FAYETTEVILLE — Charlie Collins didn't want to admit defeat, but Arkansas football wide receiver Chris Marshall had an ear-to-ear grin when Collins got asked if the offense had the upper hand at the first meaningful checkpoint of fall camp. The Razorbacks went inside their home stadium and ran more than 130 plays during the first scrimmage of the month on Sunday, Aug. 16. The format featured 1s vs. 1s and 2s vs. 2s, while quarterbacks KJ Jackson and AJ Hill split reps with the first-team offense. The media was not permitted to watch, but an Arkansas spokesperson provided a recap of the festivities. Here's everything we know about the first scrimmage of the fall.
Chris Marshall makes his case to be No. 1 wide receiver The Boise State transfer, who came out of the Dallas high school ranks as a five-star recruit, hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jackson and had a 96-yard catch off a throw from Hill. The latter set up a 2-yard rushing score from Braylen Russell. "Statistically, (Marshall) stood out, and he stood out as one of those where the stats actually match it," head coach Ryan Silverfield said. According to Marshall, Hill made a smart decision for the 96-yard completion. "It was a read by AJ," Marshall said. "He looked out there, and we had press coverage on the (2)-yard line. So most likely, we're going to take a shot right there." How did the quarterbacks perform? Jackson led three touchdown drives, while Hill orchestrated two. All three of Jackson's successful series went 75 yards, while Hill had a 63-yard touchdown drive in addition to the long score set up by his pass to Marshall. Jackson's touchdowns went to Marshall, Markeylin Batton (34 yards) and Monte Harrison (22 yards). He also continues to show good chemistry with Alabama transfer tight end Ty Lockwood, who had a pair of receptions for more than 20 yards. Silverfield praised Lockwood's growth. Hill did not have a touchdown pass, with Russell finding the end zone on the scoring drives which involved the Memphis transfer. On the second touchdown series, Hill completed passes to CJ Brown and Courtney Crutchfield to get the Hogs in scoring range. One source who watched the scrimmage told the Southwest Times Record that Jackson was clearly the better quarterback on the day, but Silverfield is not tipping his hand if there is a favorite in the competition. "The two guys that are competing, AJ and KJ, doing some good things," Silverfield said. "Decision has not been made. I'm excited to see, now we go to these morning practices. Continue to put them in more situations." Behind those two is freshman Hank Hendrix, who also led two scoring drives. Silverfield said that the 17-year-old struggled in the beginning before finding his groove as the scrimmage wore on. The context behind a strong day from defensive line Arkansas' defense had eight sacks. Charlie Collins had two, while Carlon Jones had 1.5. Wyatt Simmons, Antonio Sandel-Bascomb, Jamonta Waller, Caleb Bell and Preston Davis each had one. Eight sacks in a scrimmage might be a cause for concern, but Silverfield was quick to point out some of that production occurred against the third-team and fourth-team offense. He also said the quarterbacks held onto the ball too long at times. Hill and Jackson both need to make quicker decisions. Silverfield also expressed confidence in left tackle Kavion Broussard, who is about to begin his first season as a full-time starter. Collins backed up his coach's sentiment. "(Broussard) throws different sets, early hands, late hands. He gives you a lot of different things to mess up your pass rush timing, the moves and all our steps," Collins said. "His feet have gotten way better. He's a lot quicker than last year, and I feel like overall he found his, what's the best word to use? His nastiness." The biggest concern Silverfield said there were too many explosive plays allowed by the defense. He attributed the struggles to communication issues and at times, poor tackling. The head coach said the defense generated a lot of takeaways Saturday in practice, and that unit has looked stronger in most of the 11-on-11 action open to the media. Those themes did not carry over to Sunday's scrimmage. "I didn’t think today was our best day on defense and a lot of those things can continue to get cleaned up," Silverfield said. The biggest play of the day from the defense was a Tyler Scott interception he returned 30 yards for a touchdown. Arkansas declined to say which quarterback was responsible, but the Hogs did say it was not against the first-team offense. Kicker stats Arkansas struggled overall, going 4-for-8 inside 50 yards. However, projected starter Max Gilbert was 3-for-4 on the day. 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: In Arkansas football's first fall scrimmage, explosive plays lead way