Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

News and notes from Arkansas’ Tuesday football practice… 

I. Needs Improvement
Even 466 yards and five offensive touchdowns in the season opener weren’t enough to spare Arkansas players from some criticism.

Specifically, Offensive coordinator Garrick McGee wasn’t pleased with the consistency of effort shown by the Razorbacks offense. They made plays, but they didn’t seem to go all-out on every play against an over-matched opponent.

“First thing, we need to play with a little more effort,” McGee said. “I think that there is a faster pace that we can play at. When you watch the film we’ve got some guys playing hard. We’ve got some plays where people are playing really well. But consistency with our effort was not what I wanted at all from the whole group, 11 guys playing with their hair on fire, snap after snap after snap. We didn’t quite get that. That’s what we need to get this weekend."

Arkansas gets what figures to be another over-matched opponent this week. Will McGee get his wish against New Mexico?

II. Holding His Own
Mitch Smothers became the first true freshman in school history to start on the Arkansas offensive line.

Coaches and teammates praised Smothers for his debut effort. Smothers was pretty happy with his effort as well. He said he felt like he held up his end of the bargain in his historic start.

“The speed, of course, is a lot different from high school, so that was something I had to get used to,” Smothers said. “I believe I held my own for the most part.”

III. Study Up
Brandon Mitchell prides himself on the amount of time he spends breaking down film and learning Arkansas’ playbook. His desire to study actually increased thanks to logging game time on Saturday.

“It makes you really, really want to study because you have to know the gameplan,” Mitchell said. “Your number could be called at any given moment. You just want to go out there and execute. You want to be a big part of why your team wins. You just want to go out there and make plays.”

Mitchell made a handful of plays in a 51-7 victory against Missouri State. He played in the second quarter and throughout the second half, completing 10 of 11 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.

There were a few shaky moments. Mitchell fumbled (or was ruled to have fumbled) in the second half and Missouri State promptly turned the gift into a touchdown.

All in all Petrino was pleased with what he got from the redshirt sophomore.

“He did a nice job on his progressions, and delivered the ball in a position where the receivers could catch it,” Petrino said. “Not all of them were accurate. We’d like to be a little more accurate, so you can get yards after the catch. But our receivers made good catches for him. He did a nice job. We have to take care of the football. We can’t turn it over.”

Speaking Out

“Well, I was hard on Ronnie coming out of the game. I thought he was cruising around, waiting on something to happen instead of going out there, attacking the field and making something happen, which he has the ability to do. There’s going to be a mentality change. I expect him to have a huge game this weekend.”
—Offensive coordinator on running back Ronnie Wingo Jr. which finished with 43 yards on 11 carries against Missouri State.