CAMDEN — FAYETTEVILLE - They still call him Sprinkle but it’s not just a sprinkling of added muscle packed on to fourth-year junior tight end Jeremy Sprinkle as the Arkansas Razorbacks continue spring drills.
Barely above a gangly 200 pounds when he signed out of White Hall in February 2012 and redshirted that 2012 autumn , Sprinkle, 6-6 throws his weight around now at 251.
“It’s the spectacular spring of Sprinkle,” Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney said, laughing, after Thursday’s practice. “Something like that. He’s been good. He’s been really solid. I’ve been real pleased with him.”
Always the pass-receiving threat much like Razorbacks junior All-SEC tight end Hunter Henry, Sprinkle is blocking with Henry to be 250-pound bookends in two tight ends sets and holding his own when he blocks as the lone tight end.
“He has gotten stronger,” Henry said. “And him getting stronger it helps us tremendously in the run game being able to move people, fitting on Sam linebackers, fitting on defensive ends and being able not just to stalemate them but move them actually which is awesome. We all know what he can do in the passing game and the vertical threat he presents which is going to be tremendous to our offense.”
The better he blocks and stronger and more durable he is, the more Sprinkle can play. And the more Sprinkle can play, the fresher Henry becomes and the more diversified the passing game becomes for senior starting quarterback Brandon Allen.
“He’s put on a lot of muscle,” Allen said. ” He’s still moving as well as he can move. We all know how fast he is. He’s going to be a big-time mismatch for a lot of defenses.”
Sprinkle had built himself up to the 240 range last fall but finds another 10 pounds putting more pop in his blocks without subtracting any pep from his step.
“It’s helped a lot,” Sprinkle said. “I just feel a lot stronger controlling the defensive ends in the run game and it hasn’t slowed me down a bit. It just feels a lot better.”
After last Saturday’s scrimmage, Coach Bret Bielema praised running back Alex Collins for coming back to complete the scrimmage after dinged early in the scrimmage with an ankle injury and finishing with 28 yards on six carries.
New running backs coach Jemal Singleton was asked Thursday about Collins shaking off the ailment and continuing.
“I think any time a guy can suffer an injury and come back from it, that’s the true measure,” Singleton said. “This is a game that as a running back, the number of times that you are going to be 100 percent to play probably went away when you were in high school. So play through adversity, play through pain, that’s something you have to do.”
To insure keeping running back Jonathan Williams, turning down the chance to play professionally in last year’s draft to return for his senior year, injury free this spring, Williams has not been scrimmaging on Saturdays. And he has not been tackled to the ground during the Tuesdays and Thursdays practices.
That has meant more work for Collins and especially senior Kody Walker, also listed as the first-team fullback but also operating at tailback this spring. Walker logged a scrimmage-leading 20 carries last Saturday.
“Kody has played two positions for us this spring and done a lot,” Singleton said. He has done some really good things. He to me has been as pleasant a surprise since I have been here.”
Arkansas is off today, practices Saturday and wraps its final three drills next week.
So far redshirt freshman running back Juan Day, torn ACL in a knee earlier this spring , is the lone Razorback that required significant surgery from this spring’s football drills.
Bielema seems aiming to do his best to keep it that way.
So with two major Saturday scrimmages down and the April 25 Red-White game closing spring practice still to come, the hints post Thursday’s practice are the Razorbacks will modify their next Saturday practice from the traditional Saturday scrimmage.
“We had a great scrimmage on (last) Saturday and we feel really good we got out of that thing healthy,” offensive coordinator Dan Enos said Thursday. “So I don’t know how much live work we will do, but whatever there will be a lot of different situations. That’s the big thing, put these guys in different looks and different situations and make them respond.”
Also the quarterbacks coach, Enos was about the backup quarterback battle between behind Brandon Allen between Austin Allen, the third-year sophomore and backup last year, and redshirt freshman Rafe Peavey, in his second Arkansas spring as a 2013 December high school graduate first UA enrolled in January, 2014.
“I like both of them,” Enos said. “Nobody has separated themselves at this point. We have got to continue to put them in situations. I like how they are both responding to the competition.”