Following the Arkansas football team's second closed scrimmage of fall camp Thursday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, head coach Sam Pittman gave his takeaways and updated the status of junior offensive guard Patrick Kutas.
Arkansas' projected starting left guard at the start of fall camp, Kutas hasn't participated since the Hogs' second practice due to a back injury, according to Pittman. Kutas' absence has left question marks around the depth of the offensive line, but his return may not be far off.
"We’re continuing to get looks at him," Pittman said on Thursday. "We’re hoping he’s back as early as Monday, it could be as early as the next Monday to be honest with you. So, we're still waiting.
"He's in rehab right now, rehabbing that back, and he's feeling much better. We don't want to get him out there too fast, so it doesn't complicate him the entire year. So, we're being very, very, cautious with him. And really, we're just going off of how he feels."
RELATED: Notable plays from Arkansas' second scrimmage of fall camp
A big talking point of Arkansas' first scrimmage of fall camp on Aug. 8 was starting fast on both sides of the ball. The offense came out on fire a week ago, but it was the defense that grabbed the spotlight on Thursday, according to stats given to the media.
"Offensively, way too many turnovers," Pittman said on Thursday. "Little bit of too many penalties. A little bit of a reverse from last week. I think we started slow, ran the ball well at times. Got to be more consistent there. But, we just had too many turnovers. We were much better in red area, low-red and get-the-ball-back two-minute situation than we were a week ago. So, I thought that was a good sign of offensive football."
Below are the rest of Pittman's big takeaways from the scrimmage, from quarterback turnovers to kicker battles:
Quarterback turnovers, accuracy a concern?
A lot rests on the quarterback's shoulders in a Bobby Petrino offense, and throwing interceptions is a surefire way to lose games in the SEC.
Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, the signal callers tossed a whopping eight passes to the defense on Thursday — three of which were on tipped plays.
"It's concerning," Pittman said. "But of the first four, three of them were tipped balls, which has to do with catching the ball and accuracy of throw on the football. I know there was at least two of those three that if we just catch the ball, it's not a pick, it's a completion.
"So, interceptions, you look at them on the quarterback a lot of times and all of us do, but a lot of times it's on catching the football, running the correct route, accuracy, and certainly the protection of the offensive line."
While Pittman didn't give away how many turnovers starting quarterback Taylen Green had, he said that the former Boise State transfer "wasn't as accurate with the ball as what he had been."
"I thought (Green) played well," Pittman said. "His protection wasn’t as good either, so that has something to do with it. You know, again, Bobby (Petrino) didn’t run him as much this time as he did a little bit more last week. But, he played well, he just wasn’t as accurate as he was a week before."
Musical chairs at guard nearing an end
Arkansas has experimented along the offensive line with Kutas out, but it seems the left guard spot has come down to its final few contenders ahead of season kick-off on Aug. 29.
Redshirt junior Amaury Wiggins and redshirt sophomore E'Marion Harris have both seen time at the position during fastball drills in recent practices, but it's Harris, a Little Rock native, who is currently ahead.
"Amaury Wiggins would be the other guy that we worked in today," Pittman said. "Ty’Kieast (Crawford) went down with a little injury, so we didn’t get to work that as much as we wanted to. But, him and Wiggins are those guys there. E’Marion Harris has had a really good camp and our plan was to switch those two guys in a little bit at center and get (E‘Marion) some reps at left tackle.
"With Ty’Kieast, not bad, just a little shoulder injury. Nothing major. When he couldn’t continue in a scrimmage, it really kind of affected that rotation to be honest with you. Wiggins, to answer your question, Wiggins and him are battling out for that left guard. He’s probably ahead of him, E’Marion is probably ahead of him right now."
Crawford has had chances to move up in the depth chart all fall camp but he has yet to fully take advantage of his opportunities, so keep an eye on the battle between Harris and Wiggins for left guard should Kutas not be ready in his eventual return to the field.
Arkansas deep at defensive end, lacking in interior
One of the many question marks entering fall camp for the Razorbacks was whether or not someone would step up behind returners Cam Ball, Eric Gregory and Keivie Rose at defensive tackle. While redshirt freshman Ian Geffrard and BYU transfer Danny Saili show promise, Pittman said he think they're ready to contribute "quite yet."
"With Danny and Geffrard, they both have to continue to come on," Pittman said. "And they’ve got to drop some weight and get in a little bit better shape for us to really be able to play them for four, five, six plays in a row instead of alternating them.
"You know, they’ve got to get in a little better shape. They’re going to help us, but not lengthy. We’re going to have to, like I said before, we might have to use both of them but for one guy."
That's another concern for Arkansas, which will face multiple high-caliber offensive lines and rushing attacks in 2024. The unit will need the help of its defensive-end companions to keep pace throughout games this fall.
"Getting Anton (Juncaj) back, big," Pittman said. "He’s a good player. I like our D-line. Getting him back healthy, and Quincy (Rhodes is) coming on. I think as soon as that happens — getting Anton back really helps us at the defensive end spot. I think there’s a battle there with him and Nico (Davillier). So that makes us pretty close to pretty damn solid on the two deep."
Fire lit underneath kicker Matthew Shipley
Former Hog kicker Cam Little left a big hole in Arkansas' special teams unit when he left for the NFL over the offseason, and Hawaii transfer Matthew Shipley didn't exactly grab the bull by the horns in the spring to alleviate any uneasiness at the position.
That might have changed on Thursday, though, as the Texas native booted kicks from 37, 46 and 50 yards out with only one miss from 38 yards. Perhaps a fire was lit underneath Shipley from the addition of post-spring transfer kicker Kyle Ramsey, who missed all four of his field goals during the scrimmage.
"I think anything like that I think it has to," Pittman said. "And (Shipley's) been really good. You know I could make an excuse for Ramsey and I’m going to. He’s had a groin issue. But, Shipley, that was a big kick today. I mean, the one offense goes down and they run the clock out in the two minutes. 2:07, three timeouts.
"They get the first down, they run the clock out, we win the game. Offense was ahead by two. And then you flip it. I just made up a scenario: 48 seconds, we’ll go down with the two offense versus two defense and then Ship comes in and makes a 50-yarder. Pretty good deal."
