Sam Pittman generally pleased with first practice

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has one practice completed and will hit the fields again today at 5 p.m.

Following the first day on Wednesday, Sam Pittman talked about the highlights.

“Good practice today,” Pittman said. “You’ll ask me about who flashed, I’ll try to get ahead of that. Obviously we were in spiders, but I thought Rodney Hill did a good job of running the ball, Tyrell Reed (Jr.) did a good job of running the ball. Larry Worth (III) flashed, Jaheim Singletary picked a pass in the two-minute drill. Cuddy (Marquise Robinson) showed, Larry Worth showed, (Anthony) Switzer. I’m talking about the new guys that we were really looking forward to seeing if they could — you know, the April kids coming in. So, I feel like we hit on those guys. 

“I tell you, Monte Harrison caught a nice slant route for a touchdown in either a two-minute drill or in team period. So, I think the competition part of it is going to be — hopefully we’ll be a little bit deeper than we thought. I thought both sides of the ball line-wise played extremely hard and we stayed up. The more athletic you are, the more you’ll stay on your feet, and I couldn’t tell you but maybe a handful of plays that someone was on the ground. 

“So, I thought the practice started a little slow early through fastball starts, indy. I thought inside run was a little slow, I don’t think we were chasing the ball like we want to chase the ball, but I thought after the first break it picked up for us and we continued to get better as the day went on.”

Linebacker is a spot where four players from last season entered the transfer portal. Pittman was asked about the returning players there.

“Yeah, I think there’s going to be a great battle there,” Pittman said. ” We like (Alex) Sanford and (Carson) Dean coming out of camp. (Xavian) Sorey is coming into his own. He really can run and he’s got a smile on his face all the time. I think he knows what he’s doing, so he can play a little bit faster. He really shot some gaps today and looked really good doing that. I don’t know who else you asked about. Spence. Brad, we were moving him up on the ball as a Sam. Any time they go bigger than 11 personnel. We’re keeping him in the box right now. So we’ll see how that works for us. But again, I think he’s the same way. You go from a freshman to a sophomore, you should get better in your confidence, your body and all that, and I feel like he has. It’s hard to tell you a lot without putting pads on, but he was in the right place today.”

Defensive tackle Cameron Ball is one of the leaders this season. He likes what he is seeing behind him at the linebacker spots.

“It’s been good,” Ball said. “We got a lot of linebackers out of the portal. There’s a couple that have already shown what they can do. Sorey, I know he was making a huge impact in the spring. As a defensive lineman, it takes a lot of pressure off you when the two or three guys behind you on the field know what they’re doing, can direct you at times if you’re lost and the crowd’s too loud, and stuff of that nature. I feel like Sorey’s been coming along. (Stephen) Dix, (Anthony) Switzer, Larry (Worth), I can go on and on. I can tell you that every linebacker we got out of the portal has come in and made an impact, and that’s what we needed them to do. They’ve done it. Lived up to it, this early.”

Ball also spoke about the togetherness on the defensive line.

“I feel like we are closer than we ever have been before,” Ball said. “We have a lot of depth at all positions, whether it’s old guys, new guys. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s one specific leader in the room. I can tell you that our defensive line room is a player-led room and it’s all big thanks to Coach (Deke) Adams for just molding us and teaching us and showing us the way. So we’re a real good close group because we spend time with each other off the field, not just on. Play games with each other and we like to joke on each other a lot. So it’s a good room, like I said, on the field and off the field.”

A new player in the mix at defensive tackle is Danny Saili who came over from BYU.

“Yeah, I feel like Danny can help us a lot,” Ball said. “Him not necessarily being undersized, but he’s probably about 6-foot, 6-1. Just for his center of gravity, you know not being, I don’t want to say short but him being a little down there. He’s a strong kid. (Taylon Green says ‘stable’). Yeah stable, there you go. He’s a strong kid man and he has good technique coming from Hutch and BYU, where he came recently. He’s gonna play a major part on our defense and especially on the defensive line (where he plays). And we love him as a person and he’s a great addition to the defensive line room.”

Saili is listed at 6-foot-3, 375-pounds on the Arkansas roster. He played at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College last season. He transferred to BYU at midterm, but never played there as he re-entered the transfer portal in the spring.