Arkansas Razorback Football: Hogs Release Fall Practice Schedule
By Ryan Wright
Fayetteville, Ark. – In less than a week the 2012 Arkansas Razorback football team will officially begin a new season and a new era under interim head coach John L. Smith with the start of fall practices.
The start of a new season always brings hope and expectations to any team and their fan base. The expectations for this particular Arkansas Razorback team have been in place since the Hogs wrapped up a dominating Cotton Bowl victory over Kansas State to end their 2011 college football season.
The release of the fall practice schedule always leaves room for scrutiny and this schedule is no different. John L. Smith devotes four days to split squad practices before fully integrating the team on August 5.
In the modern era of college football teams report early through the guise of summer school and work on plays through supervised workouts with strength and conditioning coaches. Four days of getting players acclimated to the playbook and the daily routines of practices seem to be taking precious time for granted.
The Hogs also have nine days of team work before starting their two-a-days schedule. Even when the Razorbacks start their two-a-days schedule Smith only schedules three days towards the backend of their initial team practices.
One curious decision is an afternoon scrimmage after a morning session. Assuming the morning session is prep work for the afternoon scrimmage an opposing point of view would have the scrimmage take place in the morning with an afternoon walk through to correct errors that occurred in the scrimmage.
Most upperclassmen will view the scrimmage tape independently or with position coaches once practice is over to receive further instruction on botched plays and missed assignments. Again, seems like precious instruction time maybe wasted.
The majority of the Hogs practices are early morning or late afternoon sessions. The Hogs should be fresh when two-a-days are over because Smith will not push his team with heat of the day practices per his schedule.
Smith does not start five of his practice sessions in the middle of their schedule (Aug. 6-10) until 3 pm or after. Assuming the players are lifting weights and continuing conditioning drills along with viewing tape on the previous days practice in the morning on these days time will not be necessarily wasted but the argument stands that individual instruction time is not being given on the field.
There are positives and negatives to his approach. The positive again is the team should be fresher at the end of the two week plus schedule but he also loses an opportunity to push his team in extreme Arkansas summer heat in mid-afternoon practices. Players get sloppy and lose their fundamentals when they get tired. This is the best time to instruct players.
Outdoor practices in August Arkansas heat usually will separate the starters from the backups giving the coaching staff a better barometer on the temperature of their team and players heading into the new season.
The Hogs get a day off on Sunday, August 12, before completing their final six practices of the fall schedule. In total the Razorbacks will hold 19 practice sessions over 16 days. Of the 19 practices 15 are held as full squad sessions.
The first game of the season for the Hogs is Sept. 1, against Jacksonville State in Fayetteville giving the players and coaching staff two more weeks of prep time before taking the field against an outside opponent once fall practices end.
How much of those two weeks will be spent preparing for the Alabama game scheduled for Aug. 15?
Arkansas Razorback 2012 Fall Practice Schedule
August 2 – 3 pm – 4:30 (freshmen) 6:30 pm – 8:00 (returning players)
August 3 – 3 pm – 4:30 (freshmen) 6:30 pm – 8:00 (returning players)
August 4 – 3 pm – 4:30 (returning players) 6:30 pm – 8:00 (freshmen)
August 5 – 9:30 am – 11:00 (returning players) 3:30 – 5:00 (freshmen)
August 6 – 6 pm – 8 pm (full practice)
August 7 – 6 pm – 8 pm (full practice)
August 8 – 6 pm – 8 pm (full practice)
August 9 – 6 pm – 8 pm (full practice)
August 10 – 3 pm – 5 pm (full practice)
August 11 – 9 am – 11am (full practice) 4 pm – 6 pm (scrimmage)
August 13 – 9 am – 11am (full practice) 4 pm – 6 pm (full practice)
August 14 – 9:00 am – 11:30 am (full practice)
August 15 – 9 am – 11am (full practice) 4 pm – 6 pm (full practice)
August 16 – 9:00 am – 11:30 am (full practice)
August 17 – 4:30 pm – 6 pm
August 18 – 7:00 pm – 9 pm (scrimmage)