FAYETTEVILLE — Offensive Line
Arkansas must replace a talented tough, outspoken and experienced offensive lineman this spring, but coach Bobby Petrino didn’t sound overly concerned when he spoke about the group last week. Sure, losing an NFL-bound lineman like Mitch Petrus is never a good thing. But Petrino also knows what he has coming back.
On paper, the Razorbacks return four of five starters from 2009.
Petrino sees it a little differently. In his mind, Arkansas is returning five of six starters.
“You also have Grant Cook who really traded off with Wade Grayson at one of the guard spots,” he said. “They always played in the game and rotated in. They all have a lot of experience. ...
“That’s an experienced group coming back.”
Grayson will slide into Petrus’ spot at the strong guard position after starting 10 games on the weak side in 2009. Cook will move into the starting slot at weak guard after splitting time with Grayson at the position last season.
In addition, tackles DeMarcus Love and Ray Dominguez, and center Seth Oxner are all back.
Arkansas did lose offensive line coach Mike Summers to Kentucky, but Petrino is confident the chemistry up front won’t change under new offensive line coach Chris Klenakis, who will beimplementing new techniques and ideas this spring.
But Petrino doesn’t want the veterans to get comfortable in their starting spots. A slew of talented backups - like Anthony Oden, Alvin Bailey and Travis Swanson - will spend the spring trying to challenge for first-team jobs.
“We have some guys that want to compete to start, guys that are young, strong and very athletic,” Petrino said.
Watch Out For ...
Bailey. He didn’t really like his redshirt season, Petrino said. The strong guard was hoping to get on the field immediately as a freshman and almost did in a backup role,until the Razorbacks decided to hold off on using him before the season opener against Missouri State.
“It was hard on him when I said, ‘We’re going to try to redshirt you.
You’re backing up Mitch (Petrus) right now. The best thing is to take all the reps with the twos all year long and if Mitch stays healthy, you’re going to redshirt,’” Petrino said. “That was hard on him. He really felt like he could have played and he probably could have.”
Bailey won’t have to redshirt anymore and has proven to have the size, strength and athleticism to compete for a job this spring. For now, he is penciled in behind Cook on the pre-spring depth chart. But the Razorbacks are confident Bailey is capable of making a case for a starting role.
Petrino On ... Travis Swanson
“Travis Swanson that wants to find a way to play. He took all the reps in practice at center with the twos. He’s a natural center. He does a lot of things very natural. He’s sneaky. He can get through little cracks to get to linebackers. He can bend real well. He has to get stronger. Physically, he might be a little ways away because of his upper body strength, but he might make up for that just knowing how to play the position so well.”
Sports, Pages 8 on 03/27/2010