Freshman DB continues to shine at Arkansas football preseason practice

FAYETTEVILLE — Brandon Ford was a one-man wrecking crew for the Arkansas football defense during the 12th preseason practice.

During the only 11-on-11 action the Razorbacks opened to the media on Wednesday, Aug. 19, Ford had a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and an interception on three consecutive plays. The turnover came inside the end zone, with the offense having first-and-10 from the 12-yard line in the drill's scenario.

All three plays came against the third-team offense, but Ford has consistently made plays when he's on the field throughout fall camp, and the coaching staff has taken notice.

"Brandon Ford is a guy that is a young man that keeps catching your eyes," Ryan Silverfield said after this weekend's scrimmage. "So often you're like, ‘Who's that? Oh, that's that freshman.’ I’ve been pleased with him and what he's been able to do."

Ford got around a block to tackle Jelani Watkins on the first play of the series. He then had a pass breakup on Jude Hall across the middle to set up third-and-11. The interception came off fellow freshman Hank Hendrix, who under-threw a receiver.

In total, the offense did not score a touchdown in the period. The first-team offense's drive got ruined by a bad snap from center Caden Kitler on the opening play. KJ Jackson had short completions to Chris Marshall and Jaden Platt, with Joker Johnson making a nice tackle on Platt in the flat.

The second-team offense should have scored a touchdown. AJ Hill looked like he could run untouched into the end zone on a scramble, but the quarterback dropped the football and the fumble went out of bounds. That set up fourth-and-1, and linebacker Jeremy Evans stuffed Jasper Parker at the line of scrimmage.

• The day started with a fun drill not previously seen. A ball was placed on stacked pads at the two-yard line, and an offensive player would pick the ball up when a coach blew his whistle and try to reach the end zone against a single defensive player.
• The offensive players had more success. It's a hard drill for the defense to completely halt forward momentum, but Joker Johnson and Tyler Scott had some notable victories.
• The most entertaining part of that drill was watching the linemen go head-to-head. At one point, 6-foot-7 Bryant Williams faced off with 6-foot-6 Quincy Rhodes. Williams was able to power into the end zone.
• We saw the quarterbacks working on shovel passes for the first time this month. Running backs and tight ends were the receivers for the drill.
• The 11-on-11 drill was rough for the offense, but Jackson and Hill were very accurate in the limited individual drills we saw. Jackson ran with the starters as the day-by-day rotation continues.
• Evans continues to impress as a backup linebacker. The Baylor transfer is always around the ball. He and Wyatt Simmons ran with the second-team defense, dropping Phoenix Jackson to the third-team unit. Those three players are competing for snaps behind the starters.

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Freshman DB continues to shine at Arkansas football preseason practice