TIGHT END Grayson Gunter loves playing in home state.
FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas sophomore tight end Grayson Gunter will play his second college game in his home state of Mississippi on Saturday, and he hopes the Razorbacks can go to 2-0 in those games when they face Mississippi State on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Gunter, whose father Bubba played at Ole Miss, narrowed his final college choices to Arkansas and Mississippi State before signing with the Razorbacks in 2016.
“Growing up in Mississippi, this was always a big game for me,” Gunter said. “Being able to go home and play in front of people I’ve known my entire life, it’s definitely cool and something I’m looking forward to.”
Gunter made his first collegiate catch at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium, a 29-yard grab that set up Rawleigh Williams’ 42-yard touchdown run on a two-play drive midway through the first quarter to give Arkansas a 14-7 lead.
Gunter played his high school ball at Madison Central High School, 116 miles from the Bulldogs’ campus in Starkville, Miss.
“They did recruit me pretty hard,” Gunter said.
Asked what his dad thought of that, he replied, “It was a little bit different with my dad playing at Ole Miss, but he told me from the get-go he was going to support me wherever I wanted to go.”
Gunter redshirted last season when the Razorbacks won 38-37 at Ole Miss.
Injury updates
Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said he expects to get tailbacks Rakeem Boyd and Devwah Whaley back from ankle injuries for Saturday.
Boyd and Whaley were among several Razorbacks in green, limited-contact jerseys Tuesday, along with receivers Jared Cornelius and De’Vion Warren, linebacker Hayden Henry, and defensive end Dorian Gerald.
Defensive tackle Briston Guidry and quarterback Daulton Hyatt were among the players in yellow, nocontact jerseys working on stationary bikes during the media viewing portion of practice.
Boyd came out early in the fourth quarter of last week’s 24-17 loss to LSU after getting his right foot hung underneath him while being slammed by linebacker Devin White on a screen pass.
“I’m feeling pretty good, getting back this week,” Boyd said after Tuesday’s practice.
Whaley has been out since a 37-33 loss to Ole Miss on Oct. 13 in Little Rock. He had surgery to repair ligaments in his ankle and started running again last week.
“Me and him together is unstoppable,” Boyd said. “That’ll be good and fun to watch.”
For the Bulldogs, tailback Kylin Hill (lower body) and defensive back Jaquarius Landrews are both day to day. Linebacker Leo Lewis is expected to return after missing last week’s game due to illness.
Chill workout
The Razorbacks practiced in subfreezing temperatures throughout Tuesday’s practice. The workout started with the temperature at 31 degrees with the windchill factor making it feel like 24 degrees. After the sun dropped, it got colder.
“It was super cold. I couldn’t bend my fingers,” safety Kamren Curl said.
“Oh my God, it was so cold,” receiver La’Michael Pettway said. “It was real cold. But we just had to do what we had to do.”
Quarterback Ty Storey called the frigid weather fun.
“It was football weather,” he said. “But it was definitely a little cold. I thought we flew around really well, and we threw and caught it really well as cold as it was.”
On the plus side, the weather forecast for Saturday’s 11 a.m. game in Starkville, Miss., calls for a mostly sunny day with a high of 62 degrees, light wind, a 10 percent chance of rain and 67 percent humidity.
Common opponents
The Razorbacks and Mississippi State have four common opponents in Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M.
The Razorbacks are 0-4 against those teams, and Mississippi State is 2-2 against them, with home victories against Auburn and Texas A&M. The Bulldogs scored 54 points and allowed 65 in the four games; Arkansas scored 68 points and allowed 147 in those games.
Special jerseys
The Bulldogs will wear specially designed Adidas Prime-knit A1 “Statesman” jerseys inspired by World War II veteran G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery for Saturday’s senior day game against Arkansas.
Montgomery, a native of Meridian, Miss., was highly decorated as a second lieutenant in the Army and is the third American to have a military fleet named in his honor. He went on to have a long career in the Mississippi National Guard and was elected to the state legislature in 1956 and the U.S. Congress in 1966.
The Bulldogs depicted the jersey in their game notes and they are light colored, meaning Arkansas will wear dark jerseys on Saturday.
Two Mississippi
Maybe it’s a good sign for the Razorbacks they’re playing at Mississippi State on Saturday.
Arkansas’ last two SEC victories have come in the state of Mississippi.
The Razorbacks won 5842 at Mississippi State on Nov. 18, 2016, and won 38-37 at Ole Miss on Oct. 28, 2017.
Adjustments
Van Malone, SMU’s defensive coordinator for Arkansas Coach Chad Morris the past three seasons, is now a defensive analyst at Mississippi State.
“Van’s a great coach and does a great job,” Morris said. “He’s been around this game for a long time, and he’s very knowledgeable.”
Morris said Malone’s knowledge of his schemes means the Razorbacks will need to make adjustments for Saturday’s game, but not drastic changes.
“There will be some things that we’ll change up and be different with,” Morris said. “But overall, you are who you are at this point and time of the year. You’ve just got to go and execute.”
Malone played defensive back at Texas and in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. He was an assistant coach at North Texas, Texas A&M, Tulsa and Oklahoma State before going to SMU.
Cowbell ringing
Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock has firsthand knowledge when he talks to his quarterbacks about dealing with thousands of Mississippi State fans ringing cowbells during Saturday’s game.
Craddock was a senior and starting quarterback for Middle Tennessee State when Mississippi State beat the Blue Raiders 31-22 on Oct. 25, 2008, at Davis Wade Stadium.
The cowbells didn’t adversely affect Craddock’s play considering he completed 23 of 40 passes for 235 yards and 1 touchdown without an interception.
Craddock said the cowbells shouldn’t affect the Razorbacks’ pre-snap calls.
“A lot of what we do is signal-based anyway, nonverbal communication stuff,” he said. “I’m not really worried about getting calls in or getting different things done because most everything we do is using hand signals.
“As long as they don’t fog up the stadium or turn the lights off where we can still see, I think we’ll be OK to get our calls.”