FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas held its first preseason practice in full pads and Sam Pittman liked what he saw.

Following the practice that was partially open to the media Pittman talked about a variety of topics. Here’s three things to take away from the practice.

Linebackers Impressive

Pittman touched on where the team is install wise and also finding some additional linebackers.

“Installation wise, I’d say we’re probably… What are we six days into practice?,” Pittman said. “I’d say we’re probably 75-80 percent on both sides of the ball of what we’re going to install. We still have probably the early part of next week to finish up through install. I like what we’re doing. I think we’re throwing and catching the ball well. Defensively I think we’re keeping the edge well, running to the ball well and we’re finding some more linebackers and corners. We’re able to play multiple coverages. I like where we’re at. What I do is watch every ounce of film after practice. Indy and everything. What I do is click on everything I believe are busts. We’re probably averaging 3-7 per day and that’s two-spotting on both fields. So, I feel like we’re doing a really good job there.”

Who are some of the linebackers in addition to Chris “Pooh” Paul and Jordan Crook he’s referring to?

“Brad Spence,” Pittman said. “I really like Brad Spence. And (Alex) Sanford. But Spence makes plays every day. As a matter of fact, and I’m not great at singling out one guy, but I did single him out after practice today because it seemed like he was all over the field. Jaheim Thomas is coming on. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do a whole lot this summer. I think we’re getting closer to five there with Sanford coming on and Mani Powell, I think we’ll be able to have enough linebackers.”

Spence, 6-2, 237, is a true freshman from Houston (Texas) Klein Forest. He went through spring drills with the Hogs. Sanford, 6-1, 227, is from Oxford (Miss.) High School. Powell from Fayetteville. Sanford is a true freshman while Powell is a sophomore. Thomas is a redshirt junior transfer from the University of Cincinnati. Pittman talked about what is making Spence standout.

“I think the weight room has a done a nice job for him, first and foremost,” Pittman said. “He’s built his confidence through there, and now he knows what he’s doing and all that, but I’ll tell you he makes plays all the time and he can really run. He made a play today, it’s not sideline to sideline, but one hash all the way to out of bounds on the other hash. That’s hard to do for anybody, but he did it. What’s that tell you? He’s got all the ability, but he’s using his ability. A lot of guys have ability, they don’t’t use it. He’s one of those guys that does. I think the future is really bright for him, and the future is now.”

Snaxx on Move (Maybe) and New CB With First Unit

Lorando Johnson is a redshirt junior transfer from Baylor who came in a midterm and has spent much of his time at cornerback. But on Thursday Johnson was at the Hog (Nickel). Pittman has mentioned that as something possible to happen in an effort to get the five best players on the field. True freshman cornerback Jaylon Braxton worked with the first unit at cornerback on Thursday.

“I like the question,” Pittman said. “It’s a fair question. But we’re a long way out with trying to determine that. I think our guys will sometimes go with the ones, sometimes with the twos. Nudie (Dwight McGlothern) is the same way. DayDay (LaDarrius Bishop) was going to go with the ones and had a little bit of a toe infection and wasn’t able to go. I think we do believe we have four-plus corners we can win with. If we believe that, certainly Snaxx moving into the Hog position might be valuable to the team. We’ll have to wait and see. I want to make sure we have the corners first.”

Closing in on 10 O-linemen

Pittman feels the team may be closing in on 10 offensive linemen. Devon Manuel and Patrick Kutas has seen a lot of work at the first-team tackles. Josh Braun and Brady Latham at the guards and then Beaux Limmer at center.

“Well, we still have battles going on out there,” Pittman said. “Ty’Kieast (Crawford), (E’Marion) Harris and (Andrew) Chamblee are probably the ones that are in the most battle at their spots. But I like our… Just because you haven’t played doesn’t mean you can’t play. I like our tackles. I like Dev(on Manuel) and Kutas in there. Limmer is playing at a high, high, high — and Latham. I think Latham and Beaux are both playing really well.

“But there’s still battles with Braun and Ty’Kieast. And obviously Harris, we think he can play several spots. But he obviously has the opportunity to play for us. And Chamblee. Amaury Wiggins is a guy that I think he’s going to end up being, at the least, our backup center. Man, that helps us big-time, to be able to leave Kutas out at tackle. I like the group. They’re a smart group. Josh Street’s come on, too. I think, right now, he’d be the 10th lineman in there in the two-deep. He’s done a really nice job, as well.”

Wiggins came to Arkansas from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. He has been playing center but guard is also a possibility.

“It will be,” Pittman said of getting chance at guard. “Unfortunately, Amaury had a little bit of an ankle injury, so he lost two practices. Our plan was to move him to guard and see if he’s one of our top 5 players. We haven’t had that opportunity yet. Today was the first day that he was back, so we needed him to get the rust off back at center. But at some point in this camp, we are going to look at him at guard.”