You can’t help but feel for Arkansas linebacker Wendel Davis.

There’s no telling how many times he has replayed Alabama’s first touchdown in his head this week, wondering how things might’ve turned out if Crimson Tide running back Trent Richardson didn’t slip out of his grasp on his way to a 52-yard touchdown.

Davis said he did think about it for awhile after the game. He made a great read on the play and slipped into the backfield, but missed a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Richardson broke three more tackles on his way down the sideline to open the scoring in ‘Bama’s 35-7 win.

“I was very frustrated,” Davis said. “To go back to it, I told myself if he even flinches this way I’m going through the gap and I’m going to make this tackle in the backfield. I didn’t get the job done. Then I looked up and he’s still running. It was real embarrassing.

“But I’m past that. Because I know if it happens again, I’m going to make the play.”

Davis will probably get a chance to make amends against Texas A&M on Saturday. The Aggie offense has had tons of success running a no-huddle attack. Quarterback Jerrod Johnson is the key to the whole thing, too, hurting opponents with his arm and feet.

But Davis believes the Razorbacks are due for a strong day. In reality, Arkansas hasn’t played badly against the run this season. Take away the 80-yard and 52-yard touchdown runs from the past two games, the Hogs have surrendered 157 rushing yards on 75 attempts (2.1 yards a carry).

The pass defense has been a different story, though, and will face another challenge against the Aggies.

Davis is confident the Razorbacks are making progres. He’s just hoping they will tackle the opportunity Saturday.

“We’re very, very close. We’re very, very close,” Davis said. “I mean, like I always say we’ve just got to come out on game day and get it done. Of course we have to come out here on the practice field and have good practices and prepare the way we have been and doing things right on the practice field. But it all boils down to Saturday night and Saturdays and going out there and doing what we’re coached and getting the job done.”

We all know Arkansas’ defense was shredded by Georgia, leaving plenty of questions about this group as it enters the Alabama game.

The run defense played well except for one costly, 80-yard touchdown run. The pass defense was woeful, giving up play-and-play-after-play to the Bulldogs. Defensive backs were beaten in coverage numerous times. Defensive linemen didn’t put much pressure on the quarterback. There were assignment errors. Missed tackles. Mental busts. It’s something we’ve been writing about and will continue to do so.

But there is one thing that did go right Saturday night. For awhile anyway.

Arkansas forced three Georgia turnovers in the first half. One came on special teams, when Wendel Davis pounced on a muffed punt and it led to Arkansas’ first touchdown. Then there was a fumble recovery by Arkansas defensive end Adrian Davis. And the third turnover came when Tramain Thomas intercepted a Joe Cox pass (It was the play that led to Jerry Franklin’s ejection).

Arkansas has forced five turnovers in two games. Not bad if you think back to last year, when the Hogs didn’t force a turnover until the fourth quarter of its 49-14 loss to Alabama. That was the third game of the season. It’s one positive Bobby Petrino did point out this week.

“We did get three turnovers in the game,” Petrino said Monday. “We are on the plus side of the turnover battle, which is good.”

Arkansas is plus-3 in turnover margin so far this season, which is tied for third in the SEC with Ole Miss and LSU. Auburn leads the league at plus-7, while South Carolina is at plus-4. Georgia is last at minus-7.

Even more important, Arkansas has done a good job of cashing in on the turnovers. The Razorbacks have scored 28 points off the five turnovers forced so far. The only time they didn’t score was after Thomas’ interception last Saturday.

Thomas leads Arkansas with two interceptions in two games. Wendel Davis has a fumble recovery and an interception.

Interestingly, Davis was holding a football during post-practice interviews yesterday. I asked the senior how he has been around the ball.

“I’m just hustling and getting to the ball,” Davis said. “That’s what defense is all about. It felt good for the first couple of games, getting hold of the ball. Hopefully I can make a third one (Saturday) and just keep it going.”

  Since Arkansas went through its first extensive scrimmage of preseason camp, there is plenty of information to come out of Saturday.

  Robbie Neiswanger was nice enough to add up the statistics from the 154-play scrimmage, while I typed up what Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino had to say about the day. Here are some highlights from Petrino’s news conference following the scrimmage.

  On the performance of quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson:

  “I think Ryan Mallett did a good job of completing passes and knowing where to go for the most part. I think what he has to improve on is not taking sacks and not taking negative plays. He’s got to know when to throw the ball away. He’s not a scrambler or a running quarterback, so he has to be able to throw the ball away and get us to second-and-10. We had way too many second-and-extra-longs, which I didn’t like. 

  “Tyler again shows how well he can throw the ball. He’s got to be able to execute the offense and do the different things in the running game and not fumbles snaps, and keep improving in that part.”

  On how the running backs played:

  “Played a lot running backs. I think initially you see Dennis Johnson stand out. I thought he played fast and made some plays. The plan for Michael Smith was to take one series and get him out, so we got that accomplished and he made one nice run. I think made some yards after contact. And then I thought Broderick Green showed some power. We ran him when he was tired. We gave him the ball about five, six, seven times in a row, which was good to see because that’s when you got to wear the defense down. I was happy about that.

  “Knile (Davis) is struggling. You can see he missed the early part of camp, doesn’t really know all of his assignments and tracks. He’s just struggling. He’s behind everybody else. Ronnie Wingo showed what he could do in the open field. He’s explosive, very good athlete, does a nice job cutting.”

  On the problems with the quarterback-center exchange:

  “Yeah, there’s some problems out there. We haven’t had them up to this time, but once it gets live, once the centers get tired- The quarterbacks and the centers get to get extra chances in practice Monday and get in better condition. That’s something that we’re not going to stand for. I was really disappointed in the one in shotgun because we haven’t had that one at all. So some of it is the quarterback pulling out. Ryan pulls out sometimes, and some of it is the centers get tired and don’t get the ball up like they need to.”

  On the performance of the wide receivers:

  “We saw guys that can make plays. Jarius Wright has the speed, Joe (Adams) can really run with the ball. The more we can get him the ball, the more he can run with it. I thought (Greg) Childs stood out, had a lot of third-down conversions out of Childs and he ran hard with the ball. I think London got a little bit dinged up, I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong with him. But we got a good receiving corp. It would be nice to get Lucas back. He actually could have went today, but he didn’t deserve to get to scrimmage because he some practices.”

  On how the defense performed:

  “No. 10 (linebacker Wendel Davis) made a lot of tackles. I think he’s come back and ran around, made a lot of tackles. I thought our defensive ends put some pressure on the quarterback. We have to have much better discipline by our rush guys inside. You know, they’re going out of their lanes and that’s why you see the quarterbacks run down the field just about anytime they wanted to. So we need to improve that.”

  On the performance of kicker Alex Tejada:

  “You know, you can’t miss the first one. He came back, which I think is a good thing. Come back and finish strong, but you can’t miss an easy chip shot. Some of that was the snap. The snap was off line, but there’s really no excuse from that far. You got to kick it through the uprights.”

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.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino had plenty of news at his afternoon press conference. Here it is:

• RB Michael Smith isn’t expected to play in the season finale because of a hamstring injury. If that proves true he finishes the year with 1,072 yards and 8 touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 2 scores. It was a great season for Smith, but the injuries took their toll.

• LB Wendel Davis probably won’t play, either, because of the leg injury. That means Jerry Franklin will likely start at middle linebacker and Elston Forte will get more time at the other spot. Just like Satuday. However, Davis’ absence will hurt a defense that couldn’t stop anyone without him.

• In other personnel issues, DT Ernest Mitchell and DE Antwain Robinson have played the final games of their careers. Both were suspended for team reasons against Mississippi State. Neither player will be reinstated for the LSU game. It ends a frustrating season and career for both players who had good moments and very, very bad ones for the Hogs. If we learn more we’ll let you know.

• One more thing, Petrino once again said that Nathan Dick will start against the Tigers. No word on whether he plans to play Casey Dick in his final game or not.

We’ve kind of let this slide lately, but the pregame Q&A is back for Florida week:

Q: How’s the weather?

A: Well, I wasn’t sure when I heard a loud boom at 7 a.m. But the rain this morning has gone away. It’s still overcast, but great football weather right now. So there’s no excuse for staying home because of the weather.

Q: Are there any lineup changes today?

A: It looks and sounds like there will be. Wendel Davis is out there working with the first-team defense in pregame drills. So is strong safety Dallas Washington. Those two will be replacing Elston Forte (a team captain) and Jerico Nelson, respectively. Oh, and don’t forget: Freshman Zach Stadther is starting in place of Ernest Mitchell, who is out for the next few weeks after undergoing knee surgery.

Q: Is Tim Tebow here?

A: Uh. Yes. And he looks very fired up. I just watched him run an option play during warmups. After handing the ball off, Tebow sprinted down the field, stepped on the goal line, turned and head butted his teammate. I think it’s safe to say the Razorbacks are going to see the Heisman Trophy winner at his best today.

Q: Will Arkansas score in the first quarter?

A: That I cannot answer. But I will say this: The Razorbacks better or else it could be a long, long day.

Arkansas finished practice not too long ago, and here are a few tidbits that stood out:

Nose tackle Ernest Mitchell spoke to the media for the first time in months, and he gave an update on his status. He said he’s feeling around 90 percent, which is a reason to be optimistic considering he has been limited since the spring because of offseason knee surgery.

Mitchell said he has a bit of a sinus problem at the moment, but expects to be fine for Saturday’s season opener against Western Illinois. The senior is listed as Arkansas’ starting nose tackle.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson, meanwhile, said he doesn’t expect any of his injured linebackers to return in time for Saturday. The list of injured linebackers includes senior Elston Forte and junior Wendel Davis.

Robinson said the first-team defense tackled much better in last Friday’s final preseason scrimmage. He noted that starting middle linebacker Jerry Franklin stood out when it came to hitting and making plays. But Robinson admits he’s still nervous about the overall inexperience and youth on defense.

That’s a quick rundown of what came out of practice, but there will be more in tomorrow’s Morning News.