ARKANSAS SPRING FOOTBALL

UA puts starters against rest today

Keon Hatcher of Arkansas works through a drill during practice Saturday, April 18, 2015, at the university's practice facility in Fayetteville.
Keon Hatcher of Arkansas works through a drill during practice Saturday, April 18, 2015, at the university's practice facility in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- An Arkansas football program on the rise will get to leave its lasting impression for the summer in today's Red-White game.

The annual game will start at 1 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. It is the second chance out of 15 spring practices for the general public to watch the Razorbacks. The game will also be seen on the SEC Network alternate channel.

"I'd like to encourage all fans and everybody to come in and try to help us get as great a crowd as we can, try to put some pressure on some of our younger players, our kickers in particular," Coach Bret Bielema said.

Bielema described the format for the game as "the ones against the world," meaning the starting units on both sides of the ball will be matched against all the reserves, just like last year's Red-White game, a 61-22 victory for the first team before an estimated 30,000 fans.

"Our ones work together and play like they will in the fall," he said. "We'll have a coaching setup that'll be like the fall as well, with the coaches up in the box, coaches on the sideline giving the calls. So I want to see just as much growth out of our coaches as I do our players."

The starters will wear red jerseys and the reserves will be in white.

"I'm anticipating a live crowd and a great atmosphere so the guys can get out there and make some plays," receiver Keon Hatcher said.

"It's going to be as close as we can get to a real football game without playing an opponent and that's important to us," defensive coordinator Robb Smith said.

"There's a lot of young players we're still evaluating," offensive coordinator Dan Enos said. "There's a lot of veteran players we want to put in situations, so any time you line up and play a game, you're making everybody play the situations of the game. That'll be real good for us to do again."

Bielema is planning to change the scoring rules in the game, doubling all points for the white team so touchdowns will be worth 12 points, field goals will be worth six and so on.

"The second half, because we're under a time constraint by the SEC Network, we'll kind of have to adjust that as needed," Bielema said.

Ball security has been one of the top themes for the offense this spring. The first offense had no turnovers in either of the major spring scrimmages, while the second team lost one fumble.

"You want to be clean, take care of the ball, with no penalties, no missed assignments," tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. said.

Last spring's Red-White game featured an intentionally bland offensive script in the first half before coordinator Jim Chaney called plays that allowed quarterback Brandon Allen to utilize his feet more with roll-outs and boot-leg passes. Allen said the Razorbacks will not show everything from their playbook to the nation.

"With not having the whole offense in, having a certain amount of plays in, I just want to see us execute those plays the best we can and be really smooth with it," he said.

Bielema said the scrimmage will also feature a symbolic play -- much like Canaan Sandy's touchdown run last year -- with an undisclosed special guest or guests.

"For the fans, it's going to be a great time," Bielema said. "There'll be something that I think will draw the attention of not only everybody in the stands, but it probably will draw national interest that should be very fun and a great part of our program."

Sports on 04/25/2015

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