Big plays by offense points coaches’ attention to other side

The first Arkansas scrimmage of fall camp had results that were kind of at cross-purposes for the coaches.

From a defensive perspective, there were a bunch of big plays by the offense and that’s not good. It’s hard to criticize the offense for making them, obviously.

It’s still a coaching point.

“Today, there were too many explosive plays,” Silverfield said later. “We can’t allow the explosive plays because no matter how you look at it we don’t want to get in shootouts.”

One big play was obviously the headliner when wide receiver Chris Marshall had a 96-yard catch in a scrimmage of about 130 plays, according to reports from the sports information folks before the post-scrimmage press conferences. There were also nine scoring drives.

Another thing that really is cause to shake your head is Marshall’s 96-yard catch and run didn’t result in a touchdown. About the only positive out of that is safety Miguel Mitchell managed to get him down before he got to the end zone.

“The only person that did catch me is somebody that runs 23 [mph],” Marshall said after admitting he shouldn’t have been caught.

It was just the biggest headline-grabber for Marshall, who also had a 34-yard scoring catch.

“Chris had a tremendous day,” Silverfield said.

Now he needs to work on consistency. That was a problem at times in the spring and everybody’s hoping he’s got that out of his system. It’s why Silverfield keeps talking about consistency from him.

Why coaches more concerned with defense

Maybe the biggest reason there seems to be more concern over giving up the big plays than the offense able to get them is where some of the best defensive numbers seem to have come from Sunday.

It wasn’t exactly the guys projected to carry the load on the offensive front.

“A lot of those other sacks came with the three and four offensive lines,” Silverfield said. “That’s such a growth deal. If the quarterback’s hanging on, or if it’s a young offensive lineman, it’s hard to pass protect in college football, so [we’re] teaching those young guys how to pass protect better.”

Stats, notes (per UA)

• 9 scoring drives with 3 with KJ Jackson at quarterback, 2 with AJ Hill behind center, 2 from Hank Hendrix, 1 by Braeden Fuller and another by Cade Trotter.
• 8 sacks with 2 by Charlie Collins, 1.5 by Carlon Jones, 1 by Wyatt Simmons, 1 by Antonio Sandel-Bascomb, 1 by Caleb Bell, 1 by Jamonta Waller and 1 by Preston Davis.
• Tyler Scott had a 30-yard interception for a touchdown against the backups.
• Field goal kickers, 4-for-8 inside 50 yards with Max Gilbert being 3 of 4.

Scoring drives

• Jackson: 75-yard drive (Chris Marshall 34-yard pass reception).
• Jackson: 75-yard (32-yard run by Markeylin Batton).
• Hill: 98-yard drive, with a 96-yard catch by Marshall that set up a 2-yard Braylen Russell scoring run.
• Jackson: 75-yard drive in 2-minute drill on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Monte Harrison with a pair of 20-yard passes to Ty Lockwood on the series.
• Hill: 63-yard drive, with a 4-yard touchdown run by Russell and a 13-yard catch by Courtney Crutchfield, 15-yard reception by CJ Brown and 20-yard run by Batton.