Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hogs tight end out on his own
The third in a series previewing Arkansas’ football team by positions. Today: tight ends.
FAYETTEVILLE — For the first time in 15 years, Chris Gragg isn’t playing football with Greg Childs and Jarius Wright.
The three, who became friends as second-graders in Warren, were separated after last season, when wide receivers Childs and Wright were fourth-round NFL Draft picks by the Minnesota Vikings and Gragg chose to return to Arkansas as a fifth-year senior.
“I’ve been playing with Greg and Jarius since peewee football, so it does feel different to walk into the locker room and not see those guys,” Gragg said. “It’s a little weird.”
Gragg was part of Arkansas’ heralded Warren Trio. This season he’ll be a solo act.
“It feels like I’ve got our whole little town on my back
right now,” Gragg said. “I know everyone in Warren is still 100 percent behind me. I’m going to try and do my best to make them proud.”
Wright is Arkansas’ career leader with 168 receptions and Childs ranks 10th with 133, and Gragg is being counted on to help make up for their absence. He figures to have an expanded role after catching 41 passes for 518 yards last season.
“Chris will be a guy that gets the ball thrown to him a whole lot more, and I’m sure he’s excited about that,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “He needs to have a great year for us. He needs to be a guy that goes and wins when we call his number.”
Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson laughed when asked about Gragg being the “Warren One” this season.
“I can promise you there’s nothing wrong with that, being No. 1,” Wilson said. “He’ll be all right. I’m expecting even bigger things from Chris this year.
“He’s in the same situation I’m in being a fifth-year senior. This is our last year here, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be our best year.”
Gragg said he remains in close contact with Childs and Wright, either calling or texting them every few days. He said he has talked to Childs several times since last Saturday, when Childs sustained season-ending knee injuries during a scrimmage. He underwent surgery Monday.
“I’m praying for him. Everybody on the team’s praying for him, and everybody back home in Warren is praying for him,” Gragg said. “He was positive when I talked to him, so the main thing is to keep him positive.”
Gragg and Childs have helped each other overcome injuries previously, along with support from Wright. Gragg received a medical redshirt in 2009 when he dislocated his left ankle during a preseason scrimmage. Childs missed the final five games in 2010 after tearing a patellar tendon against Vanderbilt.
“Greg and Jarius always backed me up when I was coming back from my injury, telling me to keep working, and I’d be back healthy and everything will be fine,” Gragg said. “It means a lot when your friends don’t leave you behind when their lives are still going up and yours is kind of at a standstill.
“We’re doing the same thing with Greg and the injuries he’s had to go through.”
Gragg, 6-3, weighed 210 pounds when he came to Arkansas as a receiver in 2008. Now in his third season at tight end, he’s up to 240 pounds but said he still has plenty of speed.
“Chris is not really a tight end. He’s a receiver playing tight end,” said Arkansas cornerback Darius Winston, one of Gragg’s roommates. “He’s going to be a big mismatch for any linebacker or safety with his speed to go along with his size.
“I feel like Chris is a unique player, and he’s going to be trouble for the SEC.”
Gragg is a preseason AllSEC second-team pick in the coaches and media polls.
“I want to go out there and be even more consistent than I have been,” he said. “Be a consistent target for Tyler and be an even better blocker and help the run game get going.”
Gragg also is on the watch list for the Mackey Award, which goes to the nation’s top tight end and was won by Arkansas’ D.J. Williams in 2010.
“I have thought about that, doing what D.J. did,” Gragg said. “He told me it’s a legacy he’s started, and I want to keep it going.”
Gragg said he was excited for Childs and Wright last spring when they were drafted by the Vikings.
“It was wild for them to be together at Warren and Arkansas and now Minnesota,” he said. “I was like, they need to do a book or a movie deal for this story, to still be teammates after so many years.”
Gragg said he’s wondered if the Vikings might draft him after this season and reunite the Warren Trio.
“If they want to draft me, I’ll be glad to go up there,” Gragg said. “But right now I’m really focused on our team here at Arkansas. I think we can have a special year.”