Arkansas scrimmage prompts praise from Nutt

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Posted 8:21PM on Saturday, April 2, 2005

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt was pleased with a 60-play scrimmage his players went through Saturday, and praised the results of defensive coordinator Reggie Herring's program over the past week of penalizing players with a pink jersey for inadequate effort. ``Our defense really flew around and you can see the improvement that they are making,'' Nutt said. ``They are starting to time up their blitzes and zone pressures. I will be anxious to watch the film to see the improvement, how many stood around and how many people chased the ball.'' Strong safety Dallas Washington led the defense with six tackles while linebacker Pierre Brown and defensive tackle Marcus Harrison each earned five stops. Desmond Sims and Zach Snider, converted to defensive ends from linebackers, also showed promise. Sims earned a sack and several quarterback pressures while Snider racked up two tackles for lost yardage. On the other side of the ball, the offense struggled to maintain consistency but managed to get off several big plays. Freshman quarterback Cole Barthel connected with Anthony Brown for a 21-yard score and then hit a 23-yard pass to Chris Baker to set up another touchdown. Sophomore Robert Johnson found Baker for an 18-yard gain to set the stage for a Peyton Hillis one-yard run to the end zone. ``Offensively, we made some mistakes that hurt ourselves,'' Nutt said. ``This was good to get out here in a game-like situation in the stadium. It is funny to see how they think when there is a 25-second clock and the defense is moving around on you.'' Barthel had the best numbers of the day at quarterback. The Decatur, Ala., product completed four of six passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. Brown hauled in two Barthel passes for 47 yards. Barthel also added a touchdown on the ground with a one-yard quarterback sneak. ``Cole did a good job for his first game-like scrimmage,'' Nutt said. ``He did some good things but, as he will tell you, he needs to improve on some things.'' Johnson completed four of 10 pass attempts for 37 yards in the scrimmage. He also scrambled for a 14-yard gain rushing. But his performance also included a fumbled exchange with Hillis and an interception. Redshirt freshman Alex Mortensen also completed 1 of 5 passes, for five yards. ``The quarterbacks made some mistakes,'' Nutt said. ``We forced a couple of balls, which you can't do. You can't have turnovers. We had two critical turnovers today and we have to get that corrected.'' Hillis led the rushers with 37 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Defensive end Michael Tate strained a right knee early in the scrimmage, but there were no other significant injuries. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)