Sam Pittman says his QBs have responded after having less than stellar performance during recent scrimmage
While Feleipe Franks has likely done enough in camp to secure his spot as the starting quarterback in Fayetteville this season, Sam Pittman was quick to point out that his quarterbacks didn’t get the job done during last week’s scrimmage.
After having their way with the Arkansas defense during the team’s first scrimmage of camp, Barry Odom’s defense adjusted and won the day thanks in part to the offense’s issues with ball security in the second scrimmage.
That was something Pittman expressed frustration with previously but during his most recent media availability, the Arkansas coach sounded pleased with the response from both Feleipe Franks and KJ Jefferson.
“I wasn’t pleased and they weren’t pleased with what they did (during the latest scrimmage), but they’ve really come roaring back this week and Feleipe is playing with a lot of confidence – as well as KJ,” Pittman said on Friday. “I think we all, as a staff, feel really good about our quarterback room.”
When it comes to doing a better job of protecting the football, Pittman is well aware that issues like that aren’t going to go away on their own — his players have to rep ball security to correct those issues.
“Yeah, the ball security,” Pittman continued. “You know how I feel, if we’ve got a problem then it’s not just, ‘Hey, you have to get better, hold on to the ball.’ We’re going to have five minute periods of trying to knock the ball out of our hands and we’ve done that this week at our practice.
“Obviously, you’re gonna lose a ball here and there a helmet on a ball or something like that but if you don’t emphasize it, you’re not gonna get anything out of it, so that’s what we’ve done and we’ve done a better job of hanging on to the football.”
That sounds like some good coaching, which isn’t something that was a given in recent seasons on The Hill.