Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is first up on the dais. We're live-blogging what he has to say:

• The Razorbacks have an 11-game stretch without a bye. Petrino said his team will do things a little bit differently workout-wise as a result, spending more time "lifting weights and conditioning," which sounds pretty basic to me.

• Arkansas has a new series with Texas A&M starting this year. It's in Arlington, Texas, (in the new Cowboys stadium), which he hopes opens up a good recruiting market and harkens back to the days of the Southwest Conference.

• Petrino, predictably, expects more in his second year. Personnel-wise, Petrino thinks his team is closer to getting the right people in place. He's had two quarterbacks -- one being transfer Ryan Mallett -- who have been working in the system for over a year. He thought the offense was good at times last year, but nearly consistent enough.

• The Razorbacks were thin on defense last year. Petrino remembered before a game last year when he started five sophomores and four freshmen. He hopes that group has matured a little since then.
  

• Petrino, as you know, has an NFL background, however brief it was. He's very high on Florida's Tim Tebow, saying the senior has all the leadership intangibles to play in the NFL. "There's no question in my mind that he'll be very successful in the NFL."

• Interestingly, he commented that a big hurdle many young quarterbacks face is taking a snap from under center, since they're so used to playing out of shotgun formations that are so prevalent in high school. "I'm really happy that the high schools are throwing the ball and I really love all the 7-on-7's they're doing," he said. "I just wish they'd just put a rule in that they would have to have 25, 40 percent under center." I think he was being facetious with that last point, but it's an interesting point nonetheless.

• Petrino said Mallet's slimmed down since getting to Arkansas. He was 265 when he transferred from Michigan but is now around 240. Petrino hopes that helps him move in the pocket against the fast defenses of the SEC.

• Petrino was asked about the defense's early struggles last season, like when it gave up 49 points to Alabama, 52 to Texas and 38 to Florida. "I've kind of blacked those games out of my mind," he said. "Those were tough." He said they tried to pick out small things to improve on because they were playing so many young players. "I never felt at one point last season that we lost the team," he said.

• He said quarterbacks in the SEC have to get used to the speed of the conference before being comfortable in the conference. He's a little more comfortable since both of his QBs have some experience, Tyler Wilson having gotten on the field last year and Mallett playing at Michigan.

• In what is expected to be a recurring question of the day, Petrino was asked if he voted Tebow to the coaches' preseason first-team (Someone did not, since Tebow was not a unanimous pick, and it wasn't Houston Nutt selecting his QB Jevan Snead, since coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own players). "I'm not crazy," he said of voting for Tebow. "I probably did, yeah."

• Asked about his team's expectations, Petrino was kind of vague. "It's going to be hard. We play a good schedule," he said. "We will be a better football team. How many wins that comes out to remains to be seen." The Razorbacks do have a hard schedule, with conference road games against Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and LSU (talk about a tough draw) and a neutral site game against Texas A&M at the Cowboys stadium. His goal? Win all the home games. (Note: He jokingly claimed the A&M game as a home game because Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner, is an Arkansas graduate).

• Career question! Michael Vick question! How would things have been different if Michael Vick was your quarterback with the Falcons? Predictably, a non-answer answer. "You don't think about those things, the ifs, ands and buts of the world," he said. "That's one you don't think about it." He also wished Vick, who was recently released from his jail sentence for running a dog fighting enterprise, well in the future.

That's it for Petrino. Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson is up at 2 p.m. CT. We'll blog that as well.