After a 5-7 season last year and no post season play for the Hogs, it’s been a long time since we’ve had any football to talk about. In fact, (excluding spring practice) the last time the Razorbacks played any real football was back in November of 2008.

All that will change soon, as yesterday the Hogs returned to the practice field to begin preparation for the 2009 season opener against Missouri State, less than a month from today on Sept. 5th.

The freshmen and newcomers took the field at 3:00, going through drills and getting some early work in before they were joined by the veterans at 4:00.

The Hogs were in shorts and helmets yesterday, mainly working on fundamentals, though they did come together for some special teams work on the punting game. It’s tough to tell much about the team this early in the practice season, but we did notice a few things.

• Freshman QB Brandon Mitchell is enormous. He looked like he was wearing full pads in shorts and helmets. Wow.
• Freshman RB Ronnie Wingo is also enormous.
• Freshman DB Darius Winston was back returning punts during special teams drills
• QB Ryan Mallet led the veterans onto the field on Thursday
• Defensive Coordinator Willie Robinson’s mustache is rocking.
• Even on an mostly overcast day, it’s freakin’ hot in Fayetteville in August

We snapped a few pictures of the first fall practice as well. Check ’em out.