The Rundown
Practice officially began at approximately 3:50 p.m. CT and we walked out around 5:10 p.m. CT. We watched individual drills, fastball, one-on-ones, seven-on-seven, red zone work, blitz drills and two-minute drills.
More experimentation up front
We keep seeing them try new things with the first team offensive line, and today that featured E'Marion Harris as the first team left tackle and Shaq McRoy at right tackle during the fastball period at the beginning of practice. Generally, it's been Harris as right tackle and Corey Robinson II at left tackle, but they tried something new today.
I think most of the movement can probably be attributed to some injuries and it might help in the long run with allowing them to try different things to see what works best. They aren't sure if they like Harris at tackle or guard the best, so it was interesting to see him move out to the other tackle spot, but I don't know who else you'd move up to first team tackle at this point.
Transfer corner gets first team reps
For the first time I've seen this spring, Oklahoma transfer Kani Walker got some reps with the first team defense during a few team periods. He didn't participate with the team in practices prior to spring break due to injury, but he's slowly worked his way into the rotation and he was really thrown into the fire Thursday.
Walker started nine games and appeared in 11 as a redshirt junior for Oklahoma last year. The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Atlanta native tallied 24 tackles with one interception and a career-best six pass breakups.
Secondary had a solid day
I spent more time looking at Arkansas' secondary during Thursday's practice, both in individual work and in the 11-on-11 portions. Defensive backs coach Nick Perry was coaching them hard during individual drills, and they seemed to respond well to that.
As we mentioned above, Kani Walker got first-team reps Thursday, and he seemed to make the most of it. He did a good job of staying with the receivers and didn't get beat as far as I could tell.
I only actually saw one interception on the day, which came after Blake Boda overthrew his receiver and the ball landed right in the hands of redshirt freshman Ahkhari Johnson. There were several pass breakups throughout the day, and most of those came on well-thrown balls from the quarterbacks.
There's still some questions as to how much depth the Hogs have there, but the guys they do have stuck out in a good way.
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Notable plays
- Taylen Green hit Rohan Jones for a 35-yard gain.
- Linebacker Cade Fields hit Cam Settles in the backfield for a tackle for loss.
- Madden Iamaleava found O’Mega Blake over the middle for a 25-ish yard gain.
- Green also completed a pass over the middle to Blake for 20 yards.
- Iamaleava completed a pass to Monte Harrison for a 20-yard gain.
- Green threw a nice pass to Kam Shanks down the seam for a touchdown.
- During red zone work, Ahkhari Johnson intercepted a pass from Blake Boda intended for Rykar Acebo.
- During third-down drills, Larry Worth broke up a pass from Green intended for Rohan Jones.
- Harrison got behind the defense and caught a nice pass from Green for 25-ish yards.
- Jaden Allen broke up a pass from KJ Jackson intended for C.J. Brown.
- Anton Pierce made a nice play on the ball and broke up a pass from Iamaleava intended for Krosse Johnson.
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Depth Chart
These depth charts are unofficial and just a general list based on the fastball drills ran. They go with different personnel and different formations often.FIRST TEAM
Offense
QB: Taylen Green
RB: Mike Washington
TE: Rohan Jones
WR: O'Mega Blake, Ismael Cisse, Raylen Sharpe
LT: E'Marion Harris
LG: Fernando Carmona Jr.
C: Caden Kitler
RG: Keyshawn Blackstock
RT: Shaq McRoy
Defense
DE: Quincy Rhodes Jr.
DT: Ian Geffrard
DT: Danny Saili
LB: Brad Shaw
LB: Xavian Sorey Jr.
LB: Stephen Dix Jr.
NB: Caleb Wooden
CB: Jaheim Singletary
CB: Selman Bridges
S: Larry Worth III
S: Miguel Mitchell
SECOND TEAM
Offense
QB: KJ Jackson
RB: Tyrell Reed Jr.
TE: Andreas Paaske, Jeremiah Beck
WR: CJ Brown, Monte Harrison
LT: Kavion Broussard
LG: Bubba Craig
C: Kash Courtney
RG: Blake Cherry
RT: Marcus Dumervil
Defense
DE: Justus Boone
DT: Kevin Oatis
DT: David Oke
LB: Tavion Wallace
LB: Wyatt Simmons
NB: JJ Shelton
CB: Jaden Allen
CB: Keshawn Davila
S: Anton Pierce
S: Quentavius Scandrett
S: Ahkhari Johnson
THIRD TEAM
Offense
QB: Madden Iamaleava
RB: Cam Settles
TE: Jaden Platt
WR: Courtney Crutchfield, Shamar Easter, Krosse Johnson
LT: Aaron Smith
LG: Alex Johnson
C: Tim Dawn
RG: Payton Parks-Smith
RT: Jonas Nantze
Defense
DE: Donovan Whitten
DT: JJ Hollingsworth
DT: Caleb Bell
DE: Charlie Collins
LB: Preston Davis
LB: Mason Schueck
NB: Cade Fields
CB: Aidan McCowan
CB: Landon Phipps
S: Braylon Watson
S: Anton Pierce
