FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas quarterbacks threw five touchdown passes, three to wide receiver Cobi Hamilton, and the top four tailbacks scored rushing touchdowns as the Razorbacks ran through a 93-play, 578-yard scrimmage Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The Hogs’ first scrimmage of the spring came as the second half of a workout that included a half-practice.
“Ninety-three plays? I’m getting soft,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said, chuckling. “That was only a half-scrimmage.
“I was impressed with the way we practiced leading up to the scrimmage, which was really important to me and our coaches.”
Petrino said he had been disappointed in the quarterbacks’ ability to throw the deep ball early in spring, but they did that well Saturday as Tyler Wilson, Brandon Mitchell and Nick Petrino all completed long passes.
Mitchell connected with Hamilton on a 35-yard go route down the right sideline against blanket coverage by Darius Winston on Mitchell’s second snap of the day.
Hamilton made the catch with one hand with Winston’s body seemingly shielding him.
“That one-handed grab down the sideline was unbelievable,” Wilson said. “That’s what I’ve been doing all my life,” Hamilton said. “It comes natural to me to adjust to the ball while it’s in the air.”
Hamilton finished with 145 yards on four receptions, including an uncovered 32-yard play-action pass from Mitchell. He also caught a 59-yard scoring pass down the sideline from Nick Petrino, though he appeared to push off cornerback Seth Armbrust on the play.
Mitchell and Petrino finished with two touchdown passes each, while Wilson connected with senior tight end D.J. Williams for a 6-yardscore in traffic on which Williams absorbed a huge hit at the goal line.
The offensive production of 406 yards passing and 172 yards rushing was a bit skewed. Petrino said he didn’t blow his whistle on a few plays when sacks should have been awarded.
Additionally, the defense played in its base formation for the first third of practice before adding blitz packages for the last two-thirds of the work.
“Too many long plays again,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “We were in great position to make the plays, [but] we just didn’t make them.”
The Razorbacks’ running back corps was led by Dennis Johnson, who started the spring as the fourth tailback listed. Johnson had 75 yards on seven carries, including several tackle-breaking runs. The final play of the nearly 90-minute scrimmage was Johnson’s 5-yard rush up the middle on which a trailof defenders was left in his wake.
“I’ve been really pleased with his leadership, particularly the first two days in pads,” running backs coach Tim Horton said of Johnson.
Ronnie Wingo Jr. blasted through tacklers for a 6-yard touchdown run to cap the first offense’s opening drive. The eight-play drive included Wilson’s 22-yard pass to Joe Adams on a crossing route and Johnson’s 15-yard tacklebreaking run up the middle.
Johnson had a 38-yard run with the second offense on which Johnson reversed field and Mitchell sprinted downfield and blocked linebacker Bret Harris.
Wilson led the top offense to touchdowns on two of five possessions. Mitchell conducted touchdown drives on two of four possessions, including a 35-yard series with the first-team offense on which he connected with Greg Childs for a 21-yard score on a fade route over Rudell Crim.
Petrino led scoring drives on both of his possessions, while Jacoby Walker conducted a 65-yard touchdown drive on which he ran the final yard on a bootleg for the score.
The last four series of the day featured running almost exclusively as a test to see how the run game and rush defense performed when players were tired. The offense scored touchdowns on three of those four series from 30 and 35 yards out, on a 12-yard Knile Davis run, a 1-yard rush by Broderick Green and Johnson’s 5-yard score.
The Razorbacks will be back for their fifth practice of the spring Tuesday.
Scrimmage stats
RUSHING
DENNIS JOHNSON 7-75, 1 TD BRODERICK GREEN 10-43, 1 TD KNILE DAVIS 10-25, 1 TD DE’ANTHONY CURTIS 2-22 RONNIE WINGO 7-10, 1 TD MITCHELL BAILEY 5-15 JACOBY WALKER 2-8, 1 TD RONALD WATKINS 2-(-3) NICK PETRINO 3-(-6) TYLER WILSON 1-(-7) PASSING TYLER WILSON 9-17-0, 154 yards, 1 TD BRANDON MITCHELL 7-11-0, 111 yards, 2 TDs NICK PETRINO 8-9-0, 106 yards, 2 TDs JACOBY WALKER 3-4-0, 35 yards RECEIVING COBI HAMILTON 4-145, 3 TDs JARIUS WRIGHT 2-57 JOE ADAMS 2-56 DE’ANTHONY CURTIS 4-44 GREG CHILDS 3-44, 1 TD CHRIS GRAGG 3-23 DENNIS JOHNSON 1-14 D.J. WILLIAMS 2-13, 1 TD BRODERICK GREEN 1-11 RONNIE WINGO 2-10 MITCHELL BAILEY 2-5 BEN CLEVELAND 1-3 SCORING PLAYS WINGO 6-yard run HAMILTON 32-yard pass from Mitchell HAMILTON 59-yard pass from Petrino WALKER 1-yard run CHILDS 21-yard pass from Mitchell HAMILTON 19-yard pass from Petrino WILLIAMS 6-yard pass from Wilson DAVIS 12-yard run GREEN 1-yard run JOHNSON 5-yard run
Sports, Pages 28 on 04/04/2010