Cleveland won’t be back soon

FAYETTEVILLE — Injured Arkansas tight end Ben Cleveland could be out “several weeks” as he recuperates from a recurring nerve condition affecting his neck and shoulder, assistant trainer Eric Linson said Thursday.

Cleveland has been diagnosed with a brachial plexus stretch, a stretched nerve which causes numbness in an area that runs from the neck to the hand on Cleveland’s left side.

Linson accompanied Cleveland, a preseason thirdteam All-SEC selection, to Little Rock earlier this week for a consultation with Dr. Glen Pait at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Pait confirmed what team trainers and specialists in Houston discovered when reviewing Cleveland’s case.

Linson said Pait told him and Cleveland the injury “could take several weeks [to heal ]. That might be several weeks that will go into a month or two. It could be several weeks.”

Cleveland’s condition, Linson said, compares to the one that led to Harding senior defensive back Sevohn Greer seeking a medical redshirt this week. Linson said, however, any decision on redshirting Cleveland, a 6-4, 247-pound sophomore from Springdale, will not be rushed.

“Those decisions don’t have to be made until four, five, six weeks into the season,” Linson said. “I don’t think that’s something that will come up for at least another four weeks, in my opinion. That’s clearly a [UA trainer ] Dean Weber, Ben Cleveland, parent discussion.”

Cleveland has been dealing with the “stinger” off and on since December when Arkansas began preparation for the Capital One Bowl, held on New Year’s Day. Cleveland reinjured the nerve during spring practice, then suffered the most recent blow Aug. 9, the first day the team practiced in full pads.

Part of the recovery process for Cleveland will be regaining strength in his left side. He’s been unable to lift weights consistently in the preseason and is noticeably weaker, Linson said.

“It’s going to be up to Ben and how diligent he is,” Linson said. “Quite honestly, not just how diligent he is, it depends on the nerve.

“ The nerve is irrelevant to the Troy State game [Saturday ], the Alabama game or the Kentucky game. It’s going to heal when it wants to heal.” Injury update

Arkansas will play its opener Saturday in Fayetteville without receiver Marcus Monk (knee ), tight end Ben Cleveland (neck ) and offensive guard DeMarcus Love (knee ).

For Troy, starting offensive guard Steven Merkel is questionable with a high ankle sprain and reserve defensive tackle Maurice Coleman is out for a couple of weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery.

Wes Potter, a 6-5, 339-pounder who transferred from Snow (Utah ) Junior College, is expected to start in Merkel’s place. Tickets available

About 1, 500 tickets, 1, 000 of them bench seating, were available as of Thursday afternoon for Saturday’s season opener, said Kevin Trainor, Arkansas’ associate athletic director for external affairs.

The $ 35 tickets can be purchased online at www. hogwired. com through 6 p. m. today. After that, the tickets will be available, via cash transactions only, at Gate 1 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium beginning at 2 p. m. on game day. Spanish broadcasts

Arkansas is going bilingual for its football radio broadcasts this season. The university, in association with the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network, announced Thursday that ESPN Deportes-AM, 1580, in Fort Smith and La Maquina KYNG-AM, 1590, in Springdale will air the six Fayetteville home games this season.

The broadcasts, with Carlos Chicas and Jose Lopez providing the commentary, will begin 15 minutes before kickoff and will include a 15-minute postgame show.

“The Hispanic market is a large and growing market in Arkansas with more and more Razorback fans,” said Matt Shanklin, associate athletic director for marketing, in a UA release. “With players such as Alex Tejada, Jose Valdez and others, this network is a logical extension of our program into the community.”

Stations interested in joining the network can call the Razorback marketing office at (479 ) 575-7404 or ARSN at (501 ) 324-7802. Beautiful day

The weather forecast is calling for a wonderful late summer evening with Arkansas and Troy kicking off the season Saturday. Daytime highs are expected to top out at about 83 degrees, with temperature at kickoff projected at about 78 degrees. Sunset will be at 7: 45 p. m., when temperatures will begin creeping down toward the overnight low of 57 degrees. The chance for precipitation is minimal, at about 10 percent.