Patrick Ryan

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas football team worked outside as promised by first-year Coach Ryan Silverfield on an overcast, chilly St. Patrick’s Day afternoon for spring practice No. 2 on Tuesday.

The Razorbacks continued with heavy installation while wearing shorts and spider pads with a large collection of prospects, high school coaches and former Razorbacks, including Grant Cook and D.J. Williams, on hand.

Silverfield said on Monday the Razorbacks would work on the practice fields outside the Walker Pavilion “come hell or high water,” and they did on a day with the temperature in the low 50s and the wind chill in the low 40s.

Redshirt freshman AJ Hill ran with the starting unit at quarterback and donned the helmet camera that redshirt sophomore KJ Jackson had strapped on Sunday when he worked with the first unit.

Hill occupied the backfield with running back Sutton Smith and was fronted by the same five that ran with the first team in practice No. 1: left tackle Kavion Broussard, left guard Malachi Breland, center Caden Kitler, right guard Kobe Branham and right tackle Bryant Williams.

After a couple of special teams periods, called “special forces” by the new staff, and a ball-security circuit by position groups, the Razorbacks ran their first-team periods open to the media.

The first three units ran sets varying from four to five plays against their defensive counterparts. Hill worked with receivers CJ Brown, Jamari Hawkins and Chris Marshall along with tight end Jaden Platt. He connected with Hawkins during the early team period.

Silverfield, speaking Monday, discussed what he wanted to see in practice No. 2.

“The communication needs to be better, because now there’s no, ‘Wait, what are we doing now? That horn blew, what are we doing?’ ” Silverfield said.

“So now it needs to be a smoother transition and within those smoother transitions, the communication better uptick, right? The details, right? Because Day 1 sometimes guys are just flying off the ball to fly off the ball with excitement to go play ball and put the helmets on. For a lot of them, it had been since the end of November, and so this is the first opportunity to go show.”

KJ Jackson had running back Jasper Parker in the backfield with him and worked with receivers Courtney Crutchfield, Ismael Cisse and Donovan Faupel plus tight end Matt Adcock. During the team period, Jackson found Crutchfield and Cisse for completions.

The second offensive line featured left tackle Josiah Clemons, left guard Davion Weatherspoon, center Tim Dawn, right guard Brooks Edmonson and right tackle Adam Hawkes.

The third unit was conducted by transfer quarterback Cade Trotter, with Markeylin Batton at tailback, Maddox Lassiter at tight end and Hawkins, Blair Irvin III and Jalen Brown at wideout.

The offensive line consisted of tackles Terence Roberson Jr. and Aaron Smith, guards Alex Johnson and Payton Parks-Smith and center Carey Clayton.

Silverfield said various factors went into who has run with the starters thus far and nothing is concrete on the depth charts.

For instance, the first defensive unit featured Wyatt Simmons and Howard transfer Ja’Quavion Smith at linebacker after practice No. 1 had Smith and Bradley Shaw at linebacker.

Returning defensive end Quincy Rhodes Jr., transfer end Hunter Osborne and tackle David Oke remained with the top unit, while Jamonta Waller moved up to work the “Jack” position.

The first-unit safeties remained as Miguel Mitchell and Carter Stoutmire, but the corners changed out, with Shelton Lewis and Braydon Lee moving up and Christian Harrison going to the “Star” spot.

The second defensive unit worked Xadavien Sims and Reginald Vaughn at defensive end, Carlon Jones at tackle and Charlie Collins at Jack. Shaw and Phoenix Jackson ran at linebacker, with Khmori House at Star, La’khi Roland and Jahiem Johnson at corner and Kyeaure Magloire and Ian Williams at safety. Roland and Johnson were the first-unit cornerbacks on Sunday.

The third unit had Caleb Bell and Trajen Odom at defensive end, freshman Danny Beale III at tackle and Steven Soles Jr. at Jack. Jeremy Evans and Preston Davis ran at linebacker, Tyler Scott at Star, DJ Hairston Jr. and Brandon Ford at the cornerback spots, and Landon Phipps and Tay Lockett at safety.

The ball strip drill for the linebackers consisted of a three-step move to try to rake the ball: a poke, a punch and a rake that was described by assistant coach Cannon Gibbs as the “cranking the lawn mower” move.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Antonio Jordan, who Silverfield said suffered a minor injury on Sunday, was fully dressed. He did rehab work and jogged around the fields.

The Razorbacks are scheduled to work in full pads Thursday, the final practice before the team has spring break.

On Wednesday, returning tight ends coach Morgan Turner and new running backs David Johnson are scheduled to meet with the media along with a couple of players.