Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
AUSTIN ALLEN
still in limbo for Saturday.
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said he was optimistic senior quarterback Austin Allen would be able to start against No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, but he stopped short of saying it would happen.
“I think that if we feel he’s 100 percent,” Bielema said when asked after Wednesday’s practice if Allen would start. “Obviously as a quarterback the biggest thing you have to do is function and throw the football.
“If he’s as good as he was going into last week he for sure would. But he’s not quite there yet. I think a lot depends on how well he recovers from tonight and we’ll look at that tomorrow.”
Bielema said Allen has been involved in practice to work on the timing involved in the game plan against the Crimson Tide.
Bielema said freshman Cole Kelley’s work last week in relief of Allen, when he directed two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, was good preparation in case he’s needed against Alabama.
“It was good for Cole to get out there, and I think Ty Storey has had a good couple of weeks during the bye week and everything else.”
The uncertainty at quarterback for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has the Crimson Tide playing a guessing game.
Coach Nick Saban told reporters on Wednesday night that the 6-7, 268-pound Kelley offers a huge contrast to Allen.
“In fact, when I first started watching the film, I thought he was a Wildcat quarterback that was a tight end, but as he’s played more, he has a good arm,” Saban said. “He can throw the ball effectively, so the guy’s a pretty good player.
“I don’t know if they’ll change styles with him as the quarterback so we have to prepare for some things that they could do with him. But we can’t really change because we don’t really know and we’d be defending ghosts if we tried to figure it out. So we may have to adapt in the game.”