Quarterbacks on the move during Arkansas football's third practice of fall camp

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football returned to the practice fields outside the Fred W. Smith Football Center on Friday for its third practice of fall camp, battling temperatures in the mid-90s for a second time this week.

The Razorbacks will hold 25 practices before the season opener on Aug. 29 against UAPB in Little Rock (6:30 p.m., ESPNU). Arkansas practices seven times prior to its first scrimmage on Aug. 8.

The next four months will be critical for coach Sam Pittman , who is coming off a 4-8 season and carries a 23-25 overall record across four seasons as Arkansas head coach. He knows he's on the hot seat , and Pittman hopes new arrivals like offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino and quarterback Taylen Green can rejuvenate the program.

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Here are three observations from the 15-minute open portion of Friday's practice.

Quarterbacks on the move

The full capabilities of Green are hard to see during practice. As long as he's wearing the black quarterbacks jersey, his threat as a ball-carrier is nullified, but there were signs Friday that the signal-caller is going to be a big part in the run game.

Green had a nice run on a broken pass play during the fastball period that opened practice. He quickly noticed man-to-man coverage and a hole up the middle, using his long strides to burst through and find some space. Malachi Singleton also turned a roll-out passing play into a quarterback run with the second team in the same period.

Then, in individual drills, Arkansas quarterbacks worked on read options with the running backs and wide receivers. Bobby Petrino once again spent plenty of time working on the quarterbacks' footwork.

With Green at the helm, the best way to maximize the offense is with quarterback contributing on the ground.

A position switch for Anthony Switzer

The Utah State transfer and Arkansas native exclusively worked with the linebackers during the open portions of the first two practices. On Friday, Switzer started with the linebackers during team drills but moved to the secondary for individual work.

Switzer's positional flexibility could be a bonus for the Arkansas defense this fall, and defensive coordinator Travis Williams has the rest of fall camp to see how he should best use that versatility.

Three new players not practicing

Defensive end Anton Juncaj and offensive guards Patrick Kutas and Ty'Kieast Crawford did not participate in the third edition of fall camp. Juncaj was off to the side, but Kutas and Crawford were not seen.

That caused some shuffling during the 11-on-11 fastball drill. Freshman Charlie Collins replaced Juncaj with the second-team defense, and Addison Nichols shifted over from center to guard with the first-team offensive line. That bumped Amaury Wiggins up as the starting center and moved walk-on Tim Dawn to second string.

Zuri Madison, Justin Logan, Jaden Allen and Juju Pope also did not practice Friday. Pittman said prior to camp that Madison, Logan and Allen will likely miss the entire season due to injuries, while Pope is out with a hamstring ailment.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Quarterbacks on the move during Arkansas football's third practice of fall camp