Razorback Report

us next week in game week to do more good versus good simulating the looks we’ll see at LSU.”

BUMPER BRUISE

Linebacker Bumper Pool was not visible for Thursday’s practice, the day after wearing a yellow (non-participation) jersey.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Barry Lunney Jr. said. “The open date will do him well.

“He’s just nursing a little bit of a regular muscle injury. We thought it was wise for him to rest and recover this week.”

PRACTICE REPORT

Barry Lunney Sr. observed practice for the second consecutive day Thursday. The father of interim Arkansas Coach Barry Lunney Jr., he led Fort Smith Southside and Bentonville to eight championships during his coaching tenure.

Lunney Jr. said offensive lineman Kirby Adcock, who has missed the last two games due to concussion protocol, is questionable for next week’s game at LSU. Adcock came out late in the Razorbacks’ 48-7 loss at No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 26.

Linebacker Deon Edwards appeared to suffer a minor injury during the open portion of practice Thursday. Edwards was doing rehab work on the sideline.

Freshman KJ Jefferson and senior Ben Hicks took the first snaps in an individual period throwing to tight ends and backs on Thursday, with junior Nick Starkel and freshman John Stephen Jones taking the next snaps.

ENERGY RENEWAL

Barry Lunney Jr. said he detected a renewed sense of energy from the Razorbacks during his first couple of practice days in the interim coaching role, but he added there were several factors that probably contributed to that.

“We’ve also had a few days off, and it’s a bye week, and we’re practicing a little bit shorter,” he said. “So some of those things are going to happen naturally. The real tell and the real test will be when we get in the game next week on Saturday.”

NUTT INTERESTED?

Former Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt, speaking on KABZ-FM, 103.7, The Buzz, said he would be interested in a return as the top Hog under the right circumstances if Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek was interested.

“I can go on and on about the players who have reached out and said, ‘Come on coach, come back and let’s get this thing going again,’” Nutt said on the show.

“I’d like to, I would, but I’d only want to come back if they want me, if the athletic director and the state wants me. It’d have to be that togetherness.”

Nutt led the Razorbacks to a 75-48 record, three SEC West titles and two SEC Championship Game appearances in 10 seasons. He has been out of the coaching ranks since a four-year stint at Ole Miss from 2008-11.

“This is a crossroads,” Nutt said on the show. “This is a big-time decision for the University of Arkansas. This has got to be the right fit.

“You can’t just say, ‘Oh, this is Chad Morris’ fault,’ because I saw it back in 2010, 2011, 2012. I saw recruiting going down. I saw it getting slower, and recruiting is the lifeline as you all know.

“So yeah, I’d love to come back, but again, it has to be right, and everybody has to be together, and it’s not easy. Because you are in the toughest conference in America.”

PETRINO PETITION

A Razorbacks fan named

Jon Berry started an online petition at the website “Change.org” asking for the re-hiring of former Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino.

The petition, started before the firing of Coach Chad Morris on Sunday, had been signed by 11,701 supporters by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Petrino led the Razorbacks to a 34-17 record in four seasons, including a berth in the 2011 Sugar Bowl, the program’s only Bowl Championship Series appearance, and an 11-2 season and a Cotton Bowl victory after the 2011 season.

Petrino was fired for cause on April 10, 2012, by then-Athletic Director Jeff Long after improperly hiring his mistress to work in the football program and providing her money. Petrino’s motorcycle wreck with the woman aboard on April 1 touched off the internal investigation that led to his firing.

HOG PERCEPTION

UA Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said Monday that the search he conducted for men’s basketball that yielded the hiring of Eric Musselman did him good in terms of seeing how Arkansas athletics is viewed around the country.

“That search was a great learning experience for me,” Yurachek said. “Very early in my tenure, a little bit over a year, it helped me learn what people outside of Fayetteville think about the University of Arkansas and how positively people think of this institution and this state and what what this athletic program, at that time what our men’s basketball program, and football program should be. And so that was a great learning experience for me to go through that and to see on a national level the perception of the University of Arkansas and the athletic program.”