FAYETTEVILLE — Coaches staying on the go
Before taking a short Christmas break, Arkansas’ coaches stayed busy not only with bowl practices, but also with travel for recruiting.
“It’s been kind of a balancing act for the coaching staff,” Coach Bobby Petrino said last week. “I know our coaches are a little bit worn down from all the traveling last week and ... getting back late and practicing early in the morning.
“The No. 1 question when you walk into the office is, ‘OK, what day of the week is it?’ Because you’re still trying to figure out where you’re at with all the double duties that we’ve been doing.”
Recruiting coordinator Tim Horton consults with Petrino in putting together the assistant coaches’ recruiting schedules as the Razorbacks practice fortheir Jan. 2 Liberty Bowl game against East Carolina.
“Through Coach Petrino and Coach Horton we keep things very organized,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “We know where we’re supposed to be.
“Well, sometimes you don’t know, because you’re so busy that you aren’t sure what day of the week it is. But everything is going very smoothly.”
Last year Arkansas’ coaches were focused solelyon recruiting in December because the 5-7 Razorbacks didn’t qualify for a bowl game.
“We hit the road and were out recruiting and traveling around and getting in as many schools and as many homes as we could for the whole day and night,” Petrino said. “This year what we’ve been doing - or at least last week when we could travel, and the week prior to that - was practicing in the mornings and find a place to go where a number of coaches can get in the same area at night and make home visits.”
Special tackles
Jerico Nelson is more than just a productive hybrid linebacker and safety for the Razorbacks.
He’s also easily the team leader in special teams tackles.
Nelson had six unassisted tackles and 13 total tackles in the kicking game, four more than true freshman Ross Rasner, who is second with nine tackles.
Other Razorbacks in the top 10 of special teams tackles include: Andru Stewart (8), Ramon Broadway and Freddy Burton (7), Seth Armburst and kicker Cameron Bryan (6), and De’Anthony Curtis, Austin Moss and Rudell Crim (5).
Liberty plug
Arkansas players have been asked about their bowl gifts in the past, including the iPods given out by the Cotton Bowl two seasons ago.
Defensive end Jake Bequette showed his wryside when asked about the gifts.
“Bowl gifts are nice,” he said. “I guess at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl we’d get a free oil change, right?”
When told that bowl gifts of decades ago were similar to that, he replied: “Hopefully they’ve come a long way from that. When the price is right and it’s free, I’ll take it.”
Midterm grads
Eight Razorbacks completed their degrees this semester.
They are: Clay Bemberg (sociology), Reggie Fish (kinesiology), Matt Harris (communications), Joseph Henry (marketing), Lucas Miller (communications), Mitch Petrus (agricultural business), Robert Salinas (Spanish) and Michael Smith (kinesiology).
Coach Bobby Petrino recognized the graduates before a recent practice.
“We’re very proud of our seniors,” Petrino said. “What better thing could you have than that?” Reporting day
The Razorbacks are scheduled to report today in Memphis for an early evening head count.
Arkansas will begin its bowl practices Monday morning at Rhodes College.
Sellout
Liberty Bowl officials announced the game would be a sellout last week, with sales of 62,000-plus tickets for Saturday’s game.
Arkansas fans snapped up all two allotments of tickets that totaled more than 25,000.
Sports, Pages 36 on 12/27/2009