FAYETTEVILLE — Former Arkansas lineman Mitch Petrus joked earlier this season about forgetting he was one play away from jumping into the New York Giants’ offensive huddle.
Now Petrus, a second-year pro, is on the brink of playing time in the sport’s biggest game.
Petrus is one of three former Razorbacks suiting out for today’s Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, and the 24-year old stands a chance of seeing significant action. Former Razorback Tony Ugoh, a backup tackle and jumbo tight end, joined the Giants on Dec. 7. Former record-setting Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett is a rookie reserve for the New England Patriots.
Petrus, from Carlisle, who played in 11 games as a rookie last season, was his normal energetic self when describing his reaction to pulling emergency duty when lineman Kevin Boothe was injured earlier this season.
“I saw that Boothe went down, I’m going, ‘Man, what’s wrong with him? Hope he’s going to be all right,’ ” Petrus said. “I didn’t realize the whole time, like an idiot, [I] better get ready to go in.
“Then they called my name. ‘What? What do you want me for?’ Then I was like, ‘Oh crap.’ ”
Petrus took a considerable amount of reps during the second quarter of the Giants’ 20-17 overtime victory against San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game. His first series resulted in a field goal for New York.
New York Coach Tom Coughlin has praised Petrus’ work in spot duty.
“It wasn’t perfect, but you see his power, you see his ability, and you see him up against some really good defensive people who are really big, sizable defensive linemen,” Coughlin said. “He plays well against them, and I like his attitude and the way he went about it. There were no big eyes or anything. He just went to work. He trusted himself. He trusted his preparation.”
Petrus, a fifth-round selection in 2010, had three consecutive starts at left guard in December when the Giants’ maligned running game enjoyed a mini-surge that helped lift the team to the NFC East title.
Jim and Debbie Mallett of Texarkana drove Friday to Louisville, Ky., their base of operations for meeting with Ryan Mallett prior to the game. Their daughter, Lauren, and her husband, Justin Hays of Dallas, are also attending the game.
Mallett, a third-round draft pick last April, did not take a snap during the regular season behind starter Tom Brady and second-stringer Brian Hoyer, who threw one pass all year.
“This year has been awesome,” Mallett told the Boston Herald this week. “I couldn’t ask for anything better my first year, my rookie year, to get to be on such a great team, great coaches and we’re in Super Bowl XLVI.”
Just as Mallett said on draft day, learning behind the Patriots icon Brady has been informative.
“It’s been good for me to be able to sit back and watch and not have the media stuff all the time and be out of the spotlight,” Mallett told the Herald. “But as a competitor, of course I want to be on the field playing in the game.”
Mallett, Arkansas’ career record holder with 7,493 passing yards and 62 touchdowns, said every aspect of his life has improved this season.
“I have a great family. I have great teammates. I have great friends,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Petrus’ parents, Phil and Sue Petrus of Carlisle, returned from a previously planned cruise on Thursday, in time to fly to Indianapolis and join their son for his first Super Bowl.
Ugoh returned to his first NFL city this week when the Giants arrived in Indianapolis. He was cut by the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 8, 2010, and by the Detroit Lions last August 15 before signing with New York in early December to fill the roster spot left by Camden native Stacy Andrews, who was placed on injured reserve.
“I’m living in the moment,” Ugoh said at Super Bowl media day on Tuesday. “It’s a great feeling to be here for a Super Bowl.”
Ugoh, a second round pick in 2007, was largely considered a bust as a Colt.
“It was a difficult time for me,” Ugoh told the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel. “But it made me stronger in the end.”
Ugoh, who wears No. 70, is the Giants’ third tackle and an extra tight end in jumbo packages.
Rookie Markell Carter of the University of Central Arkansas, is on the Patriots’ practice squad and is ineligible to play in the Super Bowl.
For the fourth consecutive season, the Super Bowl will sport University of Arkansas connections. Super Bowl XLVI will mark the second time three former Razorbacks have been on the roster in the game and the first time ex-Hogs have been on opposing sidelines in the same Super Bowl.
Linebacker Ravin Caldwell, punter Steve Cox and guard R.C. Thielemann were all on the Washington Redskins’ team in 1987 under former Arkansas assistant Joe Gibbs for a 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII.
Ugoh will become the sixth former Razorback to play in multiple Super Bowls, joining Billy Ray Smith (Super Bowls III and V), Dave Reavis (IX, X), Dennis Winston (XIII, XIV), Caldwell (XXII, XXVI) and Steve Atwater (XXIV, XXXII, XXXIII). Ugoh, a Houston native, played in the Colts’ 31-17 loss to New Orleans two seasons ago.
Sports, Pages 29 on 02/05/2012