We got to talk to special teams coach John L. Smith after practice today and he covered a lot of ground.

Here’s a rundown:

• There’s a true freshman who is probably going to play this year not many would’ve guessed — linebacker Terrell Williams. Smith said the Tulsa native is a guy who has a chance to make an impact on special teams. He was working with the first-team kickoff coverage this morning and Smith said the Razorbacks are looking for youngsters that can excel in special teams this year.

When asked about Williams on special teams he said: “You said it.” When asked if Williams would redshirt he added: “I don’t think so. We’ll have to wait and see. Coach makes those decisions. But he could be on everything.”

Smith said the Razorbacks have a lot of starters on special teams right now and will leave it that way if they have to. But the goal is to find younger players who can excel on special teams.

“If we find a young guy we can use on three or four special teams, we want to do that,” Smith said. “Coach definitely wants to use those guys. Those are the kind of guys you need.”

• Place kicker Alex Tejada “didn’t have his best day,” missing field goals in both the morning and afternoon practices. Smith said he has been fairly pleased with Tejada throughout preseason camp, but wants to make sure Tejada keeps things simple in his approach to kicking.

“If he just concentrates on a couple of things: Plant and swing it and let it happen,” Smith said. “Don’t punch it. Don’t try to steer it. Just make sure you have a good plant and we finish the swing.

“I think that’s his biggest problem. He wants to hurry some things. He wants to get it to the green close, if you golfers know what I mean. Instead of swing it and let it happen.”

• The competition between punters Briton Forester and Dylan Breeding is still open. But Breeding has been getting more work with the first-team group lately. Smith said a little more about Breeding:

“We have both of those kids working and we’re just trying to figure out who’s going to be the guy,” Smith said. “He does have a strong leg. consistency, he’s just got to keep working on that. And it’s going to come.”

Smith was asked if that competition would go up to the opener. He said they prefer it didn’t. They don’t have to make a decision right away, but want to know which punter they’ll use as soon as possible.

• This always seems to be a popular question: Who are going to be Arkansas’ gunners on the punt coverage team. Well, Isaac Madison was one of those guys until he tore his ACL last Saturday.

So the competition is still undecided at this point. But he mentions that receivers could be in the mix. I did see Jarius Wright getting a look at one of those spots in the morning practice.

“Madison would’ve been the one guy you say, ‘OK, he’s probably the guy right now,’” Smith said. “But that’s a position that receivers can come over and play as well because they’re great with their hands. They’re used to getting off press and all of those things. You might even see some wideouts out there as well as DBs. We haven’t made a decison on those yet, either.”

What a difference a day makes. After roasting on the practice field yesterday morning, I didn’t even break a sweat. Thank you overcast skies and rain showers!

You don’t care about my comfort, though. Let’s talk about the practice, which was the first of two today:

• The big question: What is Arkansas going to do at cornerback without Isaac Madison? Well, Greg Gatson continues to be the first-team guy at the position. David Gordon got the second team work at the spot this morning. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a Gatson-Gordon competition for the starting job the rest of the preseason. Or if Gatson is ready to go. We’ll find out more this afternoon.

• OL Kareem Crowell was the only player missing from the practice field today. No explanation for his absence since no one is available for comment after the first practice of two-a-days. WR London Crawford, TE Joseph Henry and WR Marques Wade were injured and worked off to the side this morning.

• Plenty of special teams work this morning. Punt block. Punt protection. Kickoff coverage. Field goals. Just about everything was touched on during the two-hour practice. PK Alex Tejada was inconsistent at the end, missing a couple of field goals from beyond 40 yards.

• Plenty of starters were first-team guys in kickoff coverage and punt protection. I listed the kickoff coverage guys last week. Here was the punt protection team this morning: Jerry Franklin, Jake Bequette, Adrian Davis, Ramon Broadway, Jarius Wright, Freddy Burton, Jerico Nelson, De’Anthony Curtis, Bret Harris. See a theme there? Lots of starters. Lots of regulars.

• T Ray Dominguez has really been slowed by an ankle injury. Dominguez, who started last season, was in and out of the lineup several times today. He spent some time with the first-team offense, but didn’t last and was replaced by Grant Freeman. He also spent some time with the twos.

  Arkansas officials just sent out a press release that confirmed what we all have been hearing for the past two days: Cornerback Isaac Madison has suffered a season-ending knee injury.

  Madison tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Saturday’s scrimmage inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium. An MRI confirmed the injury, and Madison will have reconstructive knee surgery sometime soon.

  “It is unfortunate since Isaac had been working extremely hard during the offseason,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said in a statement released through the university. “Isaac played really well in the spring and had a good summer for us. He was developing into a leader.”

  Losing Madison is a blow to Arkansas’ defense, especially since he was working as one of the first-team cornerbacks. Now the Razorbacks must find someone else – possibly Greg Gatson or Rudell Crim – to replace Madison’s spot with the starters.

  Madison is the second Arkansas player to suffer a season-ending injury in the first two weeks of practice. Tight end Chris Gragg was lost for the season after injuring his ankle last week.

An interesting twist at Arkansas football practice. After spending all morning talking to players and coaches at the team’s media day, no one was available for comment after the three-hour workout.

And I’m not complaining.

We won’t have any new quotes to share, but there were still several things worth noting from the practice field this afternoon. So let’s roll through them:

• The Razorbacks lost one player in practice and it is believed to be offensive lineman Kareem Crowell. I say that because I never saw Crowell go down, but did see a lineman carted off the field. Crowell was on the field at the beginning of practice, but not there at the end. No word on what happened because players and coaches weren’t available for comment. But we’ll find out more on that tomorrow morning.

• Running back Knile Davis was still not on the field after being away for the first three practices because of his father’s death. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino told us at media day he was expected Davis to be back sometime late this afternoon. So, chances are, we’ll see Davis on the field tomorrow.

• Receiver Carlton Salters had some flair for the dramatic this afternoon. Salters pulled in a pair of impressive, diving catches during team drills. Both of the throws came from Tyler Wilson and were practically in an identical spot on the practice field. Both were easily the catches of the day.

• I saw new punter Briton Forester taking a few field goal attempts today. Alex Tejada continued to handle field goals with the first team, but Forester and Cameron Bryan got their chances too. It as the first time I noticed Forester kicking the ball. He was 21 of 22 on extra points at Palomar College last year.

• Cornerback Isaac Madison picked off two passes (one from Wilson, one from Ryan Mallett) in the span of roughly five plays. It was a nice sequence for the junior, who Petrino has spoken highly of this summer. Madison continues to work with the first team defense opposite Ramon Broadway.

• Damario Ambrose got some reps with the first-team defense during team drills today, while starter Jake Bequette was standing on the sideline. Bequette looked dinged up. It didn’t look like anything serious, but was enough to keep Bequette out for a little while. We’ll let you know how he looks tomorrow morning.

That’s about it for tonight. Arkansas will be back on the field tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was the only coach to speak with the media after practice this afternoon.

One interesting thing to note: Robinson said he watched the video of last year’s spring game and was surprised.

“We’re so much better than we were at this time last year,” Robinson said. “You watch it and you get mixed emotions. It was a wonder how bad we were, but then you realize how far ahead we are. … I think our kids are getting very comfortable in what they need to get done.”

Robinson said several players have stood out this spring on defense. He said LB Wendel Davis, S Tramain Thomas, CB Isaac Madison and DT Malcolm Sheppard have all been impressive. He also had plenty of praise for DE Adrian Davis.

“He’s gotten stronger,” Robinson said. “He’s heavier. He understands what he’s doing and he’s doing it pretty darn good.”

Even though Arkansas does look better on defense, there have been some flaws. One of the biggest has been in the secondary, where big plays have been problematic. A lot of it has come against the second-team defense, but Robinson is hoping that can be eliminated tomorrow.

“We’ve given up too many big plays,” Robinson said. “I think we’re tackling better than we did last year. We’re not being smart with our pursuit angles, but I think we’re taclking better this year. But we’re giving up way too many deep balls.”

So now the only thing left  is tomorrow’s Red-White Game, which will begin at 6 p.m.

Don’t forget, RazorFest will take place before hand. Festivities start at Noon and run to 5:30.

If you can’t make it, the game will be broadcast on Razorback Sports Properties radio affiliates. It’s also going to be on XM 200 and Sirius 214. And if that’s not good enough, Cox Sports Television is going to carry the game as well.

That’s a lot of information. If you want even more, click this link.

That’s all the football news for now. But we will have plenty of live comments, thoughts, news and notes from the spring game tomorrow night here on the Hog Blog. And if that’s not enough information, you can also follow me on Twitter tomorrow night at twitter.com/rneiswanger.