I just came back from watching the first few minutes of today’s practice. The Razorbacks are practicing inside their indoor facility because, well, why not? A few things stood out immediately.

Wide receiver Joe Adams appears to be making progress. He ran routes and caught passes with the rest of the receivers during position drills. That was more than the sophomore did Tuesday, when he mostly caught passes from a ball-throwing machine. Adams has missed the past two games because a mild stroke, and it’s uncertain when he’ll be able to return to the lineup. But at least he’s showing signs of improvement.

Meanwhile, fellow wide receiver Lucas Miller was back at practice after missing Tuesday for an undisclosed reason. A few yards away, running back Michael Smith took part in position drills with the rest of Arkansas’ tailbacks. Smith continues to be bothered by a hamstring injury, and his status for Saturday’s game at Ole Miss is up in the air.

Cornerback Rudell Crim wasn’t wearing a yellow, no-contact jersey at practice, a sign that he’s getting over whatever injury has been bothering him lately. And finally, reserve quarterback Brandon Mitchell – who recently had surgery for a hernia – was watching practice. The freshman wasn’t dressed out, but stood nearby in shorts and a T-shirt.

Well, that’s it for now. But check back later for more information after practice. Also, you can follow me on Twitter (@NWAAlex).

We just returned to the media room after watching the portion of practice open to the media.

There’s a couple of things worth mentioning:

• RB Michael Smith is out on the field practicing after missing Saturday’s game with the hamstring injury. Smith was out on the field last week, but looks much closer to full speed now than he did preparing for Florida. We saw him get in the mix in some early blocking drills for the running backs. I don’t think he did anything like that last week.

• Another return – of sorts — for the offense. WR Joe Adams is in his helment and pads today. Adams wasn’t doing anything on the field. He was catching passes off to the side and working with a member of the training staff. But it was a good sign for the sophomore, who is trying to bounce back after suffering a minor stroke the week of the Auburn game.

• A few more tidbits — 1. CB Rudell Crim is wearing a yellow, non-contact jersey out on the practice field today. Not sure what the exact injury is, but I didn’t see him sit out any of the open portion of the practice. 2. I did not see WR Lucas Miller out there. I know Miller collided with receiver Cobi Hamilton on crossing routes late in the first half, but he did play after that. Not sure what is wrong, if anything, right now. 3. RB Dennis Johnson is practicing after missing the final minutes of the Florida game after having his bell rung. He seems fine.

I want to take one more look back at the 35-7 loss to Alabama before turning the page to Texas A&M later today.

It’s time to look back at the five keys to beating Alabama and how the Razorbacks fared:

1. Score Points Early: This one is pretty self-explanatory. Arkansas’ defense did a good job of keeping Alabama off the scoreboard for awhile, but the offense got nothing done itself. Arkansas failed to score in the first quarter for the first time this year … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

2. Fix the Leaks: For the second straight week, an opposing quarterback had a career day. Arkansas’ secondary gave up plenty through the air once again, including an 80-yard touchdown pass (although, Rudell Crim was in good position. He just couldn’t make a play) and a 50-yard touchdown on a trick play. Arkansas has given up 8 passing touchdowns the past two games … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

3. Pressure McElroy: Arkansas registered just one sack Saturday and did not get much pressure on Greg McElroy. The quarterback had plenty of time in the pocket and completed 17 of 24 passes for 291 yards with 3 touchdowns. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

4. Limit Turnovers: When you see a team score just seven points, you figured turnovers had to play a big role. But Arkansas did a good job of protecting the football. The only turnover came late, when Ryan Mallett threw an interception with the outcome already decided. It was his first interception of the season, but not bad considering ‘Bama had four picks in this game last year. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

5. Establish the Run: Arkansas showed some flashes with its ground game, but finished with a season-low 63 yards. Michael Smith led the team with 61 yards on 12 carries and nearly every other back had opportunities, too. But the biggest run of the day was an 18-yarder and that came on a third-and-25 play in the first half. Running for 63 yards against ‘Bama won’t win the game. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

Had to shift my attention to basketball yesterday afternoon, but haven’t forgotten there’s a little football game coming up tomorrow night in Razorback Stadium. I’m finishing up work for tomorrow’s paper, so you know what that means: There’s plenty of extra notes and quotes about the Georgia game that won’t make it in print.

So it’s time to clean out the notebook:

1. First up, got a little note from our interview with Arkansas safety Matt Harris on Monday. He was asked if the defense was a little disappointed they never got to face former Georgia QB Matt Stafford. Harris told us he did play against Stafford in high school.

“We’re both from the Dallas area,” Harris said. “I played him when he was at Highland Park. When I played him, he was a sophomore and I knew he was going to go to the NFL. I committed to Arkansas, he committed to Georgia that next year and I figured I might have another shot at him. I was one year off if he didn’t leave. It’s kind of disappointing, but to not play against a guy like Stafford does take a little pressure off of you.”

2. CB Rudell Crim has his first game as a Razorback under his belt. But Crim – a JUCO transfer – is getting ready for his first taste of SEC ball Saturday. I talked to Crim for a few minutes Wednesday and the last question I asked was this: Are you getting any sleep?

Apparently, he isn’t. There may be some visions of Georgia WR A.J. Green dancing in his head.

“It’s not easy to sleep, honestly,” Crim said. “You just have to try to stay humble to yourself and try to get as much rest as you can. Right now everybody is so excited and pumped up about this big first SEC game, conference game. It can be overwhelming but you have to force yourself to stay calm and get some sleep.”

3. Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said some funny things Wednesday. Like his “they don’t know who the hell I am” response to a question about whether he knew anyone on Georgia’s staff. But one thing that didn’t create a laugh is worth nothing. Robinson was asked what he thought was different about the ‘Dawgs offense in their second game. Short answer: Quick screens.

“Their run game hasn’t changed much, but their pass game became more accessible for their quarterback to be able to manage it,” Robinson said. “A lot of screens to a lot of different players. A lot of quick game. You can make explosive gains off of quick game. You’ve got to be able to tackle the catch. … The quick game, the screens, it made it so much easier for the quarterback to manage it.”

4. It didn’t really fit into anything I was writing, but Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino was asked about Ryan Mallett on the SEC Teleconference on Wednesday. Specifically, he was asked if he could compare Mallett to any other quarterback he has coached.

“It’s hard to compare him because he’s so different,” Petrino said. “I’ve never coached a guy this tall before or a guy that has the arm strength that he has. I’ve been happy with his progress. He’s done a nice job. He’s a great student of game. He works extremely hard at it. Since he’s been here, he’s dropped from 265 pounds down to 238 so he’s really taken a lot of responsility in getting his body ready to play. And he came out and had a good game the first game.”

5. Well Rested vs. Battle Tested. It’s a topic we explored in a story we wrote earlier this week. Petrino was asked about it a little more on the teleconference Wednesday. Petrino said advantage Georgia. He said Arkansas must adjust quickly to the speed of the game.

“There’s a concern,” Petrino said. “When we see what we opened up with and the opponent that we played, we did play well. They’re not same quality teams as an Oklahoma State and a South Carolina. I think that gives Georgia the advantage in the fact that they’ve been in hard fought game and very fast and physical game. What we have to do is make sure we understand what getting ourselves into and we come out and be aggressive early and adjust to speed quickly.”

6. We know that Georgia has been impressive on the road in SEC games under Richt. Honestly, you can’t ask for anything more than a 24-4 record in an eight-year span. So why is Georgia so good in road games? Richt said it has to do with quarterback play.

“The one player who has to weather the storm is your quarterback,” Richt said. “Your defense doesn’t have to worry about it much. Not only handle noise and communication, but feeling if something goes a little bad the whole world is against him.”

Richt has had some pretty good ones in David Greene, D.J. Shockley and Stafford. How will Joe Cox fare?

7. A lot has been said about Green already. Clearly, the matchup with Arkansas’ DBs will be one to watch. But defensive end Jake Bequette said the defensive line will have plenty of responsibilities, too, knowing there’s a big-play threat outside.

“It gives us extra motivation to get back there because we know what an excellent player he is,” Bequette said. “It’s very obvious when you turn on the film who No. 8 is and what he can do. As defensive ends and defensive tackles, we’re going to have get back and put some pressure on No. 14.”

8. Finally, the last thing I’ll write is a quote I didn’t get to use from running back Michael Smith. Clearly, everybody realizes this is a big game for Arkansas’ season. Win this and the goal of winning every home game becomes more legitimate. Lose it and you just might have to be kicking and clawing to make sure you’re bowl eligible at the end of the year.

Smith was asked about his thoughts on Saturday’s stakes for the Razorbacks.

“If we’re going to have a big year we need to come out and win every game,” Smith said. “Making sure that we win every game. It starts right here with Georgia. There’s a lot riding on it. We have to make sure we come out and execute, we come out and compete, and most of all, just finish and come out with a win.”

We all got our first look at Arkansas’ newcomers today. The nice thing was, we got to see all of them on the field by themselves for the first hour of practice.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said he likes to do that with his new players so that they can get a feel for what practice is going to be like when the veterans step on the field.

“Our idea here is to, first couple days, bring the freshmen out early and we do the individual drills that we’re going to do with the vets so they can get used to it,” Petrino said. “Then we start practice we repeat those same drills so they’re not so far behind with the vets.”

Petrino said he likes the way the newcomers look. One thing he noticed was the size and length of players, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. There are some big bodies on both fronts. Zhamal Thomas (6-5, 343) and Anthony Oden (6-8, 328) looked massive on the offensive front, especially.

Petrino also highlighted the new players in the secondary, which includes Rudell Crim, Anthony Leon, Darius Winston and David Gordon. All four of those guys will get a chance to help immediately.

The newcomers weren’t flawless. Petrino said their stamina is one thing that needs work.

“They got fatigued fast,” Petrino said. “All the individual drills we did, you could see they hadn’t been in the same type of shape as our vets.”

The newcomers will practice before the veterans once again Friday and Petrino said the workout could be held inside the Walker Pavilion to keep them out of the heat for a little while. The full team will start practice together the next three days, then the newcomers will stay afterward to go over everything again.

“I knew it would be fast, I just didn’t know how fast it was going to be,” Crim said about the speed and tempo of practice. “It makes you go harder. Now that I finally understand the whole tempo and everything, I feel like I can play to my ability. It was pretty different.”

Crim was the only newcomer who spoke to the media Thursday. Freshmen won’t be permitted to talk to us for a few more days. But we’ll let you know what they say when they say it.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson filled us in on where some of his defensive players will be lining up when preseason practice begins next week.

Redshirt freshman Tenarius Wright, who moved down to defensive end in the spring, will be back at middle linebacker this fall.

“He’s improved his running,” Robinson said. “To the day, we couldn’t tell you why at this time last year he was running well enough to be this linebacker. And then somewhere along the line after that in the spring time he lost all that speed and he wasn’t moving well enough. didn’t have any reports about injuries. It wasn’t a weight gain issue, so we decided to put his hand down.

“We noticed throughout the end of spring and summer, he’s got his speed back.”

The move will improve Arkansas’ depth at linebacker. So, too, Robinson said, will the decision to line JUCO transfer Rudell Crim up at boundary cornerback instead of safety as he was originally projected. Robinson said the move might not have been possible if safety Elton Ford was still slowed by his neck injury. But Ford will be back on the field next week and competing for his spot at free safety.

“He’s going to play behind Ramon and let him compete at that position,” Robinson said. “We feel like he’ll be a great corner in regards to that and it will carry over to the nickel situation when we move him in there. But he’s a great edge blitzer. He has great speed. He can defend that boundary and he’s a tough kid. He’s not a shy kid. He has great courage.”

Robinson was asked if there are any other personnel moves the Razorbacks made on defense this summer. He said that was it.