FAYETTEVILLE — Walker slips, exits hobbling.
An exciting conclusion to his first spring of college football came to an abrupt conclusion for freshman quarterback Jacoby Walker on Saturday.
Walker led three touchdown drives for the victorious White team, including his scoring passes to Ronnie Wingo Jr. and Jarius Wright, and was running free on his team’s final touchdown drive when he slipped on the wet turf at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Walker had broken in the clear on a 24-yard run and was trying to make a cut when his left foot skidded and sent him down on the 6-yard line. The freshman out of Houston stayed down a moment, then hobbled off the field with the help of trainers.
The injury did not appear extremely serious, though he was helped into the locker room as Nick Petrino came on to finish up the touchdown drive.
Fellow quarterback Tyler Wilson slipped into the locker room quickly after the game to check on Walker.
“He’s doing fine,” Wilson said. “I think he’ll be OK.
A little strain there, a little tweak. He’ll be fine. He had a great game today and it’s something for him to build on too.” On-off
Rain showers that moved in and out of Northwest Arkansas impacted the festivities, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said.
“It certainly affected the crowd,” Petrino said. “I wished it would have been sunny all day, we packed the house and had a great time. ... That’s the one thing about football is you just keep playing. We were just fortunate there was no lightning in the area and the wind wasn’t too bad.”
The last of the showersbefore kickoff hit about 4:35 p.m. and brought pretty heavy rain for about 15 minutes. A strong shower moved in before halftime, right after Dennis Johnson took a screen pass 38 yards to the White 32.
Crazy play
A medium-range pass over the middle from Tyler Wilson to Greg Childs turned into the wildest play of the day.
As Childs struggled to get first-down yardage, the ball was pried free by cornerback Andru Stewart and it caromed directly into the hands of receiver Cobi Hamilton. A fraction of a second later, linebacker Jermaine Love crushed Hamilton, who flew on his back to the turf, then fumbled the ball in the air.
Another scramble ensued, and Stewart wound up with the ball for the White.
Had the play gone to the replay booth, it likely would have been ruled down when Hamilton was rocked to the turf.
Sack attack
The Razorbacks logged 11 sacks on the day, with the White team getting six.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Calendar led the White with two sacks for 10 yards in losses, while Jake Bequette, Jermaine Love, Zach Stadther and Caleb Evans had one each.
Damario Ambrose led the Red squad with two sacksfor 10 yards in losses. The others were made by Alfred Davis, Colton Nash and Brooks Reimer.
Hey, Tusk III
Tusk III, the Razorbacks’ live mascot, made his debut at a football event. He is the younger brother of Tusk II, who died in January after serving as mascot from 2005-2009.
Arkansas was 35-28 during Tusk II’s tenure.
Expectations are higher for Tusk III.
Injury report
Tight end Ben Cleveland was cleared to participate, suited out for the White, and caught a 7-yard pass in the first quarter.
Offensive tackle Anthony Oden appeared to hurt his right shoulder in the third quarter on a play that ended in Jermaine Love’s 8-yard sack of Brandon Mitchell.
Man in middle
Offensive tackle DeMarcus Love had the honor of being positioned as the lone man in the middle during the Razorbacks’ pregame warm-ups.
Sign of the times
The biggest homemade sign in the stands at Reynolds Razorback Stadium read: Mallett 4 Heisman.
If the university starts a Mallett website, the Arkansas athleticdepartment would be launching its second Heisman campaign in the past four years after Darren McFadden’s back-to-back runs in 2006-2007.
Mel on Mal
The 2010 NFL Draft still had a few picks remaining Saturday when ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. was asked about his top picks for 2011.
Kiper listed Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett as his No. 6 player for next year’s draft. Washington quarterback Jake Locker was at the top of Kiper’s 2011 draft board.
Free agents
Former Arkansas linebacker Adrian Davis and former receiver London Crawford have agreed to free-agent deals with NFL teams, it was announced at halftime. Davis has signed with the St. Louis Rams and Crawford with the Houston Texans.
All done
Arkansas was the final SEC team to play its intrasquad game this spring.
All of the teams had played their games before this weekend except Arkansas and Kentucky, and the Wildcats held their game Saturday a few hours before the Razorbacks kicked off.
A crowd estimated at 9,000 attended Kentucky’s spring game, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Sports, Pages 36 on 04/25/2010