Lots and lots and lots of stuff to talk about after Tuesday’s practice. Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino and offensive players were available (well, most of them anyway — see below) and there was plenty to cover.

The biggest topic? WR Joe Adams return to practice.

Adams practiced on a limited basis for the first time since suffering the minor stroke the week of the Auburn game. He caught passes with other receivers off the machine at the start of the workout, then did some work with the trainers. Players also told us that Adams, apparently, caught some punts later in the workout when it was closed to the media.

Either way, the fact Adams was back in some capacity was good sign to the Razorbacks.

“It was kind of a start to his recovery I guess you could say,” receiver Jarius Wright said. “He has to start somewhere, so putting back on the pads coming out to practice with us today, it meant a real lot for the team.”

There’s still no timetable for Adams’ return to full speed at both practice and on gameday. Paul Petrino was asked about the potential for Adams’ return and said he’s not the guy to comment on that. However, Petrino said “I’m just happy to see him happy.”

“I hope every day that he’s going to be back,” Petrino said. “But more importantly, I just hope that he’s healthy and fine. So whenever they tell us he’s fine, I’ll be jumping up and down happy as can be. Until then, I just wish him the best and hope he keeps getting better.”

Let’s rundown a couple of other items of interest:

1. Alex Tejada spoke with the media for the first time since Saturday, when he missed two critical field goals in the 23-20 loss. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Tejada, but Alex Abrams did. Look for more from the kicker in tomorrow’s paper.

Tight end D.J. Williams did have a few things to say about Tejada, though. It includes a message to fans.

“That’s my boy,” Williams said. “I can’t understand how hard it could be for a kicker. Everybody says that’s what they do all day, but those are the people saying it. They’re in the stands watching it. They’re not out there doing it. He’s a great character kid. I know he’s going to bounce back. Hopefully we can get our fan support and not everybody bashing them because he is on our team and he’s a part of our family. Hopefully we can get our whole state to back him up and he’ll be just fine.”

2. RB Michael Smith was back on the practice field, but still limited to some extent. In fact, running backs coach Tim Horton said he doubted Smith would’ve been able to play if Tuesday had been Saturday. Smith wasn’t available for comment today to tell us how he’s feeling. But Arkansas will continue to monitor his progress on a day-to-day basis the rest of the week.

3. Paul Petrino said the Razorbacks continue to work hard on their third-down success. Arkansas was 2 of 13 at Florida. The Hogs are 20 of 76 (26.3 percent) this season, which ranks 116th in the nation.

“It’s something we always work hard on, we’ve always game planned,” Petrino said. “We’ve always taken great pride in being real good at it. It’s just something that right now we’re not as good as we need to be and hopefully it will be our coming out week and we light it up on third down.”

Make sure you check out RazorbackCentral.com for more in tomorrow’s paper.

I haven’t had the opportunity to blog much today. Been working on several things trying to get caught up for the week. But before I go out for post-practice interviews, I wanted to post a Q&A with D.J. Williams from Tuesday’s practice.

Williams, who 8 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown this season, spoke to us about a variety of topics. Here are some of the highlights:

Q: What is it going to take to get the offense back on track against Texas A&M?
A: “We understand it’s a Big 12 team. They’re known for being physical and big and so we’re going to come out here and try to represent the SEC. Not just the sec, this whole state of Arkansas. We have something – not to prove to anyone else – but to prove to ourselves, that we can go out and play with big-time teams. I know we’re capable of that. We just have to go out on the field and show it.”

Q: A lot has been made of the team’s confidence, how important is it to get that back?
“It’s huge. I would say we’re not going to try to get that back by having a win, we’re going to try to get that back here in practice. Having good repetition in practice and showing ourselves we can make big-time plays. We had a lot of drops against Alabama, very uncharacteristic of our whole team. Some miscues on the line. Little quarterback misreads. That’s just not like us. So we’re going to have to get our swagger back. That’s what we call our confidence. We need to get our swagger back here in practice.”

Q: How much are penalties killing you?
“It just hurts. If you go back and look at the film, I’d say most of them are stupid penalties. Mental mistakes. I don’t know if it’s from being tired or anything like that. But having a good drive, being stopped by penalties, just haunts you at night because that’s stopping yourself. We want to be our last enemy on the field.”

Q: How hard are they to eliminate?
A: “It’s just a mental aspect of the game. You have to block out on the crowd, focus in on what you’re doing, listen to the quarterback’s lips in the huddle because you can’t hear anything out there. I think coaches did a great job of having the volume out here in practice doing that. It’s a different story when you get out on the field. That’s just something we have to get used to and it starts with leadership. The leaders demanding it from the players and not just the coaches demanding it.”

Q: Georgia and Alabama were different games. Is it difficult to refocus?
A: “It’s vital to just throw it out of your mind. We came in here and Alabama was over. We watched film on Sunday and we learned from it. Now we’re putting it behind us and moving on to A&M. They’re a good defense. They have great leaders on defense. We know their offense is very fast tempo, so we’re going to have to help our offense out to give them a breather. I think the offense is going to do a whole lot better because we started off really good here with the Tuesday practice.”

Q: The running game is still waiting to get going. Do you see that happening soon?
A: “I see that. … I know it’s going to come around. We’ve got too many backs not to have more rushing yards. It’s not all on them. It’s on the tight ends and the offensive line to move the line of scrimmage. We need to take more pride in that, not just throw the ball every down. So that’s something coach has told us and we’re going to take as a challenge to help our running backs out.”

  I just got back from Arkansas’ second practice of the day, and there was more news to come out on the defense following a poor showing in Wednesday’s short scrimmage. I’ll try to get into all that, but first, here is what we learned this afternoon:

  • Tight end D.J. Williams finally made an appearance at practice after missing the past three sessions because of an ankle injury. Williams worked with injured wide receiver Marques Wade on conditioning exercises, but he continues to be held out of practice because of the ankle injury. It’s uncertain when he’ll be able to return.

  •  Along with Williams and Wade, fullback Mitchell Bailey and defensive tackle Lavunce Askew were also held out because of injuries. Meanwhile, wide receiver Lucas Miller was absent from Thursday’s afternoon practice, and he has missed the past few practice because of a leg injury.

  • Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson wasn’t pleased with how his unit performed in Wednesday’s abbreviated scrimmage, and as a result, he shook up the depth chart. Sophomore Tramain Thomas has earned his way into the first-team strong safety position, replacing sophomore Elton Ford for now.

  Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Jelani Smith is the latest linebacker to get a chance with the first-defense team. Sophomore Jerry Franklin has again been demoted to the second team, but as I wrote in my story today, Arkansas’ coaches are mixing up the linebacker rotation. It probably won’t end anytime soon.

  Well, that’s it for now. I’ll have more in tomorrow’s edition of The Morning News. Now, back to work.

  Arkansas suffered its first major injury of preseason camp on Wednesday morning when tight end Chris Gragg had to be carted off with a severe ankle injury.

  Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said he believes Gragg dislocated his left ankle and will likely need season-ending surgery. The sophomore’s injury leaves the Razorbacks thin at tight end while starter D.J. Williams continues to miss practice with a minor ankle injury.

  ”I feel bad for him. He’s worked extremely hard,” Petrino said of Gragg. “I’m sure it’ll be a situation where he’ll have to have surgery and be out the year.”

  Arkansas athletic trainers rushed to Gragg after he suffered the injury midway through Wednesday’s practice. As he was being carted off the field, the tight end gave a thumbs up to the small crowd inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium that cheered for him.

  Williams has missed the past two practices after injuring his ankle Tuesday morning. Petrino said he didn’t known when Williams will be healthy enough to return to practice, adding that “hopefully” it will be soon.”

  With Williams and Gragg out, former Springdale High star Ben Cleveland got more reps at tight end. But Cleveland isn’t fully healthy, either. He said he was bothered Tuesday by a neck stinger, and he has battled a toe injury and nerve damage in his neck during his time with the Razorbacks.

Another national award, another Razorback in the running.

The Doak Walker Award Watch List was announced today and Arkansas running back Michael Smith is one of 45 in the running. It’s no surprise Smith is included after his performance last season. He led the Razorbacks in rushing with 1,072 yards and 8 touchdowns before being slowed at the end of the year by injuries. Arkansas has made sure he will have help this season.

Yesterday, Arkansas sophomore Ryan Mallett was named to the Davey O’Brien Watch List, which is presented to the nation’s top quarterback. Junior D.J. Williams is on the watch list for the John Mackey Award, which is presented to the nation’s top tight end.

Arkansas says it is the first time in school history players have been nominated for these awards in the same season. In addition, the Razorbacks are one of eight teams to have a player on all three lists this year. Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Oregon, LSU, Oklahoma, Florida and Notre Dame are the others.

What does it mean? Well, not much right now. But it is a sign the Razorbacks have some pretty talented players on offense.

Good morning from Hoover, Ala. The third and final day of SEC Media Days will begin shortly when Auburn coach Gene Chizik steps up to the podium. We’ll fill you in on the things he and the rest of the coaches say today.

One thing worth mentioning this morning: The SEC Media Days preseason All-SEC team has been announced. And a handful of Razorbacks have been honored.

Running back Michael Smith and tight end D.J. Williams were named to the first-team offense. Smith also was a first-team selection on the Coaches All-SEC team last week. Williams was a second-team pick.

Defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, a second-team pick on the coaches team last week, is on the second-team defense in the SEC Media Days list. Florida led the way with 12 selections on the All-SEC team. Alabama has 8.

As for the projected order of finish, Arkansas is projected to finish fourth in the SEC West. No surprise there. The West looks like this today: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State. I’m a little surprised Ole Miss is listed third in the SEC West. I thought they’d be higher than that. Maybe even the projected division winner.

What about the SEC East? Well, you should know the answer. Florida was a unanimous selection (earning 64 of 64 first-place votes) to win the East. Charles Bloom tells us that has never happened before.

Florida is not a unanimous pick to win the SEC title, though. The Gators earned 63 votes. The other went to … Ole Miss.

Sure, football questions are important at SEC Media Days. Who is starting at quarterback? How much better should your team be? Can anybody beat Florida? What freshmen will make an impact?

But what about fashion?

It’s one of the few times we get to see players wearing something other than their uniforms. Arkansas’ D.J. Williams and Malcolm Sheppard (like other coaches and players) were decked out in suits today. It was nothing crazy, though. I asked Williams a little bit about their choices — which were pretty classy — before the Razorbacks headed back to Fayetteville.

“There’s a difference between a little personality and yelling for attention,” Williams said.

I’m not exactly a fashion expert, so I’m not qualified to describe or analyze them. I’ll just post a couple of pictures and let you decide. But I can fill you in on a couple details, according to Williams. They went suit shopping together at Dillard’s a couple of days ago. And Williams needed a couple of hours to pick out his multi-colored tie.

“I had to make sure it went with that,” Williams said. “The blue. It looks sharp. I had to throw some red in there for Arkansas.”

He should’ve just gone ahead and gotten a Razorback tie like the one Bobby Petrino was sporting today. But that’s another story.

OK, back to writing about football.

  Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams isn’t shy by any means. He had plenty of funny and insightful quotes during his time behind the microphone and in front of a crowd of reporters.

  I asked him what he thought about the SEC coaches not naming him to their All-SEC first team and instead giving LSU tight end Richard Dickson the top spot. Williams was named to the coaches All-SEC second team.

  “I found out about that I’d say four days later,” Williams said. “I don’t pay much attention to that, I really don’t. I’m not just saying that because that’s what we’re supposed to say. But that just shows the competition we have in our conference. We got great players everywhere in the SEC.”

  I wonder where the media will rank Williams later this week in their All-SEC team.

It was raining when we left NW Arkansas this morning. It was raining when we got to Ft. Smith. It was raining when we reached Little Rock. And it was raining when we were driving through Memphis.

Needless to say, it was a pretty long day in the rental car for Alex Abrams and I as we steered our way toward Hoover, Ala., for SEC Media Days. What did we miss while we were in the car? Well, it sounds like something happened on campus pertaining to a Razorback and something else TV related was announced by the SEC office. But we’re back online. We’ve been here at the Wynfrey Hotel for a couple of hours, plan to get a little sleep tonight and will be ready to go tomorrow morning.

Good news for Arkansas fans: The Razorbacks lead things off on Day One along with Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State. Coach Bobby Petrino will be here along with tight end D.J. Williams and defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard.

We’ll have all kinds of news, notes and stories from Arkansas’ two hours with the media here tomorrow. You can start by reading what we think could/should be some of the top SEC Media Days storylines. After that, make sure you check the Hog Blog pretty regularly for all kinds of info. And while you’re at it, follow us on Twitter, too, at a couple of locations (@NWAOnlineHogs and @NWARobbie). We’ll be tweeting before, during and after Petrino and the players speak.

There will be plenty to see, hear and write about in the next few days. So stay tuned…

I’ve been away from the laptop for a couple of hours and haven’t been able to post this:

Four Razorbacks were named to the Preseason All-SEC Coaches Team earlier today. The four are: RB Michael Smith (first-team), TE D.J. Williams (second), DT Malcolm Sheppard (second) and OL Mitch Petrus (third).

It’s no surprise Florida leads the way with 16 selections on this team, including first-teamers QB Tim Tebow, OL Mike Pouncey, C Maurkice Pouncey, LB Brandon Spikes, DL Carlos Dunlap and DB Joe Haden.

If you want to see the team in its entirety, click this link.

There will be another preseason, All-SEC team released next week when the media vote comes in from SEC Media Days.