The Bret Bielema regime at Arkansas has officially begun. In front of a crowd of 51,088 the Razorbacks held their first Red-White Game under the Bielema coaching staff.
The Red team defeated the White team 34-27.
Quarterback Brandon Allen shined completing 11 of 16 passes for 158 yards with the first team offense. Brandon Allen worked with the second team completing 10 of 14 passes for 119 yards. Both quarterbacks had a touchdown pass.
“I tell my players all the time that it’s not going to be this one moment that we realize where we want to be its going to be a steady process to get where we need to be,” said coach Bielema.
On the ground, Patrick Arinze was the leading rusher with nine carries for 66 yards. Javontee Herndon caught six passes for 85 yards, while Demetrius Wilson had four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown and Keon Hatcher had five catches for 60 yards. D’Arthur Cowan and Jeremy Sprinkle also recorded touchdown grabs for the Red Team.
A lot of people didn’t know what to expect from the offense since all the major contributors graduated or turned pro early.
“I think about my past experiences as a head coach I knew as we were getting closer and closer to a championship level team you begin to notice certain things,” said Bielema. “I made note of them in my mind I don't know if they are apparent to anyone else they definitely aren't apparent to the outside world I had a few of those moments last week.”
The Hogs still have a long way to go and are working on building a bigger offensive line to run the style Bielema prefers. But at least the players see progress.
“Throughout the spring I think we got a lot of the mental mistakes out of the way and I think we also get a mentality that we want to attack defenses,” said running back Keiro Small. “Everyone thinks the offense just wants to score but you have to get after the defense in order to get in the endzone and I think that's the mentality we are getting.”
The Red-White game marks the end of spring practice. Fall practice will officially begin the first week od August.