Arkansas remaining fairly healthy despite uptick in physicality
Things are looking pretty good for head coach Sam Pittman and his Razorbacks as far as injuries go.
Despite seeing an uptick in physicality through six practices — thanks in part to new strength and conditioning coach Ben Sowders — the Hogs don't have many major injuries.
Pittman said ahead of fall camp that redshirt sophomore Terry Wells has a torn pec and he will be out for a while. Sophomore defensive back Quincey McAdoo is another player who won't participate in fall camp, as he was involved in a serious car accident on May 3.
For the players who entered fall camp healthy, everything has gone fairly smooth so far, but four defensive linemen have been been banged up — Jashaud Stewart, Tank Booker, Keivie Rose and John Morgan III.
"Hopefully we get them all back by Saturday," Pittman said Thursday. "One of two of them could be tomorrow. There was three of them, I think. Stewart just injured the back of his heel, but I would assume he'll be back tomorrow. Tank and Keivie, Tank's was a little bit of a knee and Keivie was an ankle. But I think if they're not back by Saturday, it'll be Monday."
Booker was participating during Thursday's practice and he did not seem to have any sort of limitations.
Pittman described Morgan's injury as a lower leg injury that was "nothing bad at all" later on in the press conference. He followed that up by saying that the Razorbacks don't have a player that wouldn't be able to play in a game this season, even if the season started next week.
Super senior defensive back LaDarrius Bishop was also supposed to run with the first team defense Thursday, but had "a bit of a toe infection," according to Pittman.
One player that dealt with an injury early in camp was Coffeyville Community College transfer Amaury Wiggins. The 6-foot-3, 310-pound offensive lineman is back now as the second team center after having a bit of an ankle issue.
"Our plan was to move him to guard and see if he’s one of our top 5 players," Pittman said. "We haven’t had that opportunity yet. Today was the first day that he was back, so we needed him to get the rust off back at center. But at some point in this camp, we are going to look at him at guard."
Running back Dominique Johnson is back from a torn ACL suffered in October 2022 and he is ready to contribute this fall. Johnson has looked fine during practice, but he might not be game-ready at the moment
Thursday marked the first day of full pads and Pittman said the team had a good, physical practice. The next big task for his squad will be Saturday's closed scrimmage.
"This week will be get the ball back two-minute, so that’s a little bit more plays," Pittman said of the scrimmage. "But normally that’s between a 50-55 play scrimmage for each kid, besides the 3s. The 3s are going to get 30 reps.
"What I told the staff was in the scrimmage portion of it — now the whole thing’s a scrimmage, but in the move-the-ball scrimmage, all of it’s live, but the move-the-ball situations, I’ll probably err a little closer to 12 than I will 15. That’d be the only difference. It might make the scrimmage down to a 42-43 plays."
Pittman said the team will go full-tackle during the scrimmage. Stay tuned to HawgBeat's premium message board, The Trough, for the latest updates from Arkansas fall camp.