Hammonds injures knee, out for preseason
FAYETTEVILLE — With the reported knee injury to sophomore first-team receiver T.J. Hammonds expected to sideline him the remainder of the August preseason practices, the Razorbacks may need some unexpected help among their wideouts.
They have it, says Arkansas sophomore junior-college-transfer outside linebacker Gabe Richardson from one of his old teammates at Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College.
For the past two seasons, with Richardson redshirting one of them, Richardson and just transferred to Arkansas junior receiver Gary Cross, of Fordyce, have been Hutchinson teammates.
“Gary Cross catches the 9 ball (deep pass).” Richardson said. “Gary Cross is one of the most dependable receivers I’ve been around. He’s been clutch for the past two years that I’ve been around him. He scored a lot of touchdowns. He runs a 4.1 probably.”
A 4.1 40-yard dash? “Yeah, he’s up there,” Richardson said. “He’s Cam Newton in cleats as a receiver. Ain’t nobody stopping Gary.”
Nobody else has been heard putting Richardson’s speed 40yard dash speed at 4.1 but going into Thursday’s closed practice Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and receivers coach Michael Smith have mentioned Cross faring well
while especially touting receivers Deon Stewart, the third-year sophomore letterman from Hardy, redshirt freshman Jordan Jones (Smackover), junior transfer Jonathan Nance from Gulf Coast (Miss.) Junior College and Hammonds.
A running back last season, Hammonds, of Pulaski Robinson, also had practiced as a running back in certain packages during the preseason.
The Razorbacks open their season Aug. 31 against Florida A&M in Little Rock with hope that Hammonds can be game-day ready by their Sept. 9 game against TCU in Fayetteville.
* Weighing in the 270s, he said, when he reported to Arkansas as a 2015 redshirting freshman out of Moultrie, Ga. and lettering as a reserve in five games last season, sophomore T.J. Smith has bulked up to 298 and has muscled his way to start at defensive end in Arkansas’ 3-4 defense flanked by senior nose tackle Bijhon Jackson (El Dorado) and sophomore defensive end McTelvin “Sosa” Agim (Hope).
“It feels real good,” Smith said of the good weight and muscle he said added through the dietary and workouts supervision by strength coach Ben Herbert. “Coach Herb focuses on putting the weight on your legs, hamstrings, glute area and your back. So it’s muscle. I’m moving good, feeling good.”
Defensive-line coach John Scott and Bielema obviously have noticed promoting Smith to team with mainstays Jackson and Agim.
“T.J. Smith picked up some weight and his lower body’s stronger,” Scott said. “That’s one of the things you see on tape I’ve been really excited about.” Smith said he ate healthy while gaining the weight. “When you see guys just start eating a bunch of cheeseburgers and tacos, that’s when it becomes bad weight,” Smith said. “I actually started doing a lot of cooking. A lot of chicken, rice, stuff like that.” No cheeseburgers?
Smith smiled.
“I keep that to a minimum,” Smith said. Smith also smiled when Bielema and promoted-to-defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads switched the defense from a 4-3 to 3-4 alignment.
“I played the 3-4 at Colquitt County (High School) so I knew it,” Smith said. “Whenever coach Rhoads began to install it, I knew it. It was just different names for different things, but it fits me. That’s my game.”
* Jeremy Patton arrived this summer from Arizona Western Junior College touted by many recruiting services as the No. 1 junior-college-transfer tight end in the country.
It seems he must be close to the top for most traveled tight end, too.
Calling himself from a “troubled family,” Patton said he didn’t have a bed when he lived in Indianapolis.
“I was born in Indianapolis and then lived in Florida for six years,” Patton said. “Moved at the age of 5 to Kissimmee, Florida. Lived in Apopka, Florida, for a little bit, really rough neighborhood. Kinda bounced around schools a lot. Came back to Indiana and bounced around schools a lot. Then went out to Arizona and I spent some time in Kentucky as well, working on log cabins. So I’ve been around. Adversity is my best friend.”
What did he do with log cabins?
“I was out there with my brother and his stepdad,” Patton said. “It was summer in Kentucky, the summer before I went to Arizona Western. I really wasn’t doing any technical work. Me and my buddy were just lugging the logs around, doing the heavy work for the guys.”
Even Patton’s Florida past couldn’t prepare him for the Arizona Western heat in Yuma.
“Oooo man!,” Patton said. “My first day flying into Yuma, I left on a July day. It was 84 degrees in Indianapolis. Got to Yuma and it was 121 with 30 miles-perhour winds. I felt like I was in a microwave outside. That was surreal. So far away from home. That was tough, man. That was tough.”
So Fayetteville, even during last week’s mid 90’s temperatures that have pleasantly cooled considerably this week, has been like heaven, he said.
“It’s a blessing to be here,” Patton said. “I come from a place where I didn’t even have a bed to sleep on. So to be here with all of this, it’s an extreme blessing. It’s great.”