Arkansas football reaches a key checkpoint in fall camp Sunday, when the Razorbacks hold their first scrimmage after nine practices and their first full-pads session earlier this week.
The workout is closed, so neither the public nor the media will be able to watch. The exact format hasn’t been revealed, but the staff is clearly treating it like a dry run for game day, right down to the overnight stay. The Hogs even spent Saturday night in a hotel.
For Ryan Silverfield, the focus in camp has been less about the scrimmage itself and more about everything wrapped around it. Quarterbacks coach Mitch Stewart said the staff has spent plenty of time working through the details that come before kickoff.
"There's been more discussions on some other things," Stewart explained. "Like going to the hotel tomorrow night, getting the guys to figure out our way of doing things the night before the scrimmage, how we do things at the hotel, how our meetings are set up.
"It's been more of the logistics of that. Even things like pregame warmups. That's kind of where I think coach Silverfield's mindset has been right now is getting all of that stuff ready, and then we'll good because once you get to the scrimmage part, it's pretty easy."
There’s also a noticeable edge to the team heading into Sunday. After Day 9 of fall camp on Saturday, linebackers Bradley Shaw and Ja'Quavion Smith both talked about the scrimmage with the mindset of a real game.
"I'm taking this like game one," Smith said. "I'm preparing, we going to the hotel tonight, so I'm just treating this like game one. I'm just ready to show everybody what we can do like the whole defense and the team, and just what the people should look forward to."
"We're treating this like game one," Shaw added. "We're really just locking in, going through the whole process. They're really teaching us, teaching everybody, how it's going to be done here.
"I think that's a great thing. But as far as like the scrimmage, we're gonna treat it like game one.
We're coming prepared. We're coming to play with our hair on fire."
The biggest spotlight, as usual in fall camp, is on the quarterback battle between KJ Jackson and AJ Hill. Stewart said the staff’s main goal is straightforward: keep both players moving forward.
"We want to see them improve," Stewart said Friday. "The great thing about what we got going on right now in that room is we don't have anybody who is losing the job.
That makes it really tough, but it makes it really exciting each day. ... KJ and AJ are doing everything they can to win the job, and as long as they continue to do that, we're going to get better as a football team, and they're going to get better.
"What you don't want, and what would be scary as hell for us is if you had guys who are out there just playing not to lose the job, or you have one of those guys who's falling away because he is losing the job, and we don't have that right now. Makes it awfully hard for us because you've got two dudes who are trying to play at a high level. ... and ultimately, that's really exciting for me to watch them do that."
Sunday’s closed scrimmage will be Arkansas’ 10th practice before the Sept. 5 season-opener against North Alabama. That game is set for 3:15 p.m. in Fayetteville and will air on SEC Network.
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