The first practice of the Chad Morris era in Fayetteville took place Thursday. Following Arkansas’ first spring practice of the 2018 season, the new leader of the Razorback program met with the media to discuss his fast-paced and up-tempo style of practice he’s implementing this spring.

Not only are the practices frenzied but Morris himself displays the enthusiasm he wants to see from each and every member of his program.

“They have to see that if you’re juice-full you’re useful and it’s got to start with the head coach,” Morris said in his post-practice press conference. “They have to see me bouncing around, moving around and it’s all about sudden change. A football game is never going to go as scripted. Those of you that were out there saw people moving all over the field, changing fields and moving and that’s part of the plan — to keep guys on their toes.”

The next Arkansas practice will take place Saturday and Morris is expecting his players to bring even more intensity to the practice field every time they hit it from here on out.

“I’ll be disappointed if we come out here on Saturday and the energy level isn’t better than it was today. That’s just who we are,” Morris said. “The more you get to know me and our staff and know the way we practice, there is no time to drag around. So we’ll take the momentum and excitement out there. Guys are learning, guys are competing, and we will build on that.”

Morris was asked about the play of the team’s quarterbacks in the first scrimmage. While admitting there wasn’t much to judge them on at this point, the Razorback coach explained that’s what he and his coaches had in mind at this point of the spring.

“It’s really hard to say. Everybody got plenty of reps, I could say that. We missed a few balls, obviously overthrew, underthrew, you could definitely tell the timing was off. There were some decent throws at times,” he continued. “Again, there are drinking from a firehose also. It’s by design, we want to try and overexaggerate some of the periods to just let them know this is the way this thing is going to roll. I thought they did okay.”

The Razorback coach was then asked about his preference for contact when it comes to the position in practice and scrimmages. According to Morris, the QBs on his roster shouldn’t even be taken down or touched while they are in the pocket.

“We have what are called quarterback rules, there are in-the-pocket rules and out-of-pocket rules. If they are in the pocket, you don’t touch them. If you broke thru, you stay low and get by them. You don’t touch them, don’t disrupt them, run past them. I may blow the whistle, I may not blow the whistle — it’s irrelevant,” he said. “The quarterback needs to play it like he escaped it.”

Without getting into much specifics on his current players, Morris did note he always has his eyes set on his next potential players. Looking ahead to Saturday, Morris is expecting around 100 prospects to be in attendance for the program’s next day on the practice field — which he believes is key in recruiting.

“Getting here, getting them to campus, show ’em what we got,” Morris said. “Like I’ve said, our university sells itself.”