Razorback report

Flowers: Time to show bite

Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers grabs Auburn quarterback Clint Moseley for a sack in their game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday Oct. 6, 2012.
Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers grabs Auburn quarterback Clint Moseley for a sack in their game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday Oct. 6, 2012.

FAYETTEVILLE - Trey Flowers is known as one of the more quiet Arkansas football players, which made his impassioned speech to the team Tuesday evening a head turner.

The junior defensive end had been thinking about the message he wanted to deliver for awhile when he stood before the team.

“I was just spreading the message about the winning attitude we’ve got to approach,” Flowers said.

“It’s just about not letting anybody take food off our plate. Not letting the heat take the food, not letting being fatigued, being sore.

“It’s just a dog mentality.

Stray dog out there that has to eat. That was pretty much the message. Embracing a winning attitude, having the will to win and refuse to lose.”

Linebacker Otha Peters said he took the speech to heart.

“Big Trey just wanted to get everybody on the team to know that we belong in the SEC and that we’re bigger and stronger and we can fight against whoever is against us on the field,” Peters said. “Trey is a very quiet person. He doesn’t really talk too much and he stays in the shadows, but last night when I saw him talk, I knew it meant a lot to him.”

Flowers said he didn’t remember ever speaking in front of his team in high school.

“I just felt like it had to be heard,” he said.

A little pop Arkansas added shoulder pads Wednesday, but the hitting wasn’t overly heavy.

“You can hear a little bit more popping, but we want people to stay up,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said.

“We’ve got to keep people healthy. We don’t want guys on the ground. We want to be able to play with their feet, play with the base and get ourselves in good body position to make tackles, and I think we did that today.”

Mixing it up

Linebackers coach Randy Shannon said he mixes reps for his crew, moving different players up and down the depth chart with frequency.

“We’re building depth,” Shannon said. “That’s the one thing I said this spring we needed to do as a linebacker group. So you shuffle some guys here and there, move positions to build the depth we need to have, and everybody gets an opportunity.”

Senior Jarrett Lake and junior Braylon Mitchell came out of spring atop the depth chart at the outside linebacker spots and have maintained those spots in camp. At middle linebacker, senior Austin Jones, who has worked all three spots, took more first-team reps Wednesday, with Daunte Carr, Robert Atiga and Brooks Ellis also taking snaps at the Mike position.

Getting it straight

Junior college transfer Martrell Spaight said he got “stronger, faster, bigger” over the summer, and now he’s trying to catch up on learning the schemes.

“It’s been going pretty well,” he said. “I stay a little bit after and talk with the coaches and watch extra film, so it’s been going pretty well.”

Spaight did not go through spring practice with the Razorbacks as he cleared up his final junior college academic work at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, so he’s been playing catch up and currently running with the third group.

“Does he move around well? Yes,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said of Spaight. “Does he have a long way to go just to figure out how to line up? Yeah, he does.”

Getting better

Chris Ash said the media might grow tired of him talking about the players making steady progress every practice.

“I’m going to tell you the same thing: As long as they’re getting better every single day, that’s all I can ask for,” Ash said Wednesday.

“Are we ready to play an SEC game? Not even close. But we still have plenty of time.”

Ash continued by saying the team isn’t even thinking about its SEC opener Sept. 28 against Texas A&M.

“We’ve got a pretty tough opener with Louisiana-Lafayette,” he said. “We’ll coach them hard in the meetings, and they’re going to get better through that time. I’ll be very happy and excited with the product we’re ready to put on the field game one.”

Shell game

The Razorbacks wore shell padding on their shoulders Wednesday, which allowed them to have more contact.

“It felt good, especially going against the offensive line in one-on-ones,” defensive end Chris Smith said. “Without pads, we feel like it’s more of an offensive drill, but we got a little popping in today.

“It was fun getting the pads on. They gave us that game feel, but we kept everybody safe.”

The Razorbacks will go in shells again today, then have full pads for Friday’s practice.

Humphrey update

Former Arkansas receiver Maudrecus Humphrey has resurfaced in a logical place.

The son of former Alabama star Bobby Humphrey is now at Alabama-Birmingham, playing in his hometown for former Razorbacks assistant coach Garrick McGee.

“It’s a complete relief,” Humphrey told al.com after Tuesday’s practice. “Once I finally got everything squared away with my academics, it was a wonderful feeling to be able to play again.”

Humphrey, arrested with Arkansas teammates Marquel Wade and Andrew Peterson on May 12, 2012, and charged with residential burglary, went through drug court in Washington County last year, then attended Lawson State Community College in Alabama before gaining his eligibility at UAB.

Punt return talk Arkansas receivers Javontee Herndon and Demetrius Wilson have been at the front of the line on punt returns so far.

“Just because they’ve been in that situation, played a lot of football and I trust them right now,” Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith said.

Herndon said he likes punt returning.

“I haven’t done it since high school,” he said. “I feel like I have the ability to do it. I just have to prove myself in fall camp and hopes it works out.”

Sports, Pages 23 on 08/08/2013

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