FAYETTEVILLE — The hottest day yet at Arkansas football fall camp yielded the longest play to date during a media-viewing portion of the practice.
After a day off, the Razorbacks returned to the practice fields outside of the Walker Pavilion for their seventh practice of the month. It was 100 degrees, and the Hogs let the local media watch a full hour.
The opening period was an 11-on-11 drill where the offense started at the two-yard line. The unit had two plays to try and get into a more comfortable field position, but AJ Hill and Courtney Crutchfield were able to put the ball in the end zone.
Hill ran with the second-team offense opened the session with a 10-yard pass to Ismael Cisse. On the next snap, Hill used a hard count to draw the defense offsides. The whistle didn't blow, giving Hill a free play, and he launched a pass down the right sideline that hit Crutchfield in stride. The junior wide receiver used one stiff arm to create further separation with Braydon Lee, and he ran away from the defense for an 88-yard touchdown.
Jackson and the first-team offense also had success during the period. It wasn't explosive, but Jackson connected with Chris Marshall for a six-yard game and then handed the ball off to Braylen Russell for a 10-yard run to get the offense near the 20-yard line.
Arkansas then did another 11-on-11 period with the offense trailing by two and a minute on the clock. It had one timeout and started on the 25-yard line. The objective was to get into field-goal territory for a game-winning kick.
The first-team offense got off to a rough start with a negative play and a sack on the first two snaps, but Jackson hit Marshall for a gain of 33 to get the series kickstarted. Passes to Donovan Faupel and Ty Lockwood got Arkansas in field-goal range, but Max Gilbert came up short on a 48-yard kick into the wind.
Hill and the second-team offense could not get into position for a field goal. Freshman Brandon Ford had a pair of pass breakups while covering Antonio Jordan.
Other notes from practice on Aug. 13
- Steven Soles Jr. continues to wreak havoc as a pass-rusher. He was responsible for the sack during the one-minute drill and consistently gets pressure lined up opposite of Quincy Rhodes.
- Speaking of Rhodes, he had an impressive tackle for loss during a fourth-down drill. He covered Russell as the running back leaked out for a swing pass on fourth-and-five, but the offense lost eight yards on the play.
- For the first time in the Ryan Silverfield era, the media got to watch a 7-on-7 drill on Thursday. All of the snaps occurred just outside or within the red zone. Jackson struggled, going 4 for 8 with all checkdowns. Two passes to Chris Marshall were broken up by Joker Johnson. That was a fun 1-on-1 battle to watch.
- AJ Hill was 4 for 7 in the 7-on-7 drill, completing short touchdown passes to CJ Brown and Ismael Cisse. Hill went against the second-team secondary for most of the day, but he was the better quarterback throughout the practice.
- Jackson did have a beautiful throw to Cisse in individual drills where he rolled to his right and threw across his body. The ball traveled at least 40 yards in the air and hit Cisse along the right sideline.
- The Hogs showed off a new defensive-line look during the first team period when the offense started at the two-yard line. Defensive linemen Xadavien Sims, Carlon Jones and Hunter Osborne were on the field with JACK linebackers Soles and Charlie Collins. The five-man front will be used in short-yardage situations.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Courtney Crutchfield shines with long TD at Arkansas football's 7th practice