Banged-up Hogs
Pittman says Burks among uncertain players for opener.
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks entered game week for the 2021 season opener more dinged up than second-year Coach Sam Pittman would have preferred.
“I still think we’re a little beat up right now,” Pittman said early in his Monday news conference prior to the University of Arkansas’ opener Saturday against Rice.
Pittman said transfer defensive lineman John Ridgeway, listed as a starter in the team’s game notes released Monday, is doubtful, and ace receiver Treylon Burks is questionable against the Owls. Ridgeway underwent an appendectomy over the weekend, while Burks has been rehabbing a lower leg issue since the first scrimmage of camp.
Additionally, the Razorbacks had numerous other key players wearing green no-contact jerseys at points last week and again Monday.
Last week, the no-contact players included tailback Trelon Smith; defensive backs Jalen Catalon and Myles Slusher; tight end Blake Kern; and offensive linemen Ty Clary and Dalton Wagner, among others. All of those players are would-be starters with the exception of Slusher, a multipositional defensive back.
“I think we’re going to be fine on Saturday,” Pittman said. “There’s more green out there in jerseys than what we wish we had. Certainly, we haven’t had any injuries that were season-ending and things of that nature.
“We’re still beat up a little more than I’d like to be on a Monday, but also you have to practice. So we’ll be smart with those guys, but anticipating that we get most of them back for the game. I feel good about the team and where they’re at spirit wise and where they are mentally.”
Smith, Clary and Wagner were all wearing white offensive jerseys on Monday, while the others remained in green.
The Razorbacks, coming off a 3-7 season, are a 191/2-point favorite against Rice (2-3 in 2020), which returns almost every defensive starter for Coach Mike Bloomgren.
The Owls ranked 99th among 130 FBS teams in scoring with 23.4 points per game last season, but part of that is by design. They were 120th in offensive tempo in metrics used by the Razorback coaching staff, meaning the Owls will try to dominate time of possession against the Razorbacks’ uptempo offense.
“They’re going to try to run the ball,” Pittman said. “I call it bully ball. They’ll probably try to bully us a little bit with their offensive line. They have a lot of experience there.”
That’s where a healthy Ridgeway, a 6-5, 320-pounder, would be a bonus. Now the Razorbacks are likely to have their depth on the defensive front tested right out of the gate.
“I don’t know if he’ll be able to play this week or not,” Pittman said. “Doesn’t look good for that to happen. He’s doing fine, but I don’t look for him to be ready this week.”
Redshirt junior Isaiah Nichols from Springdale is likely to make the start at nose, with graduate transfer Markell Utsey listed as the No. 1 defensive tackle. Grad transfer Tre Williams is listed as the defensive end starter, while senior Dorian Gerald is listed as first-team “jack,” an edge-rush spot.
Pittman was a little more upbeat about Burks’ prospects, but not by leaps and bounds.
“I still think that’s day by day,” he said. “He’s progressed over the weekend. I think we’re going to progress him a little bit today, probably a little bit more [today]. And then we’ll see what happens.”
Pittman said he had a good conversation with head athletic trainer Dave Polanski about Burks, who was not seen in Monday morning’s 20-minute viewing period.
“We’re going to play him if he’s ready, and if he’s not, we’re not,” he said. “I really don’t know whether he’s going to play or not. I have no idea. I think it’s going to depend on probably the next two days, how he goes. I don’t want to play him on Saturday if he hasn’t practiced at all, either. But we’re hoping we can get him back by Wednesday.”
Burks is the headliner for a receiving group that will come under scrutiny as quarterback KJ Jefferson looks to establish game-day rapport with someone other than Burks, who was clearly his top target in limited duty last year.
Seniors De’Vion Warren and Tyson Morris were listed as fellow starters with Burks on the depth chart, while Trey Knox, Jaquayln Crawford and Ketron Jackson were listed as second-teamers. Pittman said the team’s official depth chart for the Rice game would come out Wednesday.
Pittman said one of the first orders of business in Monday’s team meeting would be showing teachable moments from Saturday’s college football games, highlighted by gaffes in Illinois’ 30-22 win over Nebraska. The Cornhuskers had critical penalties that wiped out big plays, a safety on a punt fielded inside the 2, and yielded a scoop-and-score touchdown.
“The first thing we’re going to do today at our team meeting is show all the mistakes that were made this weekend,” Pittman said. “Certainly I’m sure that Nebraska and whomever, they felt like they were ready as well and it just happened to them. But the more we can show them the better off I think we’ll be.”
The Razorbacks will be facing Rice, their former longtime Southwest Conference rival, for the first time since a 20-0 Arkansas victory on Nov. 23, 1991, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.