FAYETTEVILLE — Ace University of Arkansas cornerback Jaylon Braxton found another worthy adversary to match up against in Tuesday’s 12th practice of spring.
Working inside the Walker Pavilion on what started as a wet, windy morning, the sophomore Braxton was in near-blanket coverage on a Taylen Green throw down the deep middle for senior Isaac TeSlaa on the first play of a team period.
At the high point of the catch zone, both players went up and TeSlaa reached over his head with one arm and somehow hauled in the long ball before the pair of players, plus a converging safety, fell in a tumble on the artificial turf.
TeSlaa celebrated the catch down near the end zone while the rest of the offensive players back behind the 50-yard line hooted, hollered and celebrated, with some of them jogging several yards down the field to express their emotions.
The 6-4 TeSlaa, who had moderate success last year in his first season as a transfer from Hillsdale (Mich.) College, is making a play to be in the top echelon of Arkansas wideouts this season. One of his running mates, 6-4 Andrew Armstrong, was back at work on Tuesday, as the Razorbacks practiced in shoulder pads and shorts. But 6-7 receiver Tyrone Broden was still away from the team tending to a family matter, Coach Sam Pittman said, and 6-3 Jaedon Wilson was still limited.
Green’s completion percentage went up over his work from last week, thanks in part to the presence of Armstrong, but also with catches like the one TeSlaa pulled down.
Pittman called Tuesday’s work “a really good practice,” but he added the Razorbacks obviously have things to work on in all phases.
“I like where we’re at, both sides of the ball,” Pittman said, four days before the Hogs will wrap up spring with the annual Red-White game.
The practice featured the first big flare-up of spring on a run play to tailback Ja’Quinden Jackson, who appeared to be pushed beyond the left sideline into an open notch in the pavilion. Offensive tackle Keyshawn Blackstock took exception to the rough shove and came in hot, then defensive tackle Eric Gregory appeared to take a couple of swipes at him as players amassed all around. It took probably half a minute before order to be restored.
“Obviously you don’t want anything to ever escalate to that point,” Pittman said. “We had a good talk with the team afterwards on it about what’s acceptable and what’s not. But it was just the two guys got tangled up on the sideline and I believe one side thought it was more than that.
“And it escalated into something that it shouldn’t have. But I think our team is a very together team. I think it was obviously at the end of practice and we had practiced really hard and things escalated there. But we stopped it fairly fast.”
Braxton, a 6-footer from Frisco, Texas, had intentionally matched up with Armstrong and Broden through the first three weeks of spring drills before both were out for parts of last week. TeSlaa gave him a good run on Tuesday and Armstrong looked closer to his top form after missing time with a hamstring issue.
Pittman described Braxton as coming from a “very knowledgeable football family and high school program, but he’s just a wonderful kid. Very, very talented, wants to do everything right and it’s important to him.”
With Armstrong, Broden and Wilson out some last week, the roles of 5-11 Isaiah Sategna, 6-1 CJ Brown and others elevated. Sategna has ranked with Armstrong as the top targeted players of spring drills for new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
“You know, I feel like speed is a big thing in this offense, and that’s one of my strong suits,” Sategna said on Saturday. “This is my fourth OC since I’ve been to Arkansas, so I’m really liking what Bobby has, and man, he’s living up to the hype.”
Offensive line coach Eric Mateos moved Amaury Wiggins up to the starting unit on Tuesday and Addison Nichols, who had been with the ones, had a few snap issues with backup quarterbacks Jacolby Criswell, Malachi Singleton and KJ Jackson.
One snap sailed through Jackson’s fingers and went tumbling several yards behind the offense, where Petrino booted it with his left foot as whistles blew to end the play.
From a health standpoint, cornerbacks Marquise Robinson (knee) and Jaheim Singletary (arm/shoulder) worked on the side and rode stationary bikes along with 380-pound defensive tackle Ian Geffrard (hamstring), defensive back Dylan Hasz (hand) and walk on skill players in tailback Cade Fields from Fayetteville and receiver Jace Petty.
Senior defensive tackle Keivie Rose elevated to the first unit on Tuesday, working with Cam Ball and ends Nico Davillier and Landon Jackson, who had a flashy day getting pressure on the quarterback in his first practice since his wedding on Saturday.
Pittman said Ball has been a standout all spring. He called the work of young linebackers Brad Spence, Carson Dean and Alex Sanford perhaps the most pleasant surprise among all position groups. That trio has been working with transfer Xavian Sorey on the first group much of spring.
“Those three freshmen linebackers that have come along and have played better than what I have thought they would have at this point,” he said in response to a question about players who have surprised.
SEC supervisor of officials John McDaid observed practice and said he planned to meet with Pittman on Tuesday afternoon to go through any questions or concerns he has about rules, interpretations and potential legislation regarding college football rules.
“He goes to every one of [the SEC schools] and spends half a day or whatever and we have a list of questions that we want to ask him,” Pittman said. “It’s not about last year and what happened on this or that. It’s basically about the new rules.”
Pittman was also asked if he tracked basketball coaching searches, a question that made him grin.
“Well, I live in Arkansas. So it’d kind of be hard not to. But I believe in Hunter Yurachek. He’ll find the best guy. I guess according to y’all and everybody we found the guy,” he said in reference to reports the UA Board of Trustees would approve of the hiring of Kentucky Coach John Calipari. “I don’t know him well, but if [Calipari] is the coach we probably hit a pretty good home run. Maybe hit a grand slam.”