The Arkansas Razorbacks are in a strange position this spring. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the spring practice season was canceled.

That hits the Hogs particularly hard, as they have a new coach in Sam Pittman, a new staff and a graduate transfer QB in Feleipe Franks.

This week, OC Kendal Briles said he’s been impressed with the work Franks has done, but added that they’ve yet to be able to see Franks throw a football in person (via 247Sports):

“When you go after guys that are graduate transfers, obviously you have to have people that are going to come in and hopefully help change your program for the better. Feleipe, we feel like was one of those kids. He’s done it at a really high level, and he’s been successful,” Briles said Friday. “Going through all our research on him, talking to different coaches and players that have known him, he’s a great kid. Great locker room guy and extremely hard worker. So, he’s checked all the boxes for us, and he’s been great.

“We’ve been really pleased with Feleipe and his ability to go through workouts in the weight room and do everything those guys ask. We just want to see him throw a football. That’s the craziest thing, you know? I’ve been around him since January, and I haven’t seen him throw a football because we haven’t had the opportunity to be able to do that. It’s kind of important to play that position. So, we’d like to be able to see that. That’s all the QBs. Those guys are all in the same boat. They’ve had their team-led workouts.

“They’ll get together with receivers and they’ll throw and do that stuff. But, we’re just excited to have him. We’re excited about what he can bring to this football team and add to it. We feel really strong about the quarterback room that we have with all those guys collectively. So, excited for him and what he would like to get done with his last stretch in his senior year.”

Many teams are in a similar boat (like Arkansas’s SEC rival, Mizzou, for example), so we’ll see how teams in these situations fare when the 2020 season starts.