Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
WRs Jones, Stewart cued in
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks needed some young wide receivers to make plays, especially with senior leader Jared Cornelius suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon injury last week against Texas A&M.
Jordan Jones and Deon Stewart answered the call with breakout games Saturday to help the Razorbacks beat New Mexico State 42-24.
Jones, a redshirt freshman from Smackover, had four catches for a team-high 84 yards. Stewart, a redshirt sophomore from Hardy who played at Highland, had four catches for 71 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown on a screen pass to cap the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s first drive.
Jones and Stewart came into Saturday with a combined five catches for 38 yards in the Razorbacks’ first three games.
“Their number got called and they stepped up,” Arkansas senior quarterback Austin Allen said. “They’ll continue to be relied upon for the upcoming games and hopefully they’ll continue to keep getting better and playing well.”
Allen hit Jonathan Nance — who has emerged as the Razorbacks’ top receiver in Cornelius’ absence — for gains of 4 and 7 yards the first two plays from scrimmage, then hit Jones for a 16-yard gain and Stewart for a touchdown to finish the drive.
“We had a good couple practices the last few days and we felt comfortable out there,” Jones said. “I’ve been telling the guys if we get a little time, we’re going to make some plays.”
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said Jones didn’t start getting reps with the starters until the last week and that Stewart had been hampered by ankle injury, but is healthy now.
“I think they’re both very dynamic,” Bielema said. “They’re two different players, too.
“Deon is a shifty guy. He’s very quick. He’s fast, but he’s more quick. And I think Jordan is on the flip side of that. He’s very fast and better on long routes, vertical routes.”
Arkansas resumes SEC play at South Carolina next week and Bielema said it’s important the Razorbacks have other reliable options in the passing game in addition to Nance.
Getting Jones and Stewart — who wear No. 10 and 13, respectively — more involved, Bielema said, was a goal of receivers coach Michael Smith and offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
“For us to get into SEC play, we know that on a thirddown call they might bracket Jonathan or they might roll up on him if they can and those other two guys have got to be productive,” Bielema said. “So I think there was a very conscientious effort by Mike and Dan to get those guys involved in the game plan so you can see what they do.
“A defense can say, ‘Hey, we do got to be aware of where 13 is. We’ve got to be aware of where 10 is and what he can do.’”
Jones had a 32-yard catch from Allen to set up Arkansas’ second touchdown, a 21-harder on the third touchdown drive and a 15-yarder on the fifth.
“It felt good to be out there making a few catches and see myself on the big screen,” Jones said, referring to replays on the video boards. “But we’ve got put this one behind us and a get ready for South Carolina.”
Nance, a junior-college transfer who had six catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns, said it was good he had help in the passing game.
“We were going to get everybody included,” said Nance, who has five touchdown catches this season. Everybody was going to make some plays and show what we we’re really capable of as a receiving corps.
“We’re just going to continue to work hard at practice and everybody is going to get their reps and make sure they’re contributing to the team.”
Arkansas senior defensive back Kevin Richardson, a team captain, said Jones and Stewart are ready to be playmakers.
“We know from practice what they can do.” Richardson said. “They just had to come out and show everybody else.
“That’s big because now Austin has more threats he can look for in the passing game. Defenses aren’t going to be able to say, ‘Oh, we an key on this one guy.’ Austin has a lot of guys to make plays now.”