Harrison returns to set an example

BY TOM MURPHY

Posted on Thursday, August 16, 2007

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/198701/

FAYETTEVILLE — Marcus Harrison watched and grimaced from the sideline while his Arkansas defensive linemates began falling and stumbling to the wayside during the scalding dog days of August camp.

Chris Wade suffered a concussion. Adrian Davis had one, too. Antwain Robinson tweaked a knee, was reprimanded for dogging it, and got a couple of days off. Some of the defensive tackles trying to grab Harrison’s starting spot competed so poorly that end Malcolm Sheppard was moved inside to compensate.

Harrison, still rehabbing the torn anterior cruciate ligament he had repaired April 10, saw all this, saw the “loafs” — an officially counted statistic by the Arkansas defensive staff — mounting on the performance board, and decided to act.

The senior from Mills jumped into short stints of full-pads work Tuesday, and then again with shoulder pads and shorts Wednesday, approximately four months after his surgery.

The kicker: He moved to end, the position he played as a freshman in 2004.

“Right now, we’ve got a lot of injuries, especially at the end position,” Harrison said. “I just wanted to get out there and let the team know I was hungry to get back out and be with them.”

“I want my name to be looked upon to see if I have been loafing or not, rather than just not doing [full-pad work ].”

If he could, Razorbacks defensive line coach Tracy Rocker would hold Harrison above his head and shout to his younger players to watch Harrison’s every move.

“We’ve got a guy we believe in, who’s a leader for us,” Rocker said. “No doubt it helps [that Harrison wanted back in team work ].

“ My thing is, the guy comes to work. He’s always come to work when he’s been here. It helps the young guys understand. They’ve never seen him, so [Tuesday ] was the first time for them actually seeing what he can do.”

Harrison’s presence seemed to immediately energize the Hogs ’ defensive front. Robinson was back at work Tuesday and had at least one “sack” and a couple of other hustle plays. Davis has returned to the lineup, and Wade went through individual drills with shoulder pads Wednesday.

Just a couple of days after running redshirt freshmen Donnell Sanders and Van Stumon with the first defense, the unit was rebuilding its strength again Wednesday with Harrison and Davis at end and steady Ernest Mitchell and Sheppard at the tackle slots.

“We feel like that’s going to get our best 11 on the field because Malcolm Sheppard is doing such a good job inside,” defensive coordinator Reggie Herring said. “Now we’ve got a chance to have a 310-pound defensive end out there twitching, setting the edge in the SEC.

“ So he’s excited about it. [It’s ] probably helping with his knee, recovering a little quicker, because now he thinks he needs some wrist bands and he’s a skill guy now. At the end of the day it gives us a pretty solid front up there, as long as our depth keeps coming.”