WholeHogSports
Charting the progress
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/225085/
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino released the first depth chart of his Razorbacks tenure Wednesday, reiterating his belief that some of Arkansas’ freshman signees will have to break into the two-deep in the fall.
“I’m not going to single any of them out, but we need help at wide receiver and running back,” Petrino said, referring the spring depth chart as “a good worksheet.” “ We have to develop a guy inside at the defensive tackle position that can help us right away. We’ve got to have some depth at linebacker because our numbers aren’t really good there. ”
Petrino, dressed in a red Razorback polo shirt, seemed relaxed as he addressed the media in the Burlsworth Team Meeting Room, joking as he sat down about the condition of the metal folding chair he was about to occupy. The media, on the other hand, enjoyed theater-type seating while questioning the Razorbacks coach.
What Arkansas fans might have noticed by now is that Petrino typically addresses personnel issues — positive and negative — in a more head-on fashion than people have been used to, as long as they don’t involve injured players.
Petrino gave no-nonsense scouting reports on a handful of his players, warts and all — including receivers London Crawford, Carlton Salters and Marques Wade — and talked straight about the Razorbacks’ linebacking corps.
“We’re just so young and green at all the [linebacker ] positions,” Petrino said, a point backed up by the fact that senior Elston Forte is listed as the starter at strongside linebacker and as the secondteamer on the weak side. “That’s probably our biggest concern, defensively, is the depth at linebacker, how we’re going to be able to stay healthy and how we’re going to get contributions from younger guys.”
Petrino admitted that one of the big frustrations of spring practice was the high ankle sprain sustained by running back Chip Gregory, a converted linebacker.
“That was probably a disappointment for me, the fact that he got injured that third day and we didn’t get to see him. We didn’t get to find out: Can he contribute ?” Petrino said. “He wanted to get back and we forced the issue a little bit late, but he was limping around out there.”
Petrino’s information on injured and suspended players was abbreviated, and there seemed to be no consistent placement of injured players on the projected depth chart. For instance, defensive tackle Ernest Mitchell (arthroscopic knee surgery ) was projected as a first-teamer, while middle linebacker Wendel Davis (reconstructive knee surgery ) didn’t make the two-deep. Junior Jerell Norton (hamstring surgery ) was nowhere to be found on the three-deep at either cornerback spot.
“[Norton ] is in a recoverytime deal,” Petrino said. “It’s a situation where [the surgery ] is supposed to speed up the healing and give him full speed and full range of movement back.”
Petrino also said there was no change in the status of suspended linebacker Freddie Fairchild, who has two misdemeanor charges pending related to a domestic incident that occurred in March.
The depth chart contained only a minimum number of surprises, one of which was redshirt freshman Jake Bequette’s rise to starter at defensive end ahead of sophomore Damario Ambrose, with senior playmaker Antwain Robinson backing up Adrian Davis at the other end.
“It wasn’t a surprise because [Bequette ] earned it,” Petrino said. “He actually started down at the second or third position, and he just kept getting better as spring went on.
“ He’s a young man that plays with a great motor. He goes as hard as he can as long as he can, and he’s starting to learn and understand the position better.”
Petrino named Bequette, offensive tackle Jose Valdez and walk-on cornerback Darrell Glasper as players who made up key ground in the spring.
“[Glasper ] showed that he can really play the ball in the air and catch it,” he said. “He has good instincts and good hands. He moved forward probably as much as anyone else.”
Petrino also attended a series of well-attended Razorback Club functions — a key part of his indoctrination into Arkansas football — during the month of April and said he is now focused on recruiting.
“Learning the state and learning everybody out there has been a lot of fun,” Petrino said. “It’s been impressive the way it’s worked. I am ready to take off and give it over to [Arkansas men’s basketball coach John ] Pelphrey for a while, though.”
It was at a Razorback Club function, however, that the immediate task ahead of Petrino was laid out in chronological order.
“They had the [2008 football ] schedule sitting on the table,” Petrino said, smirking. “I felt like they didn’t want me to get a lot of sleep, knowing you’ve got Texas, Alabama, Florida, Auburn, all four in a row.
“ That’s a good schedule right there.” Arkansas post-spring practice depth chart
OFFENSE RECEIVER 81 Marques Wade, 6-3, 192, So. 13 Rod Coleman, 6-1, 192, Jr. RECEIVER 19 Carlton Salters, 6-0, 191, So. 88 Lucas Miller, 6-3, 201, Jr. RECEIVER 2 London Crawford, 6-2, 200, Jr. 1 Reggie Fish, 5-7, 160, Sr. LEFT TACKLE 73 Ray Dominquez, 6-4, 315, So. 72 Grant Cook, 6-6, 320. R-Fr. LEFT GUARD 66 Mitch Petrus, 6-4, 305, Sr. 74 Kareem Crowell, 6-4, 333, R-Fr. CENTER 63 Jonathan Luigs, 6-4, 314, Sr. 60 Seth Oxner, 6-4, 300, R-Fr. RIGHT GUARD 65 DeMarcus Love, 6-5, 302, So. 71 Wade Grayson, 6-4, 292, So. RIGHT TACKLE 78 Jose Valdez, 6-5, 313 62 Michael Aguirre, 6-6, 315, Jr. TIGHT END 45 D. J. Williams, 6-2, 250, So. 82 Andrew Davie, 6-2, 266, Jr. QUARTERBACK 11 Casey Dick, 6-2, 215, Sr. 10 Nathan Dick, 6-4, 217, R-Fr. 7 Alex Mortensen, 6-2, 220, Jr. RUNNING BACK 21 Michael Smith, 5-7, 173, Jr. 6 Brandon Barnett, 5-10, 206, Jr. FULLBACK 83 Lance Thompson, 6-4, 227, Sr. 45 John Durmon 5-11 217 Jr.
DEFENSE LEFT END 54 Jake Bequette, 6-5, 265, R-Fr. 58 Damario Ambrose, 6-5, 253, So. NOSE TACKLE 90 Ernest Mitchell 6-2, 305, Sr. 98 Cord Gray, 6-1, 305, Sr. DEFENSIVE TACKLE 96 Malcolm Sheppard, 6-3, 277, Jr. 95 Patrick Jones, 6-2, 297, Jr. RIGHT END 53 Adrian Davis, 6-4, 238, Jr. 97 Antwain Robinson, 6-2, 258, Sr. 57 Donnell Sanders, 6-3, 238, So. STRONGSIDE LINEBACKER 38 Elston Forte, 6-0, 219, Sr. 46 Freddy Burton, 6-2, 221, So. MIDDLE LINEBACKER 34 Jerry Franklin, 6-2, 229, R-Fr. 37 Jermaine Love, 5-11, 226, So. WEAKSIDE LINEBACKER 41 Ryan Powers, 6-1, 207, So. 38 Elston Forte, 6-0, 219, Sr. LEFT CORNERBACK 29 Jamar Love, 6-1, 197, Sr. 17 Shedrick Johnson, 5-10, 188, Sr. 26 Ramon Broadway, 5-9, 191, So. STRONG SAFETY 20 Dallas Washington, 6-0, 210, Sr. 32 Bret Harris, 6-0, 209, R-Fr. 36 Walner Leandre, 6-2, 213, Sr. FREE SAFETY 39 Matt Harris, 6-2, 192, Jr. OR 35 Rashaad Johnson, 6-1, 191, Jr. RIGHT CORNERBACK 24 Isaac Madison, 6-0, 181, So. 13 Darrell Glasper, 5-8, 180, So. 28 Greg Gatson, 5-11, 167, So. SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTER 50 Jeremy Davis, 5-9, 206, Sr. PLACEKICKER 18 Alex Tejada, 6-1, 207, So.