FAYETTEVILLE -- Just after Carroll Washington finished last season finally starting to grasp Arkansas' defensive scheme as a junior-college transfer cornerback, the two coaches in charge of the secondary left the Razorbacks to work in the Big Ten.
However, the change hasn't set him back. In fact, with new defensive coordinator Robb Smith and new secondary coach Clay Jennings looking on, Washington posted his best Razorback practice ever intercepting a pass and breaking up two others during last weekend's scrimmage.
"I feel a lot more comfortable," Washington said after Thursday's closed practice. "I don't know if it's coach Smith or coach Jennings or where it's coming from but I feel a lot more comfortable. I feel I know what I am doing. I am just out there trying to be a leader and just trying to have fun."
Certainly he had a lot of fun leading the way last weekend.
"Yeah, it was one of them days," Washington said. "Once you get the ball rolling, everything started to click. I am just trying to build off that. But that scrimmage was that scrimmage. Hopefully I'll come off the spring game and have another good performance."
The Razorbacks are expected to have a closed scrimmage Saturday and wind up spring practice the following Saturday with the annual Red-White intrasquad game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Jennings, the secondary coach hired over the winter from TCU, was asked if Washington's scrimmage graded well beyond his obvious big plays.
"You know what. he had some breakups, had a pick, graded out very high," Jennings said. "The one thing Carroll is doing is playing a very smart football game right now. He doesn't have a lot of mental busts out there. He is not a guy that is looking lost in scrimmages or any time we do some kind of team activity. I am pretty proud of him and pleasantly surprised by him, too."
Smith said Jennings leaped to start fresh with the almost entirely new defensive staff, second-year linebackers coach Randy Shannon the only defensive staff returnee from 2013.
"Carroll is a guy who has really embraced what we are trying to do defensively," Smith said. "I think his attitude has been very good. He has been doing some of the little things on his own trying to get better and it has showed. Now the big thing not only for him and the other guys is to continue that through the summer."
Sports on 04/19/2014