Pittman's takeaways from first scrimmage of fall camp
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The Arkansas football team completed its first closed scrimmage of fall camp on Thursday morning at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, and head coach Sam Pittman said he was very pleased with how the Hogs performed.
Pittman named off a handful of players from both sides of the ball that stood out to him during the scrimmage, which was in the realm of 130-150 plays according to the Head Hog.
"I thought (Isaiah Sategna), he made some big plays out there," Pittman said. "But, (Var'Keyes Gumms) made some plays. Braylen Russell's a load. Rodney Hill, really proud of him.
RELATED: Notable plays from Arkansas' first scrimmage of fall camp
"Jayden Johnson stuck out to me, and our linebackers, of course, stuck out to me. Obviously, Landon Jackson. (Cam Ball) is a little beat up in the hip. But Landon Jackson's a really, really good player. And Keivie Rose made a lot of plays today, just off the top of my head."
One wide receiver who has been receiving a lot of praise throughout fall camp is walk-on Monte Harrison, who joined the Razorbacks after a 10-year stint in professional baseball.
“This guy, I knew he was very talented,” Pittman said. “I didn't know him, but I had a high recommendation from a guy I love that told me that he's a wonderful person, and he was right about that. So I probably thought he would progress hoping about what he has.”
True freshman running back Braylen Russell has also been turning heads in fall camp, and Pittman said he expects the Benton native to be a main piece of the running back rotation this season.
"He’s gonna help us," Pittman said. "He’s a good player. He’s a hard runner, but he’s also faster than you might think, and he’s also got a bad-to-the-bone stiff arm. I mean, he’s really good with that."
An issue that plagued Arkansas last season was slow offensive starts, but that wasn't the case on Thursday, according to Pittman. As a result, however, the defense didn't pick up the pace until the end of the scrimmage.
"I thought the offense started extremely fast, ones and twos offense started extremely fast," Pittman said. "Defense won a lot of situations, felt like they came back a lot in the second half. I talked to the team after the game, we got to figure out on offense how to finish the game.
"On defense, we got to figure out how to start the game, because we weren’t very good defensively at the beginning and we were a lot better — thought our run defense was a lot better after the beginning of the first two series by the ones and the twos."
WATCH: Pittman, players recap first scrimmage of fall camp
New Arkansas starting quarterback Taylen Green and backups Malachi Singleton and KJ Jackson have looked steady throughout fall camp, but Pittman said the unit had a really good day during the scrimmage.
“I thought Taylen Green was on point,” Pittman said. “I’m very, very pleased with (Malachi) Singleton, he’s playing very well there with the twos. They’ve got great leadership of the team, of the offense.”
RELATED: Notable plays from Arkansas' first scrimmage of fall camp
Part of the increased level of quarterback play likely stems from the addition of offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, who is bringing belief back to the players according to Pittman.
“Bobby brings that swag to the program,” Pittman said. "The schematics of how it’s going to work, they believe that he knows all the answers for that. There’s a lot to be said about that when you’re coaching kids and they’re not questioning how you’re coaching them.
“They’re going, ‘If he tells me something and I do it like he says with my athletic ability and my mind, it’s going to work.’ And I think he has a very unique way with people.”
The special teams unit has progressed well since a rough field goal outing by the kickers during the Red-White game in April. Pittman said the unit went 8-of-9 on attempts Thursday. Punter Devin Bale was also put on a pedestal for his showcase.
"Devin Bale, man, he can punt the ball, I mean, he punted it three times a day, and I don't know what he averaged, I don't, but it was over 50 (yards) I promise you," Pittman said. "And every one of them was a fair catch. Well, one of them he kicked out of bounds, but it was 50-something yards out of bounds. And then the other two were fair catches. He's had a phenomenal, phenomenal camp."
Several players did not participate in the scrimmage due to various injuries, though Pittman said none of them appear to be long-term. The most notable is offensive lineman Patrick Kutas (back), who has missed a few practices in fall camp.
RELATED: Arkansas injury report following first fall camp scrimmage
Pittman said he anticipates Kutas will return in the next week and a half or so, but in the meantime, Amaury Wiggins has spent some time working at first-team center and Addison Nichols has practiced at the guard spot.
Arkansas will return to practice on Friday, so stay tuned to HawgBeat's premium message board, The Trough, for the latest updates from Arkansas fall camp.