Taylen Green progressing, Rashod Dubinion showing off hands

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas completed its second practice of the spring on Friday with the quarterbacks continuing to progress under Bobby Petrino.

Boise State transfer Taylen Green has been getting the majority of the work with the first unit. Malachi Singleton, Jacolby Criswell, KJ Jackson and Austin Ledbetter are others getting work. Sam Pittman liked what he saw on Friday.

“Taylen, we’ve seen some out of him before, with the walks and all this kind of stuff and meeting time he puts in and all that kind of stuff,” Pittman said. “So it was different than throwing a guy in at the with the ones the first day of practice because of the rules have allowed us to do more before practice starts.

“I like where we’re at with the quarterbacks. I think they’re battling in there. I think Malachi had a better day today than he did on Thursday, Cris(well) is doing well. I like where KJ’s at Taylen’s doing a fine job. So I like where they’re at. They like each other. They’re competing hard against each other. The one thing I’m seeing a little bit more out of them this year is they all seem to possess really good leadership qualities and take ownership of their own mistakes. But yet have really good leadership skills. That’s what you’ve got to have at the quarterback position.”

Is the plan to leave Green with the first unit or rotate some?

“I don’t know to be honest with you,” Pittman said. “That’ll be something after today’s practice. We’ll meet this afternoon after we all get the tape watched. I’ll meet with the offense about 4:20 today, assuming all the recruiting will allow us to get to that point, but then we’ll decide what we do there. So that’s just something I really don’t know the answer to right now.”

A couple of young defensive backs caught the attention of Pittman on Friday. Redshirt freshman RJ Johnson and true freshman Tevis Metcalf both picked off Jackson today.

“RJ’s very quick,” Pittman said. “He’s long. Didn’t do a lot last year, and that’s OK. He came back, he didn’t go in the portal, and I think it’s starting to pay off for him. Obviously he had a good offseason. That helped him as well, because he needed some strength.

“Tevis Metcalf is a baller. I mean he’s a tough guy, obviously comes from the Metcalf family. But knowledgeable, comes from a really good high school. Knowledgeable player. I told him after he picked the pass, the the next play when he re-directed the slot, to me was even a better play than the one he picked. And I told him that. He put two really, really good — and he had more — but he put two really good plays together. Football is important to him and I think he’s going to be a good player for us.”

Metcalf’s brother TJ is currently running with the second unit at a safety spot. TJ is a sophomore. Both were highly recruited before deciding on the Razorbacks.

It’s well known what Rashod Dubinion can do running the football. But he showed off some very good hands on Friday catching the football out of the backfield. In 2023, Dubinion rushed for 260 yards and a touchdown on 82 carries. He caught 14 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.

“You know, he’s always been a good receiver out of the backfield,” Pittman said. “But I think right now, he’s older, he’s stronger, I think he’s got more confidence. I think the line, the offensive line, is instilling confidence. If your offensive line is playing well and things of that nature, your whole team will get a little bit better. I think they’re helping him with his confidence, too. But he’s always been able to catch the ball. He’s catching it well now.”

With Petrino serving as offensive coordinator, it appears the entire unit is on the same page and looking ahead of the pace this spring.

“The greatest thing, and I think the NCAA understood, each team is gonna have a lot of new players,” Pittman said. “So they allowed us to have walkthroughs and meetings and things of that… I say things of that nature too much. Walkthroughs and meetings. I’m trying to get better at that. I’ve got a lot of flaws, as I found out and I knew before. But, what did you ask about, how they’ve picked up Bobby’s offense?

“Seems to be pretty good, doesn’t it? We’ve got quite a bit in. You can tell by the speed. How fast does a guy play? Or whether he’s thinking about his assignment or he’s thinking about where’s my fit or what am I doing? What’s my depth of my route and all that kind of stuff. I think anytime you’re quoted as a good coach, or a brilliant coach or whatever the terms that Bobby’s had and things. It’s your ability, first and foremost, to teach. And then obviously your mind has to be a little bit different than others, which his is. But it’s the ability to teach. It’s the ability to communicate. And he’s exceptional at that. I believe so is Ronnie Fouch and Eric (Mateos). Those guys have done a really good job of buying into Coach Petrino’s system.”

As is typical of a Petrino offense, the receivers seem to be creating much more space this spring than in past.

“I think we’re finding windows as receivers better than we’ve ever had,” Pittman said. “If that makes sense. Our routes are that they have more freedom to set in holes and understand man vs. man zone coverage. Our quarterback is throwing the ball. I think they’ll deliver it faster. I’m talking about making their decision faster. But our quarterback is intune throwing the ball. What did Bobby say? ‘Did he throw him open’ or ‘throw it on him.’ One or the other. ‘Stick it to him.’ I can’t remember what his quote was today to the quarterbacks. I think they’re knowledge of the offense is so high right now. They’re intune with the wideouts. I think that’s why there’s a little bit more space right now. And we’re playing more zone. We play more cover-three than we have in the past two. That’s probably the main answer.”

Arkansas will practice Sunday, but it’s closed to the media and public. The spring game is set for Saturday, April 13, at noon.