Insights from Day 12 of Arkansas football practice

FAYETTEVILLE — Since bursting onto the scene with three interceptions against Ole Miss two years ago and earning a scholarship, Hudson Clark has had an up-and-down career at Arkansas.

It’s well known that the redshirt junior and former walk-on has been burned a few times when asked to defend SEC receivers in man coverage, but so far in camp, Clark has been impressive and shown significant improvement in that area.

“Hudson Clark continues to improve his skillset,” defensive coordinator Barry Odom said. “His knowledge base is tremendous, and he’s become a leader for us. … I’m excited about the progress that he’s made.”

During the portion of Thursday’s practice open to the media, the Razorbacks did a one-on-one period between the wide receivers and defensive backs — with a twist. The cornerbacks and safeties had to wear boxing gloves to force them to focus on their technique rather than grabbing the receivers.

One-on-ones are already geared toward the offense and the boxing gloves skew things even more, but Clark did a really nice job of sticking to the man he was on for his two reps.

First, Clark was matched up with Warren Thompson and not only stayed on him, but also punched the ball out for a pass breakup on an attempted back-shoulder throw.

He lined up against freshman Quincey McAdoo on the second rep and once again stayed on him the entire time. This time, he jumped up and had the ball in his grasp, but he couldn’t get a good grip on it because of the gloves and McAdoo plucked it away. Without the gloves, it likely would have been an interception.

It wasn’t just a good day for Clark, either. It was a performance indicative of the camp he’s having, based on what the media has observed in limited viewing periods and bits and pieces of information gleaned from the coaches and his teammates. In fact, he ended the first practice of camp with an impressive interception in a two-minute drill.

He has also been the one cornerback consistently working with the first-team defense, while LaDarrius Bishop has recently replaced Malik Chavis in the starting group.

Here are a few other key takeaways from Day 12 of fall camp…

Click here to read our Day 11 observations from practice.

Check out some flips from Day 12 of fall camp:

Here are a few injury notes on the Razorbacks based on what was observed during media viewing periods and things head coach Sam Pittman — and others — have said in interviews. Best of Arkansas Sports will update this section throughout camp…

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