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FAYETTEVILLE — After the longest and strangest offseason in the history of the sport, Arkansas finally started preparing for its first game of the 2020 season Friday.

Hitting the practice fields in shells - helmets and shoulder pads only - the Razorbacks began installing their game plan for next Saturday’s opener against Georgia, which will kick off at 3 p.m. CT and be televised on the SEC Network.

Head coach Sam Pittman said he could sense the excitement was high as his team shifted its focus to an opponent after spending the first 18 practices installing a new offense and defense.

“The music at stretch was the best it’s ever been, so the guys were all excited and they were revved up to go,” Pittman said. “It was really a good practice, a really good Monday type practice.”

As they would normally do on a Monday of game week, the Razorbacks primarily worked on first- and second-down situations, using just base run game and base protection on offense and base defense on the other side of the ball.

The first-year coach said he was pleased with what they accomplished Friday. That came on the heels of what Pittman called the team’s best practice Wednesday to close out preseason camp.

“I was proud of the assignment football that occurred in practice and the physicality of it,” Pittman said. “I thought it was a physical practice on both sides of the ball, not a lot of mistakes, no balls on the ground, we were not throwing interceptions. I thought it was a nice, crisp practice.”

With the game now just about a week away, Pittman said he’s confident Arkansas has implemented enough of its offense and defense to be ready for the Bulldogs.

OL Depth

It sounds like the Razorbacks know who they’ll start on the offensive line against Georgia, but Pittman didn’t tip his hand when asked about the position during his radio show Wednesday.

Three spots - Myron Cunningham at left tackle, Ricky Stromberg at center and Beaux Limmer at right guard - have been seemingly locked up for a couple of weeks and Brady Latham appears to be the frontrunner at left guard with Dalton Wagner and Noah Gatlin competing at right tackle.

However, Arkansas has used several different combinations over the last couple of weeks to see where each lineman is comfortable in case they have to move around because of a COVID-19 outbreak or quarantines.