ” upload-date=”2022-08-18T15:45:02.000Z” name=”Clips from Day 12 of Arkansas football fall camp” description=”Check out some video from Arkansas’ 12th practice of fall camp 2022.” player-type=”static”]Arkansas Football Injury Report
Here are a few injury notes on the Razorbacks based on what was observed during media viewing periods and things head coach Sam Pittman — and others — have said in interviews. Best of Arkansas Sports will update this section throughout camp…
- [NEW] Starting nickel Myles Slusher was not spotted at practice during Thursday’s viewing period. Defensive coordinator Barry Odom revealed afterward that he was limited because of soreness in the “hip/hamstring area,” but he should be “ready to roll” Friday.
- [NEW] A previously unreported injury to cornerback Dwight McGlothern limited him early on in camp and likely contributed to him not participating in fastball starts. He has since returned and appears to be full-go, but has worked with the third-team defense this week.
- Freshman Andrew Chamblee has been running with the second unit at left tackle because Devon Manuel has been out of practice with an undisclosed injury.
- Defensive tackles Cam Ball and Taylor Lewis missed some time with concussions, but both returned Monday.
- Defensive back Jacorrei Turner started fall camp in a green non-contact jersey because of a shoulder injury, but he ditched the green jersey and is full-go this week.
- The only player still in green is offensive lineman Marcus Henderson. Pittman revealed after the first practice that he’s dealing with a pectoral injury. It’s “nothing serious,” but he’s being held out of contact drills for a week or so.
- Although he’s “ahead of schedule,” according to Pittman, running back Dominique Johnson is still recovering from offseason knee surgery and will miss at least the first week or so of fall camp. He tore his ACL during the Outback Bowl.
- Quarterback Kade Renfro is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered during Arkansas’ bowl practices last December. He is not expected to be back in action until the first or second game of the season, so he was left off the 110-man camp roster. He’ll be spending his time in the training room going through rehab.
- In a bit of a surprise, one player who is on the 110-man roster is defensive tackle Taurean Carter, who is currently out with a knee injury that required surgery this summer. Pittman hasn’t said what the exact injury is, but did tell reporters that the staff thought it was important for him to go through meetings and attend practice during camp.
