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Location: WholeHogSports > Story     |     TAGGED: football (6)

Twenty freshmen positioned to play

Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 PRINT E-MAIL

FAYETTEVILLE — The first fall depth chart of the Bobby Petrino era at Arkansas included 20 freshmen among the 48 players listed as first or second team.

True freshmen, those signed by Petrino in February, take up 15 of those positions. The other five are redshirt freshmen,

The Razorbacks released a depth chart after spring drills and did not produce another until half an hour before their Monday practice in preparation for Saturday’s season opener against Western Illinois.

Competing for starting jobs and playing time will apparently be a never-ending cycle under Petrino.

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“You have an opportunity to move up the depth chart or let somebody get by you,” Petrino said after Monday’s 90-minute workout in shoulder pads and shorts. “So, it’s an ongoing evaluation, and it will be as the year goes on.”

Arkansas listed a 12-man starting lineup on offense, with three receivers and a fullback, and a traditional 11-man unit on defense.

Three true freshmen — receiver Jarius Wright, weakside linebacker Jelani Smith and free safety Elton Ford — and redshirt freshman middle linebacker Jerry Franklin were listed as starters, along with true freshman walk-on fullback Mitchell Bailey.

“When I first came out here, I had my doubts about myself and just fought through it, worked hard and it worked out for the best,” said Wright, whose toughness has been praised by coaches. “You know, things can change, but as of now, I’m excited to be a starter.”

True freshmen on the second team are receivers Joe Adams and Greg Childs; running back Dennis Johnson; defensive tackles Lavunce Askew and Zach Stadther; hyrbrid (jack ) linebacker Jerico Nelson; weakside (will ) linebacker Khiry Battle, and cornerback Tramain Thomas. Two other true freshmen — quarterback Tyler Wilson and offensive tackle Matt Hall — were listed as either-or second-teamers: Wilson paired with redshirt freshman Nathan Dick behind Casey Dick, and Hall paired with Grant Freeman at strongside tackle behind Jose Valdez.

Askew and Stadther came on strong during the second half of camp to make the two-deep ahead of veterans such as Cord Gray, Van Stumon and the injured Patrick Jones.

Redshirt freshmen listed as second-teamers were Jake Bequette at defensive end, Grant Cook, Grant Freeman and Seth Oxner on the offensive line, and Nathan Dick.

Sophomore Wade Grayson was listed as the starter at the weakside guard position ahead of Mitch Petrus after the two waged a back-and-forth battle in camp.

“Grayson had a good camp, he runs real well and he gets out in front [on pulling plays ] and runs the way we like,” Petrino said.

Senior Jamar Love edged Ramon Broadway for the starting spot at short-side (boundary ) cornerback, while Matt Harris — recently moved from free safety — was listed as a first-stringer at strong safety ahead of Dallas Washington.

One position on offense is an all-freshman affair: the (Z ) receiver position, where Wright and Adams are joined by redshirt Crosby Tuck, who had two touchdowns in three games last season before breaking his arm.

The depth chart went threedeep at several positions, fourdeep at a couple, and five-deep at running back, which features Michael Smith ahead of Johnson, Brandon Barnett, De’Anthony Curtis and Chip Gregory.

Franklin topped the group at middle (mike ) linebacker, and was followed by Jermaine Love, Tenarius Wright and Wendel Davis, the junior who is returning from knee and hand injuries.

D. J. Williams led the tight ends (Y ), ahead of Andrew Davie, Ben Cleveland and Lance Thompson. The tight ends will also spend time at the H-back position, which would somewhat fill the role of the traditional fullback.

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Baseball America Poll

Updated May 20

1. UC Irvine 40-12

2. LSU 41-14

3. Arizona St 41-11

4. CS Fullerton 38-14

5. Texas 38-12

6. North Carolina 41-14

7. Ole Miss 40-15

8. Oklahoma 40-16

9. Florida 38-18

10. TCU 35-15

11. Rice 35-15

12. Florida St 40-14

13. Clemson 39-17

14. Georgia Tech 34-15

15. East Carolina 41-15

16. Virginia 39-12

17. Kansas St 39-15

18. Alabama 37-17

19. Cal Poly 35-17

20. Louisville 40-14

21. Minnesota 35-15

22. Elon 37-14

23. Miami Fl 35-18

24. Missouri 32-23

25. South Carolina 37-19

Who is the best defensive lineman in Arkansas' history?


Dave "Hawg" Hanner

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Dan Hampton

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Vote

Arkansas Razorbacks' 2009 Baseball Schedule

Feb. 20

Washington St. (DH)

W 7-5

Feb. 20

Washington St. (DH)

W 4-2

Feb. 22

Washington St.

W 4-3

Feb. 24

Kansas

L 3-9

Feb. 25

Kansas

W 9-8

Feb. 27

Western Illinois

W 8-7

Feb. 28

Western Illinois

     6:00 pm

Mar. 1

Western Illinois

     6:00 pm

Mar. 3

Valparaiso

W 7-3

Mar. 4

Valparaiso

W 9-6

Mar. 6

California

W 5-4

Mar. 7

California

L 6-12

Mar. 8

California

W 13-3

Mar. 10

@ Centenary

L 3-8

Mar. 11

@ Centenary

     6:00 pm

Mar. 13

Florida

W 11-4

Mar. 14

Florida

W 8-4

Mar. 15

Florida

W 4-2

Mar. 17

Nebraska

W 7-3

Mar. 18

Nebraska

L 4-7

Mar. 20

@ Auburn

W 3-2

Mar. 21

@ Auburn

W 10-6

Mar. 22

@ Auburn

W 12-6

Mar. 25

Missouri St.

W 10-0

Mar. 27

Mississippi St.

W 20-9

Mar. 28

Mississippi St.

W 5-1

Mar. 29

Mississippi St.

L 4-12

Mar. 31

@ Missouri St.

W 2-0

Apr. 3

@ South Carolina

W 6-4

Apr. 4

@ South Carolina

L 1-9

Apr. 5

@ South Carolina

W 7-4

Apr. 7

Arizona St.

W 7-3

Apr. 8

Arizona St.

W 8-7

Apr. 10

Vanderbilt

L 0-9

Apr. 11

Vanderbilt

L 6-13

Apr. 12

Vanderbilt

     1:05 pm

Apr. 14

La.-Monroe

L 2-3

Apr. 15

La.-Monroe

W 10-9

Apr. 17

@ Georgia

L 3-4

Apr. 18

@ Georgia

L 3-4

Apr. 19

@ Georgia

W 2-0

Apr. 21

@ Oral Roberts

W 9-6

Apr. 24

@ Tennessee

W 9-3

Apr. 25

@ Tennessee

L 4-5

Apr. 26

@ Tennessee

W 15-8

Apr. 28

Oklahoma

W 8-7

May. 1

LSU

W 11-4

May. 2

LSU

L 0-5

May. 3

LSU

L 3-4

May. 8

@ Alabama

L 1-2

May. 9

@ Alabama

L 6-8

May. 10

@ Alabama

L 5-6

May. 12

Oral Roberts

W 3-2

May. 14

Ole Miss

L 5-7

May. 15

Ole Miss

L 3-9

May. 16

Ole Miss

L 3-16