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Published Mar 5, 2019
Observations, video from Arkansas' spring practice No. 3 - March 5, 2019
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Andrew Hutchinson  •  HawgBeat
Managing Editor
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@NWAHutch

FAYETTEVILLE -- The cold weather that forced the cancellation of Tuesday's baseball game did not keep stop Arkansas' third practice of the spring.

The Razorbacks hit the practice fields despite it being 35 degrees with a windchill of 26. Several players wore hoodies underneath their pads and all of the coaches were bundled up.

As was the case Friday, the first four periods - about 20 minutes - of the practice were open to the media. Here are a few observations from that time...

~The biggest takeaway from the open portion of practice was that Arkansas had all of its quarterbacks at practice, as Connor Noland joined the team after missing the first two practices because he was with the baseball team.

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~Two players were in green no-contact jerseys: linebacker Hayden Henry and defensive back Micahh Smith. Head coach Chad Morris had mentioned that Henry would be limited, but Smith's injury was previously unknown.

~Despite being in a normal white uniform, linebacker Deon Edwards was spotted riding the stationary bike and doing workouts off to the side with the strength staff. He was also doing that during Friday's open portion of practice.

~Not counting the players already known to be dealing with injuries (RB Rakeem Boyd, DT Briston Guidry and OL Kirby Adcock), HawgBeat noticed the absence of five other scholarship players: linebacker De'Jon Harris, defensive ends Dorian Gerald and Courtre Alexander, and offensive lineman Noah Gatlin. (UPDATE from Chad Morris)

~It looks like De'Vion Warren and Jordon Curtis have changed their uniform numbers to No. 1 and No. 20, respectively. This allows them to potentially be on the field at the same time as offensive teammates John Stephen Jones and Hayden Johnson.

~Speaking of Curtis, he was not only behind Devwah Whaley and Chase Hayden during a drill, but also walk-on running back Chad Hesson. One more depth chart tidbit of note is that walk-on tight end Blake Kern went ahead of both Johnson and Chase Harrell in that same drill.

~During that drill, in which the running backs and tight ends caught passes from the quarterbacks and then coaches hit them with pads for ball-security purposes, Hayden actually fumbled a ball out of bounds. The coaches could be heard yelling at him to put the ball in his outside arm, away from the defender.

~The quarterbacks and wide receivers did not seem to be on the same page today when it came to the deep passes, as several of them fell incomplete in the drill we observed.

~Defensively, a few players shuffled around to account for the players that were out. Nicholas Fulwider and David Porter were recruited as defensive ends, but were working with the defensive tackles Tuesday. Walk-on Reid Bacon is listed as a defensive lineman on the roster, but was working with the linebackers.

~A couple of former Razorbacks were spotted taking in practice: Robert Farrell, an All-SWC wide receiver who lettered four years in the late 1970s, and Brian Wallace, the starting right tackle on last year's team who is likely preparing for Monday's Pro Day.

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