UA FOOTBALL PRACTICE : Hogs get ready for tonight’s mock game
Posted on Friday, August 22, 2008
The dress rehearsal for the Razorbacks’ dress rehearsal mock game tonight at Reynolds Razorback Stadium actually began with Thursday’s short practice in shorts.
Tonight’s mock game, simulating Arkansas’ Aug. 30 season-opener against Western Illinois here, is closed to the public and media. Also closed, on the artificially turf outdoor practice field, was Thursday’s practice replicating the light Thursday workouts of game week that first-year coach Bobby Petrino intends after hard practices Tuesday and Wednesday.
“ We did today what we would do in a normal Thursday practice, ” Petrino said following Thursday’s workout. “ Take about 20 minutes, hit all phases of the special teams and then you work offense and defense and all situations of the game. I think our players learned how we prepare on Thursday and what we expect of them. ”
They can expect more than the typical dress rehearsals that featured everything but hitting under previous Razorback coaches from Frank Broyles through Houston Nutt.
“ We’ll be hitting, ” Petrino said. “ We like to hit. We want to have it as much like a game from pregame meal to how we have our walkthrough during the day, how we approach the locker room and training room. We’ll take the field and do our routine like we would on the field. Cover all the situations in the kicking game and scrimmage our ones against the twos and threes and some scouts and get the looks that Western Illinois is going to give us. ”
So this mock game actually could have an impact on the game-week two-deep chart ?
“ It impacts it, ” Petrino said. “ We really haven’t finished any depth charts at all. We talk about depth every day but we’ll sit down Sunday night and decide where we are into the first week. ”
So even a surefire starter like Jonathan Luigs, the senior captain two-time All-American 2007 Rimington Award-winning center, gears up game-ready tonight.
“ He said to expect a regular scrimmage, ” Luigs said. “ I think it’ll be tough. We’ve got to go through it like we’re playing a game and really get what it’s gonna be like, what this coaching staff expects. He said to go perform and play football. ”
The Hogs then get all of Saturday and Sunday off to get their legs back from a preseason pace they said they had never experienced.
“ Honestly, it’s been my toughest camp thus far, ” senior strong safety Dallas Washington of Atlanta, Texas said. “ I would say a lot has been asked out of us, not only mentally, but physically. But we’ve been pushing through and every day trying to come out and not let the physical part affect us mentally. Just try and push on and push on and get through camp and get ready for this season. ”
Third-year sophomore starting offensive tackle Ray Dominguez said everyone standing is proud just to be standing at this point.
“ He really loves tough guys, ” Dominguez said. “ He wants to weed out all the weak ones right now. It was a grind, but most of all it was a mental grind, to see how tough we are. ”
Freshman running back De’Anthony Curtis of Camden continues rehabbing the knee he injured Aug. 13, and linebacker Wendel Davis (major offseason knee surgery plus an injured hand during the summer ) is doing some practicing.
Petrino said Curtis, the backup to starting tailback Michael Smith before the Aug. 13 injury, is doing “ not as much as we would like, but he is progressing well. He gets better every day. That big smile he always has is back on his face. Hopefully he’ll keep going and be where we need to be next Saturday. ”
Davis is not in seasonopening, game-ready consideration yet, Petrino said, but allowed, “ Wendel is back and running around. ”
Freshman Dennis Johnson, a former Texarkana Razorback, has been running second team to Michael Smith while Curtis convalesces.
Wide receiver Rod Coleman of Camden and running back Brandon Barnett of Texarkana are among the recently banged up in practice.
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