FAYETTEVILLE — Football players who aren’t playing are like fish out of water.

That’s especially true for middle linebackers, who seem wired for impact.

Arkansas linebacker Wendel Davis, who is scheduled to start his second consecutive game Saturday at Auburn, wasn’t in a good place mentally last winter after undergoing surgery for a torn knee ligament.

“I really got to a stage where I wasn’t very social and didn’t really go out very much,” Davis said. “I hadn’t been in this situation before. I didn’t know how to handle it.”

Davis, the expected starter at middle linebacker until his injury, was so down that even his best friends on the team were concerned.

“He wasn’t too much talking, like he usually did, [and ] he hadn’t been hanging out with us too much,” defensive end Adrian Davis said.

“It was a tough time,” defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard said.

Wendel Davis credited his teammates with helping him break out of his funk.

“It was really important just having teammates care for me,” Davis said. “They didn’t want to see me keeping my head down and things like that. Adrian, Malcolm, Chip Gregory... they just were trying to keep my head up.”

Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino applauded Davis’ perseverance during the winter.

“I know he was down about [the injury ],” he said.

Things took an even worse turn for Davis in June when a dispute over a woman led to an ugly scene on Maple Street. A man with whom Davis had been feuding ran his car into the back of Davis’ scooter, prompting Davis to take out his anger on the man’s car. Davis wound up in the hospital with a fractured bone in his hand and a felony charge for criminal mischief.

Last week, Davis and the other man, who also was originally charged with a felony, pleaded guilty in Washington County District Court to reduced charges that led to a suspended sentence, community service and an anger management course for Davis.

“I don’t have too much to say about that,” Davis said. “I made a mistake, and I learned from it.”

Sheppard said he saw Davis grow from handling his troubles.

“God will take you through things and make you stronger, and I think Wendel came through a lot stronger from the situation he’s been in,” Sheppard said. “He’s a good dude, and he’s definitely learned from his past.”

Davis, a true junior out of Sweeny, Texas, opened fall camp on the scout team as he continued to recover, and finally began seeing snaps in Week 3 against Alabama. The past two weeks, Davis has accounted for 19 tackles, tops on the team during that span, and his 6-1, 224-pound presence has added a physical component to a team desperately in need of hitters.

“I’m happy to see Wendel back,” said freshman Jerry Franklin, who moved over to weakside linebacker to allow Davis to play his more natural position in the middle. “He brings energy, he practices hard every day. That carries over to everybody else on the team.”

Asked about Davis’ recovery, linebackers coach Reggie Johnson first pointed out how glad he was to see Davis back in action.

“Wendel is a tough kid,” Johnson said. “He just had major knee surgery back in [the winter ].... Football is important to him. His toughness, his attitude, his demeanor, it’s all positives.”

Johnson stressed during the long months of Davis’ rehabilitation that the linebacker stay in the game mentally by studying his playbook and helping young players like Franklin, Jelani Smith and Jerico Nelson, who received a lot of playing time early this season.

“His role was to watch from the sideline, make calls and talk guys through what he saw,” Johnson said.

Petrino said the play of Davis and Franklin last week in Arkansas’ mostly dime packages was commendable.

“The combination of the two of them were a little faster and more physical, so to me it’s a good combination,” he said.

“Every time the whistle blows, Wendel’s somewhere around the ball,” Sheppard said. “He plays hard. He likes to hit hard. He brings more enthusiasm to our defense and makes everyone play harder. He’s a vocal leader.

“ With his intensity, he’s going to make us a better defense.”

For a while during his recovery, Davis thought a medical redshirt season might be his best option, but the team needed him.

“Coming back was the best decision for me,” Davis said. “Somebody told me, ‘There are a lot of times you don’t get the opportunity to play, so once you get the opportunity, take advantage of it.’ I thought about that really hard. That’s holding true.”

Meanwhile, he still has friends in his ear.

“I tell him every day that he should be thankful that he’s still playing right now,” Adrian Davis said. “He’s been through all that stuff that happened in the summer, that knee injury. He should be thankful.” Wendel Davis glance CLASS Junior HEIGHT / WEIGHT 6-1, 224 pounds POSITION Middle linebacker HOMETOWN Sweeny, Texas NOTEWORTHY A special teams force his first two seasons, Davis compiled 20 tackles while playing in 11 games as a freshman and 39 tackles as a junior. Davis posted a career-high 12 tackle effort last week against Florida, with 7 unassisted tackles and 5 assists. He is on top of Arkansas’ depth chart at middle linebacker, moving Jerry Franklin into a starting role on the weak side