FOURTH RAZORBACK defender gets SEC weekly honor.
FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon pulled down SEC defensive player of the week honors Monday after the redshirt freshman racked up 12 tackles in the Razorbacks’ 24-13 victory over Tennessee.
The native of Mansfield, Texas, also notched his second interception of the year on the final play, and was credited with a forced fumble on a play in which it appeared he combined with end Zach Williams to knock the ball loose from Eric Gray.
Catalon’s first interception this season was a 35yard pick-six in the first half of the Razorbacks’ 33-21 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 17.
Catalon is the school-record fourth Razorback to earn defensive player of the week honors from the conference office, joining Bumper Pool and Joe Foucha, who shared the honor after Arkansas defeated Mississippi State 21-14 in Week 2; and Grant Morgan, who had 19 tackles, 3 pass breakups and an interception return for a touchdown against Ole Miss.
Catalon is tied for the SEC lead with Auburn’s Owen Pappoe with 36 solo tackles. He ranks third at Arkansas with 58 total tackles, behind Grant Morgan (70) and Bumper Pool (64). Catalon is sixth in the SEC with 9.67 tackles per game, a figure that dropped after he was ejected in the first quarter at Texas A&M due to a targeting penalty.
Catalon has three 10-plus tackle games on the season. He and Hudson Clark are the only freshman duo in the country with multiple interceptions this year.
Reed belief
Coach Sam Pittman was asked why he gave kicker A.J. Reed a shot at a 48-yard field goal late in the third quarter after he had missed a 21-yarder in the second quarter. He also had been 0 for 3 on field goals longer than 34 yards entering the night.
“Because I knew he’d make it,” Pittman said. “You know, if you give up on a kicker, you might as well just go for it all the time.
“I told him, I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got the ultimate confidence in you. I know you’re going to make the next one,’ and he did. It was huge by the way, putting us up 11.
“I’ve got confidence in him because I see him every day at practice, and I’m sure he appreciates that.”
Personnel updates
Arkansas right tackle Noah Gatlin is questionable for Saturday’s game at Florida after not appearing on the sidelines during last week’s win over Tennessee for an undisclosed reason. Coach Sam Pittman said Monday that Gatlin could be back Wednesday at the earliest.
Dalton Wagner, a 12game starter at right tackle in 2019, played in Wagner’s place against the Vols and had a critical fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.
“I was really proud of Dalton Wagner,” Pittman said. “How can you not like Dalton Wagner? He’s just a hard-playing guy?”
Florida’s Kyle Pitts, who ranks fifth among FBS tight ends with 414 receiving yards on 24 catches and leads all tight ends with 8 touchdown receptions, will be questionable all week. He was on the receiving end of a vicious hit from Georgia safety Lewis Cine on Saturday and did not return to the game.
“Concussion, so he’ll be questionable for the game this week,” Florida Coach Dan Mullen said of Pitts.
Mullen also said defensive lineman Jeremiah Moon (foot) is doubtful and right guard Stewart Reese (shoulder) is questionable against the Razorbacks.
Line grading
Coach Sam Pittman said sophomore center Ricky Stromberg graded the highest among the Razorbacks’ offensive linemen from Saturday’s win over Tennessee.
“[Stromberg is] probably the most consistent guy we have up there,” Pittman said. “He’s probably played as much ball or maybe more than the other guys.
“Ty Clary’s playing well. I’m glad he’s starting to go
in there at a guard, and he’s playing well. I’m glad Coach [Brad] Davis saw that earlier in the year where possibly Ty would help us even more as a guard with Ricky going to center. Those two guys would have probably graded the highest of the group.”
Weather update
The Arkansas football program is keeping its eye on Tropical Storm Eta, which made landfall in Matecumbe Key in the southern part of Florida as a strong storm on Sunday night and is currently in the Gulf of Mexico.
Most projections show the storm moving north, then shifting northeast and gaining hurricane strength back toward the big bend in Florida by Saturday morning, with the potential to affect Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. game between the Razorbacks and Florida.
“We’re going to keep track of the hurricane, obviously, and those things,” Coach Sam Pittman said. “They shift and move quite a bit, but we’ll keep track of that on a regular, daily basis.”
The temperature is projected to be in the low 80s on game day, with a 30% chance of showers and wind gusts into the 30s on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
Trask’s TDs
Florida quarterback Kyle Trask was named SEC offensive player of the week Monday after passing for a career-high 474 yards and four touchdowns in the Gators 44-28 win over Georgia.
Trask has thrown 22 touchdown passes through five games, tying LSU’s Joe Burrow (2019) for the second most through five games in SEC history behind the 23 thrown by Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa (2018).
Trask, a 6-5, 240-pounder from Manvel, Texas, completed 30 of 43 passes against Georgia while becoming the first SEC quarterback to fire four-plus touchdown passes in five consecutive games.
Amazing Franks
Florida defensive back Amari Burney was a high school prospect when then-Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks connected with Tyrie Cleveland on a 63-yard deep-ball touchdown pass on the final play of the game in the Gators’ 26-20 win over Tennessee on Sept. 16, 2017.
Burney was asked Monday what was the craziest play he had seen Franks make with his arm.
“The last play of the game, when he chucked the ball up to Tyrie and he caught the ball in the end zone,” Burney said. “I was here for that game as a recruit. It was just a crazy experience for the whole stadium to go crazy like that.”
Party Dan
Florida Coach Dan Mullen helped celebrate with Florida fans Saturday after the Gators broke a threegame losing skid against Georgia with a 44-28 win in Jacksonville, Fla. Mullen jumped into the stands during the celebration.
“It seemed like there were a lot of students and they were juiced and they were trying to get me to jump into the stands right there,” Mullen said. “You have to enjoy it. I may be 48 years old, but I’m still really young on the inside, so I got to enjoy some of that stuff. Some of our players were up there, and I decided to jump in there with them.”
Tube talk
The Razorbacks’ next home game Nov. 21 against LSU has been assigned an 11 a.m. kickoff with the broadcast on either ESPN or the SEC Network.
Arkansas will complete a run of three consecutive night games Saturday at 6 p.m. at No. 6 Florida. The game against defending SEC and CFP champion LSU will be the Razorbacks’ first morning kickoff of the season.