Transfers Heading in Opposite Directions: Arkansas Football Practice Insights

Dwight McGlothern, Arkansas football
photo credit: Arkansas Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE — Now that the dust has settled from the first scrimmage of fall camp, the Arkansas football depth chart is starting to come more into focus.

It’s hard to know exactly how the depth chart is set up, but the brief periods of practice open to the media Monday and Tuesday morning provided a glimpse of potential changes on the heels of Saturday’s scrimmage.

Most notably, LSU transfer cornerback Dwight McGlothern has been running with the third-team defense during the “fastball starts” period seen by the media each day.

That is significant because head coach Sam Pittman has said cornerback is the biggest position battle remaining on the team and defensive backs coach Dominique Bowman told reporters last week that McGlothern was among the group of four players still vying for the two starting spots, along with Hudson Clark, LaDarrius Bishop and Malik Chavis.

Instead, Khari Johnson — who actually started a game as a true freshman in 2020 — has been elevated to the second unit the last two days. The first group has been Clark and Chavis most of fall camp, but Bishop replaced Chavis with the starters Tuesday morning.

It also appears that Georgia Tech transfer Jordan Domineck has made a move at defensive end. He started fall camp with the third unit and really struggled the first few practices, but has seemingly come on strong lately.

Each of the last two days, he’s been up with the second-team defense, with Eric Thomas Jr. moving down to the third unit in a corresponding move.

Here are a few other observations from Tuesday’s practice:

  • The Razorbacks were back in full pads Tuesday morning after going in just “shells” — shoulder pads and shorts — on Monday.
  • Defensive back Jacorrei Turner worked primarily with the nickels during the spring, but he is now working with the safeties. Now that he’s no longer in a green non-contact jersey, he was with the third-team defense on Tuesday.
  • Tight ends coach Dowell Loggains was not happy with his group during individual drills Tuesday. He was yelling at guys for not running hard and really got on to freshman Tyrus Washington for not running through the end zone.
  • A scout for the Detroit Lions was spotted at Tuesday’s practice.
  • After practicing in the afternoon the first week of fall camp, the Razorbacks have shifted things to the morning for the final week of practice before school starts back up next Monday.
  • Safety Jalen Catalon missed a couple days of camp, including Saturday’s scrimmage, so he could travel back home to attend his grandfather’s funeral. He was back at practice Monday.
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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] Freshman offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee injured his shoulder during Saturday’s scrimmage, but it hasn’t seemed to impact him this week. He’s been at practice and running as the second-team left tackle.
  • [NEW] He has been running with the second unit because Devon Manuel has been out of practice with an undisclosed injury.
  • [NEW] Defensive tackles Cam Ball and Taylor Lewis missed some time with concussions, but both returned Monday. They were not in full pads Tuesday, though, but rather in “shells” — shorts and shoulder pads.
  • [NEW] 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.
  • 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.
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Strongest Man for Arkansas Football

Ask any Arkansas football player who the fastest player on the team is and you’ll get a wide variety of answers, ranging from quarterback Malik Hornsby to wide receivers Isaiah Sategna, Matt Landers and Bryce Stephens, to cornerback LaDarrius Bishop.

There isn’t much debate surrounding who the Razorbacks strongest player is, though. That title belongs to right guard Beaux Limmer.

Speaking with the media following Monday’s practice, fellow linemen Luke Jones and Brady Latham had a hard time putting exact numbers on the redshirt junior’s strength. They speculated he could bench at least 600 pounds and squat 750.

“The crazy part is that we don’t really know how high (his maxes are), because usually they’re like, ‘Alright Beaux, you’ve gone high enough, we don’t need you to go anymore,’” Latham said. “I’ve never seen Beaux fail on a weight, so you name it, he could probably throw it up there.”

Historic Season Opener for Hogs

Another sign the 2022 college football season is almost here is that the Associated Press released its annual preseason poll Monday morning. The Razorbacks checked in at No. 19, which is four spots higher than where they’re ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll that came out last week.

Not surprisingly, five of Arkansas’ 12 opponents this season are in the preseason top 25. What makes this year unique is that one of them is Cincinnati, which travels to Fayetteville for the season opener on Sept. 3.

It will be the first time since 1980 that the Razorbacks are ranked in the preseason and opening the season against another top-25 team. That year, No. 6 Arkansas lost to No. 10 Texas 17-10 in Austin.

The last time Arkansas hosted a top-25 showdown to start a season was 1974, when the No. 20 Razorbacks took down No. 5 USC 22-7 at War Memorial Stadium. It has never hosted one in Fayetteville.

Hear from DL coach Deke Adams, plus defensive linemen Zach Williams and Eric Gregory, after Tuesday’s practice:

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