Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino liked what he saw from the first two days of spring practice. Or as he viewed them, the final two days of the Razorbacks’ offseason program.

Those first two spring workouts took place in shorts and helmets. There was no hitting, though coaches were able to install portions of the offensive and defensive playbooks.

When the team returns to the field Tuesday, players will be in pads. They’ll review what they did more than a week ago and then turn their attention to contact Wednesday. Arkansas concludes the week with a Friday scrimmage.

“What I really wanted to do was finish the offseason program with two practices where you just go out in helmets, get a lot installed,” Petrino said. “We put a lot of stuff in in the last two days. We’ll come back [Tuesday and] we won’t install much, it will kind of be a review.

“Then we’ll start hitting each other. That will be fun.”

Part of the enjoyment for Petrino and staff this week will come from getting a truer measure of where the team is this spring. Only after donning pads can Arkansas get a better read on how its offensive line has improved from 2011, what an essentially all-new linebacker corps looks like and what sort of progress the running game has made.

Petrino’s impression of the March 14-15 practices was a favorable one for the most part. He liked the way the defense ran to the football on day two and praised the quarterbacks for their throwing — with the exception of deep passes.

Both mid-week practices are closed to the public, but the Friday scrimmage is open. Practices are scheduled to run from approximately 3:50-6 p.m.