FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman starting offensive tackle Mitch Smothers hears plenty from the veterans starting on Arkansas’ offensive line.
There’s one old, old guy admonition, though, that he never hears: “When I was your age ...”
That’s because when they were Smothers’ age, center Travis Swanson, guards Alvin Bailey and Grant Cook and tackle Grant Freeman all red shirted.
They marvel at Smothers stepping straight out of Springdale High into a starting role at Arkansas.
Arriving from Paris in 2007 as a skinny tight end who was moved to tackle, Freeman, now 6-7, 305 pounds, knew back then the Hogs would be finished had he started.
“I came in at 245,” Freeman said. “So I had a lot of weight to gain, and I had never taken a pass set before. I had to learn all that stuff. I knew what was coming for me, but I came in with [Harrison guard]Wade Grayson and he didn’t redshirt. So I know some guys come in ready to go.”
Smothers, listed at 6-4, 296, is ready to go, Freeman said.
“I think Mitch Smothers is doing really good,” he said. “He takes it really serious, and he has got a lot of natural athletic ability.”
Swanson concurs. He says Smothers “will do great things” but cautions that he is a work in progress.
Swanson started every game in 2010 and is on the 2011 Rimington Award watch list, but he admits hewasn’t ready for prime time when he redshirted in 2009.
“I can only imagine what he is going through,” Swanson said. “He looks sometimes that it can be overwhelming to him, but me and the other guys on the line have really helped him out a lot.
“He has come a long ways since the beginning of camp. Now you can tell when he’s wide-eyed sometimes, but we just tell him, ‘Hey, calm down. This is what you need to do.’
“He is still really young and he has got a couple of things he needs to figure out, but I think he will be good.”
Bailey arrived in 2009 from Broken Arrow, Okla., as a powerful, 6-5, 319-pound guard who was physically ready to play.
Nonetheless, even after starting every game in 2010 and being named to the Lombardi Award watch list for 2011, Bailey says he would have struggled starting instead of redshirting in 2009.
“It would have been difficult,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult for him, but we are going to put him on our wings and we are going to get the job done.”
Bailey asserts Smothers is determined to do it.
“He has been doing great,” Bailey said. “Every time I see him, he has his playbook with him. It’s a complicated offense and he’s picking it up really good.”
If Smothers doesn’t pick it up “really good,” chances are the Razorbacks will be picking up Tyler Wilson off the turf really often.
Arkansas’ fourth-year junior quarterback doesn’t fret about his rookie tackle.
“Mitch Smothers is doing a really good job,” Wilson said. “I compare myself to how green I was coming in as a freshman. He is ahead of the game.”
Sports, Pages 22 on 08/27/2011