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.

Arkansas wrapped up its week of preparations for Saturday’s game at top-ranked Florida. There was quite of bit of news to come out of Thursday’s practice.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said running back Michael Smith (hamstring) is a game-time decision. The senior has continued to practice this week, but he’s been limited because of the injury suffered in last week’s win over Auburn.

“Michael got out there today and did some work. Right now, I’d say it’ll probably be a game-time decision,” Petrino said. “But I’m encouraged in the fact that he did get some work yesterday and more today.”

Petrino didn’t want to say who would start at tailback if Smith is unable to go against the Gators. However, Petrino said wide receiver Jarius Wright (concussion) has looked good in practice and has shown no “ill effects” from the head injury. Expect Wright to play.

Petrino said freshman quarterback Brandon Mitchell, who hasn’t played this season, will be sidelined for awhile with what’s believed to be an inguinal hernia. In the meantime, redshirt freshman Jim Youngblood is working at both quarterback and tight end.

“He’s been able to do both,” Petrino said of Youngblood.

Finally, Petrino said wide receiver Joe Adams will make the trip to Florida, even though he’s out indefinitely with what’s being called a mild stroke.

There wasn’t much news out of Arkansas’ practice tonight. But we can still find three things worth talking about, right?

Of course. So here we go.

• Injury updates: RB Michael Smith was on the field again Wednesday, but didn’t do much in the portion of practice open to the media. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said earlier Wednesday that the hope was that Smith could do more in practice. Maybe he did after we left. WR Jarius Wright was on the field practicing, but did wear a yellow, non-contact jersey. Wright was running well and should be ready. Another guy that was dinged up Saturday, S Elton Ford, was on the field Wednesday and said he’s doing fine. Ford hurt his ankle when teammate Matt Harris collided with him in the second half. Ford missed some time, but did return to the field later.

• Tim Tebow talk: Since it was defensive day, plenty was said about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. The Razorbacks will get their second crack at trying to beat the Tebow-led Gators, but know it’s a big, big challenge. Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said no matter what happened to Tebow at Kentucky, the quarterback’s game won’t change. “His nature is to compete and compete and compete until the final bell.” Robinson, who typically refers to players by their numbers, said Tebow has his respect, too. “He’s No. 15, but with great respect. I know who the young man is. He’s a fabulous football player. I admire the heck out of him. I think we all do.”

• Jerico Nelson a hot topic: LB Jerico Nelson was a popular guy, doing plenty of interviews after his 10-tackle performance against Auburn. We’ll have a feature on Nelson in tomorrow’s paper, but here’s a good quote from Willy Robinson on the sophomore’s big hit against Auburn: “He’s one of those guys that, all of a sudden, you say, ‘Woah,’ to after he’s hit you. That play that he made on saturday, it ignited us on defense.” And here’s one more from position coach, John L. Smith. “After you watch Jerico and you watch his work ethic and you watch him work out a little bit, pretty soon, it doesn’t take you long to say, ‘Yeah, we can find a spot for this guy in a lot of places because he’s got a great attitude and a great work ethic.’ He just goes to the field and gives you what he has.”

Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino spoke following Tuesday’s practice, and naturally several questions were about three of his top offensive weapons – running back Michael Smith (hamstring) and wide receivers Joe Adams (mild stroke) and Jarius Wright (concussion).

Smith and Wright took part in Tuesday’s practice, and neither of them showed any signs that won’t be able to play Saturday at top-ranked Florida. Still, Petrino said it’s day-to-day with both players.

“They moved around good. It was good to see them out there, good to see them dressed out and I think it’s just a day-to-day thing,” Petrino said. “But they look good.”

Adams’ status is a bit more complicated. The sophomore has been sidelined since suffering what Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino has described as a “mild concussion.”

Adams attended Tuesday’s practice, wearing his jersey and shorts while watching his fellow wide receivers catch passes. During position drills, he stood a few yards off the line of scrimmage to mimic a defensive back.

“His spirits are good. Joe’s a great kid,” Petrino said. “He really cares about his team and about his teammates, and he just likes to be around and helping them out. And his spirits seem real good, real upbeat, and it’s great just to have him out there and be around everybody.”

Just got back from practice a minute ago. Here are some quick observations from the first 20 minutes of practice, which were open to the media:

Running back Michael Smith (hamstring) and wide receiver Jarius Wright (concussion) were taking part in practice. Wright was catching passes with the rest of the wide receivers, and Smith was going through position drills with the other tailbacks.

As Wright practiced, fellow wide receiver Joe Adams stood nearby and watched. Adams has been sidelined since suffering what Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said was “mild stroke.” The sophomore was wearing his jersey, shorts and a red hat, and when the receivers started running routes, Adams stood a few yards away to mimic a defensive back. The receivers would have to run past him.

Adams’ status for the remainder of the season remains uncertain. Petrino said the sophomore has undergone tests since suffering his stroke early last week, but there are still a lot of questions involving Adams’ health.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said on the SEC Teleconference last week that his team was in great shape, injury-wise.

Well, it’s a little bit different today.

Petrino, quarterback Ryan Mallett and running back Dennis Johnson met with the media this afternoon and most of the conversation had to do with the health of several key offensive players. Here’s the rundown of what was said:

• We’ll start with WR Joe Adams, who Petrino said suffered a “minor stroke” last week. Petrino said Monday Adams is doing better. In fact, he feels well enough to practice. However, that won’t be happening for now. Petrino said Adams continues to undergo tests and is being monitored by doctors. He doesn’t know how long Adams will be out, but is pretty certain he won’t be playing at Florida on Saturday.

“I’m not sure how long he’ll be out,” Petrino said. “But it will be up to the doctors. But the main thing is, he’s doing good, he feels good, he has no headaches. He feels like he wants to practice. Obviously, he can’t at this time.”

• Adams’ position mate, Jarius Wright, seems to be doing well after leaving early in the second quarter with a concussion Saturday. Petrino said Wright was scheduled to do some exercising today and his performance will determine if he’s ready to go for the rest of the week.

• Arkansas isn’t so sure about Michael Smith, who tweaked his hamstring in the second half against the Tigers. Petrino officially labeled his status as “day-to-day” this afternoon. No word on whether he’ll be out at practice tomorrow. If he doesn’t (and if he can’t play Saturday) that means the Razorbacks will probably lean on its freshmen, Ronnie Wingo Jr. and Knile Davis, to carry the load at Florida.

In non-injury news:

• Petrino said the Razorbacks should be much better prepared for Florida than they were during the 35-7 loss at Alabama a few weeks ago. For starters, Arkansas has put together two important wins. Confidence is up. But Petrino said it will be important to make sure the Razorbacks actually believe they can beat the Gators before stepping on the field Saturday.

“We’ve had two good games back to back,” Petrino said. “We’ve seen ourselves perform well on video. We went out and played extremely well in three phases. It will be the challenge to really believe, everybody in the building, everybody that gets on the plane, believe that we can go win the game. And then play with our technique and play with our fundamentals and match their speed. I think that will be the key to the game.”

• He also was complimented Arkansas’ special teams play for setting up three touchdowns Saturday. Two of them came on Johnson’s big returns. The other came on a kickoff, when Andru Stewart force a fumble that was recovered by Jerell Norton.

“That’s huge when you set up three scores with your special teams,” Petrino said. “You’re certainly winning the battle there.”

It’s that time of week again. Done with final stories in preparation for Saturday’s game. Waiting for the Stephens jet to pick us up and take us to Arlington tomorrow (and hopefully we’ll get there before kickoff this time).

But while we wait, it’s time to clean out my notebook with some leftover notes, quotes and thoughts before the Texas A&M game.

• Everyone wants to know how QB Ryan Mallett is going to respond after a bad day at ‘Bama. I got a chance to ask Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino about it after Thursday’s practice. He said Mallett has given plenty of indication that he’ll bounce back this week.

“He’s done a great job of leading,” Petrino said. “He’s been very focused. He’s worked real hard at his footwork. Like you would like a guy to respond. Like you would like a great competitor to respond.”

Mallett will get his opportunities against a defense that hasn’t faced a big test, yet. But Texas A&M has shown an ability to pressure quarterbacks, collecting 14 sacks in three games. Eight of those have come from defense end/linebacker Von Miller. Mallett said earlier this week his inability to handle the pressure cost his team at ‘Bama. But he wants to make sure he does a better job Saturday.

“I was trying to make plays and get my team back in the game, but in reality, if I would have stuck to my technique, I would hit a lot of those throws that we missed,” Mallett said.

• One more thing Petrino was asked about Thursday: Does the SEC vs. Big 12 matter? His response was, not really. Arkansas has other things to worry about after dropping a couple of games.

“It means that we need to go down and get us a win,” Petrino said. “You know what I mean? It adds up probably for the conferences and all that, but this is really about us going down and playing well. Seeing our hard work pay off. Being able to fight through tough times and stick together and go down and play well. I want to see us compete, play well, finish the game with a ‘W.’”

Petrino also was asked if this has become a “backs against the wall” game for his team. He wouldn’t go that far.

“We want to win it,” Petrino said. “There’s no question about it. We need to execute, play well and win the game.”

• A lot has been said of Texas A&M QB Jerrod Johnson. And for good reason. Johnson is off to a great start, averaging more than 300 passing yards a game. He has 9 TDs, 0 INTs. He also is the team’s second-leading rusher and has scored 4 rushing TDs so far.

The dual-threat is a new element for the Hogs. Safety Matt Harris said Arkansas will have to be on its toes tomorrow night.

“It’s just one more thing,” Harris said. “The beauty of football and defense. There’s’s always something they can throw at you. There’s always an offense to prepare for. But we’ve been working hard all practice all week long. So we’re not going to go in there intimidated by a dual-threat quarterback. We’re going to respect him, but we’re going to play our defense.”

• Junior college transfer Andru Stewart spent part of the week working with the first-team defense. We don’t know if he’ll start Saturday, but do know he is starting to impress Arkansas’ coaches. It has taken Stewart time, but defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said he’s starting to figure out what he needs to do to succeed at this level. The first step was to get past feeling overwhelmed by it all.

“He was overwhelmed,” Robinson said. “There was a lot of information being pushed to him (in the spring). I think the other part of it is sometimes you come in and here’s a young man that comes from California and he’s made it to the SEC and it’s like, ‘Well, I’m here.’ So there’s a little bit of, I don’t think it’s confidence, it’s that he felt shoot he made it. Why do everything else? So he had to learn how to earn his money.”

• We all know Arkansas’ secondary has struggled to defend against the pass. But the Razorbacks could use some help from their pass rushers, too. The Razorbacks defensive front has 3 1/2 sacks in three games. The defensive ends have just one of those. I got to talk to DE coach Kirk Botkin for a little while Wednesday and we talked about getting pressure on the quarterback.

“We’ve been pretty productive so far stopping the run,” Botkin said. “We’ve got to get better pressure on the quarterback and that comes from all four of the defensive linemen. But I think at the end spot we only have one quarterback sack. That’s an area I’m tryng to emphasize.”

Botkin said it’s not all about sacks. The Razorbacks won’t get to the quarterback every time, but need to make him hurry his throws. We saw what can happen last Saturday. Alabama only had three sacks, but Mallett was under pressure and hurried most of the day.

• We all know that Arkansas’ receivers, like Mallett, had a tough outing against ‘Bama. Dropped passes and other mistakes were costly. WR Jarius Wright said the group probably lost its confidence early with some dropped passes. However, he said there’s no excuse for it and vowed that the Razorbacks’ receiving corps is determined to play better this week.

“After the game, we just had to get our priorities straight,” Wright said. “The way we bounce back is just coming into the next game and showing everybody that we can play lights out. We can be the lights out receivers everybody thought we were in the first two games.”

• Arkansas needs to run the ball Saturday. It’s something that has been said plenty of times, but offensive tackle Ray Dominguez added an important reason when he spoke to us Tuesday. The Razorbacks need to help their defense as much as possible because of Texas A&M’s frenetic, no-huddle offense which is averaging more than 80 snaps a game. The more Arkansas can stay on the field, the more rest the defense gets.

“Everyone knows we can pass the ball, but we’re really trying to establish the run just so we can control the clock,” Dominguez said. “Three-and-out and only wasting 30 seconds off the clock doesn’t help. It keeps our defense out (on the field) and it keeps them tired.”

• I wrote something on Matt Harris and his father, former Dallas Cowboys great Cliff Harris for today’s paper. But I didn’t get in a funny quote from Monday’s press conference, when Matt Harris was asked what his dad thinks of the new stadium.

Harris said he hasn’t heard from his dad about it. In fact, he didn’t even know his dad was there for the opening game in Cowboys Stadium.

“He didn’t even actually tell me he was going to the game because we played Georgia and he came to the Georgia game,” Harris said. “They played the Giants the next day. He was so caught in the Georgia game and asked me a question about the Georgia game that he forgot to even mention he was going to go to the opening game at Texas Stadium. That is the kind of guy he is – just so concerned about his kid still that he didn’t even say anything about it. I called him at halftime. ‘I said I saw you on TV, you didn’t tell me you were going to the game.’”

• I’ll close with one more note from Texas A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines. The Aggies have been relying on tons of youth on defense this season (sound familiar). There are 14 freshmen and sophomores on the defensive depth chart. Kines was asked about it by the media in College Station, Texas, earlier this week. Here was his response:

“That’s what we’ve got,” Kines said. “They’re a good bunch and they’re getting better every day. They’re fun to coach and it’s fun to come to work with them. They’re going to make some mistakes, but they’re going to run out of some problems sometimes, too. I think that’s the biggest difference this year. Sometimes we can make a mistake and we’re fast enough to run out of it and overcome it. Before we just say, ‘Oh my goodness.’”

That’s it for me for the week. I’m going to try to slip away and enjoy some downtime before setting up in the press box tomorrow night.

Make sure you check out RazorbackCentral.com later tonight and tomorrow for more on this game. Alex Abrams is in Arlington right now working on a story on Cowboys Stadium and another on the renewal of this old SWC series.

Don’t forget to check back here to the Hog Blog tomorrow for plenty of info before, during and after the game. And you can always follow us on Twitter at three locations (@NWAOnlineHogs, @NWARobbie, and @NWAAlex).

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino didn’t intend to call so many pass plays throughout the 48-10 win against Missouri State.

But for whatever reason, he said the Bears kept packing players in the box to stop the run. So Arkansas quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson kept throwing the ball. Jarius Wright and the receivers kept catching it. And the result is now a school record.

Not only did Arkansas set a school record for passing yards in a game (447) in the season opener, it can call itself No. 1 in the nation in passing – at least for now. The Razorbacks and Houston sit tied atop the NCAA statistical leader board in passing yards after the first week of the season, which ended with Miami’s 38-34 win against Florida State last night. (What a way to end the week, by the way).

It’s a strange place for Arkansas to be, considering the Razorbacks were a run-oriented offense for years. But it’s clear Petrino has plenty of firepower in the passing game at his fingertips. Consider this: It’s the fifth time Arkansas has thrown for more than 300 yards in the 13 games he has coached. Arkansas had only 16, 300-yard passing games prior to Petrino’s arrival last season.

Let that soak in.

Anyway, in addition to Arkansas sitting atop the NCAA in passing yards, here’s a few more statistical rankings to consider:

TEAM STATISTICS

Total Offense: 591 yards (No. 7 in nation)

Rushing Offense: 144 yards (No. 62)

Scoring Offense: 48 points (No. 16)

Rushing Defense: 82 yards (No. 37)

Passing Defense: 123 yards (No. 23)

Total Defense: 205 yards (No. 21)

Scoring Defense: 10 points (No. 33)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing Efficiency: Ryan Mallett – 210.25 rating (No. 5)

Passing Efficiency: Tyler Wilson -153.64 (No. 32)

Total Offense: Ryan Mallett – 311 yards/game (No. 19)

Receiving Yards: Jarius Wright – 139 yards/game (No. 12-T)

Kickoff Returns: Dennis Johnson – 57.5 yards/return (No. 2)

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.”

It was Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino’s turn to address the media after today’s practice, so we spent a few minutes checking in with hiim about the offense after the Razorbacks’ 13th practice of the spring. Because of some space constraints, we won’t have a notebook in the newspaper tomorrow. So I’m just going to throw some notes up here on the Blog.

• In short, Petrino felt like it was a good day. The Razorbacks were in full pads and took part in some hitting drills early on. They also got in some scrimmage work even though running backs and receivers were not tackled during the 11-on-11 portion of practice.

“I thought some guys got a lot tougher and more physical,” Petrino said. “It will be real good to get in and watch the tape. We got a long run, play-action period, had a blitz period, worked a lot of different things in our team section. I liked the way we came out. We’ve just got keep grinding, keep working hard, keep improving.”

• The spot where I was sitting was closest to a WR-CB blocking and tackling drill during the most physical part of practice. Receivers would try to block cornerbacks, while the cornerbacks tried to tackle ball carriers. It was entertaining. Petrino was asked who has impressed him the most as a blocking receiver this spring. You’d think it was London Crawford, right? Wrong. It’s Joe Adams and Jarius Wright.

Petrino was asked what has made Wright and Adams better this spring and he said it was their effort: “Really at receiver it’s all about effort. If you just fly around and play hard it gives you a good chance.”

• We won’t get a chance to talk to Paul Petrino on Friday, so there was also some discussion about the Red-White Game and what he is hoping to see out there. His answer was no surprise: He wants to see “show time.”

“I’d like to see us come out there and really play with great effort,” Petrino said. “Have real good tempo in and out of the huddle. Have no assignment mistakes. and then just go make plays. We talk about show time and making big plays, that’s what we want to see. We want to see guys making plays and have a real good assignment and a great effort grade and just go out there and be playmakers and make plays.”

• Arkansas running backs Michael Smith and Dennis Johnson both participated in the workout Wednesday. Smith only took part in the team drills early on, staying away from contact. But Petrino said Smith’s return the past couple of days is a good sign.

“Mike is doing great,” Petrino said. “The thing about Mike is that he works hard in that training room and he’s done a great job rehabbing. I think the doctor did a great job on him and he looks great.”