Despite two injuries coming out of Saturday’s closed-door scrimmage, there was no shortage of confidence from coach Sam Pittman.
“I like this team because they like each other,” Pittman said. I like this team a lot. Never had a team practice this well together.”
Iron sharpens iron, a cliche that was used multiple times as plenty of praise went around about how both the offense and defense played. Pittman was especially impressed with senior Beaux Limmer as he transitions to center on an offensive line that remains in flux.
“Lot of people can't do it,” Pittman said. He certainly has. Part of it is he wants to. He thinks it will help the team and help him in the NFL Draft, which both of those things are true. For him to go from a year ago at the Liberty Bowl with no reps at center and not have a bad snap and lord knows he played a lot of snaps, tells you a lot about his maturity and just his athletic ability.”
Special teams also impressed Pittman. Coming off a year in which punter Max Fletcher only averaged 37.47 yards per punt and kicker Cam Little only attempted 16 field goals, Arkansas routinely found themselves going for it in critical situations and avoiding special teams. The improvements are both refreshing and much needed.
“He (Fletcher) punted the heck out of the ball,” Pittman said. “We had one bad punt all day and the rest of them, he was booming them.”
Perhaps Pittman was most impressed by Little’s increased leg strength, making a 58-yarder in the scrimmage.
There is also no shortage of areas to shore up. Coming off a season where Arkansas allowed the seventh most penalty yards in the SEC, Pittman saw the same flare-ups again on Saturday,
“We had too many penalties in the secondary,” Pittman said. “We were giving the offense first downs. There had to be at least four or five different penalties. We’ve got to clean that up.”
The scrimmage also did not go by without new casualties, both tight end Nathan Bax and wide receiver Sam Mbake both participated in the scrimmage and left with injury. Pittman offered no timeline or further comment on their return.
Arkansas will scrimmage again next week, as opening day is now less than three weeks away against Western Carolina on Sep. 2 in Little Rock. The game will be televised only on ESPN+.
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