FAYETTEVILLE — The plan for Arkansas’ work with tailback Knile Davis when full-scale tackling commences Friday isn’t fully formed yet, offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said Tuesday.
“That’s something we’re still discussing as a coaching staff,” Petrino said. “We’ll decide that on Friday.”
Running backs coach Tim Horton said Davis’ usage would be “kind of wait and see,” adding that Davis has looked fast and 100 percent healthy.
Davis, who suffered a left ankle fracture last August, called himself back to normal and said he is feeling good.
He isn’t certain what Coach Bobby Petrino has in mind for him in during scrimmage work.
“I haven’t asked, he hasn’t talked to me, and I really don’t care,” Davis said. “I’m just ready to go get the first lick. It’s football. I love contact. That’s what football is all about.”
Davis said there had been talk of a couple of live tackling periods prior to Friday’s scrimmage.
“We might go live [today],” he said. “I’m ready to go.” Tackle talk
Junior David Hurd is working at the starting quick tackle spot after Coach Bobby Petrino suspended senior Jason Peacock indefinitely as a result of him being arrested and charged March 16 with theft of property.
Redshirt freshman Grady Ollison is backing up Hurd.
“You just step up and play on,” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said of Peacock’s absence. “You worry about who’s out on the field and coach who’s out on the field.
That’s what we always do.”
Paul Petrino was asked if he anticipated Peacock doing what’s necessary to be reinstated to the team.
“I don’t speak on that,” he said. “Only the head coach talks on that.”
Bobby Petrino’s next scheduled media session is after Friday’s practice.
No surprise
Redshirt junior Brandon Mitchell was the Razorbacks’ No. 2 quarterback last season behind senior Tyler Wilson, but he entered spring practice No. 3 behind Wilson and redshirt freshman Brandon Allen after spending several weeks with the basketball team.
“That’s something you expect,” Mitchell said of being third on the depth chart.
“Once you leave your sport and you go play two sports, that’s something that’s going to happen anywhere you go.
“I don’t care if you’re thestarter or not, you have to earn everything you get here.
It’s something that I like.
Every year it’s a competition, not just at quarterback, at every position.”
Mitchell said it was a quick adjustment to get used to playing football again.
“It took probably a couple of periods,” he said. “I was still working out with football while I was out there with basketball, so there wasn’t too much of a transition. But I hadn’t thrown the ball a lot like that, so my shoulder took a little bit of a toll, getting tired andfatigued on me.”
Mitchell said he did get some work with the secondteam offense Tuesday and that “right now I’m just 100 percentinto football” when asked about continuing to play both sports.
Spring back
The Razorbacks declared Tuesday’s practice, the first since March 15 because of spring break, as good as could be expected.
“We didn’t have a big drop-off after a week off,” tailback Ronnie Wingo said.
“I thought today was a very crisp practice,” quarterback Tyler Wilson said. “I think we made a step forward today, and that’s what we have got to continue to do.”
Said tailback Knile Davis: “It looked like everybody did something over the break, because I thought it was going to be slower. It’s usually slower coming off a week off, but we actually looked good, so I was proud.” Seeing it all
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said the coaching staff enjoyed time with their families but also got in work over spring break.
“We went back and watched every single thing that happened in the first few practices,” he said.
“Organized it by all the runs, all the passes, and sat down and watched them togetheras a whole offensive staff.”
Petrino said the coaches put in new “stuff” Tuesday, and he praised the players for the prep work they did in preparing for the first day back.
Spring break
A large contingent of Razorbacks spent part of their week off in Panama City, Fla. To hear them talk, team building and workouts were the big agenda items.
“I’d say about 80 percent of the team was down there,” quarterback Brandon Mitchell said. “Hanging out on the beach with each other, still building chemistry and waking up every morning and running and playing football on the beach, basically.”
Mitchell said he thought he was in good shape before running on the sand.
“That was a double workout there,” he said.
“We had fun,” tailback Ronnie Wingo said. “We actually played one on ones in the rain because everybody had left the beach. We were playing and having fun.”
Quarterback Tyler Wilson said he got in some golf and spent some down time in Greenwood, his hometown.
Adams a finalist
Former Arkansas standout Joe Adams has been named a finalist for the inaugural Johnny Rodgers National College Football Return Specialist award.
The other finalists are LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu, Texas A&M’s Dustin Harris and North Carolina’s T.J.
Thorpe. The winner will be announced Thursday and presented with the award on April 12 at a banquet in Omaha, Neb.
Adams, a consensus All-American, returned for punts for touchdowns last season, including tackle-breaking runs against Missouri State and Tennessee.
Sports, Pages 25 on 03/28/2012