Observations from Arkansas football's sixth spring practice
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas football returned from a one-week break Tuesday and gathered inside the Walker Pavilion for spring practice.
The Razorbacks are closing in on their annual spring game, scheduled for April 13 inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Boise State transfer Taylen Green continues to take nearly all of the reps as the first-team quarterback, with sophomore Malachi Singleton working as the backup over Jacolby Criswell.
Here are four more observations from Tuesday's practice.
Good injury updates for Arkansas football tight ends
Luke Hasz injured his ankle at the last practice before spring break, but he was back in action Tuesday.
Ty Washington also made a return in a green non-contact jersey. This was Washington's first time getting individual reps all spring after dislocating his shoulder in the latter half of last season.
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This stands to be one of the Hogs' strongest position groups with those two leading the way, but Var'keyes Gumms will push for snaps thanks to a strong spring. In Washington's absence, Gumms has been consistently working with the second team and showing good chemistry with quarterback Malachi Singleton.
New look for the defensive line
In a recent press conference, Sam Pittman said that Arkansas needed to experiment with a different defensive front and find candidates to be the buck linebacker. The Hogs spent considerable time Tuesday in this package with one of its defensive lineman stood up as an outside linebacker (buck).
Nico Davillier held this role with the first team, while Brad Spence and other linebackers took that position with the second team. This isn't a brand new scheme, but it shows defensive coordinator Travis Williams trying to instill the full playbook and become more versatile.
Andrew Armstrong continues brilliant spring
The Razorbacks' No. 1 wide receiver had another terrific day. He won a majority of his matchups against Jaylon Braxton and scored a pair of long touchdowns.
Armstrong, Tyrone Broden and Jaedon Wilson served as the first-string wide receivers.
Jordan Anthony works on special teams
The Texas A&M transfer is a track star, and he was specifically summoned away from the wide receivers to work on kick returns through the middle of practice.
Anthony has struggled with drops this spring, but he could be a weapon on special teams with his elite speed. The Hogs will try to get him the ball in space this fall, and perhaps the easiest way to do that is on kick returns.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Observations from Arkansas football's sixth spring practice
