Razorbacks report

Early exits pondered by 3 Hogs

Arkansas defensive tackle Darius Philon brings down UAB running back D.J. Vinson during a game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- SEC West powers Alabama and LSU have been hit particularly hard by early departures for the NFL Draft in recent years, and it's an issue up-and-coming Arkansas is facing this year with draft-eligible underclassmen Jonathan Williams, Darius Philon and Keon Hatcher.

All three have filed requests to have their draft status evaluated by the NFL Draft advisory board.

Hatcher, who has 39 catches for 517 yards and 5 touchdowns this season, said he filed the paperwork to see what scouts have to say and that "I'm 100 percent committed to the Razorbacks."

"It'll be nice to see what the scouts are saying and what they're looking at about me," he said. "But I'm all the way here next year and hopefully I can boost my stock up even more."

Hatcher and Williams are true juniors and Philon is a redshirt sophomore. Underclassmen face a Jan. 15 deadline to declare for the NFL Draft.

Taiwan home

Of the 18 players on Arkansas' extended roster who played high school football in Texas, perhaps none is more excited to be bowling in Houston than Taiwan Johnson.

The sophomore defensive tackle hails from Manvel, Texas, which is a 20-mile drive from NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans formerly known as Reliant Stadium.

Johnson will cap his breakout sophomore season with what amounts to a homecoming game against Texas.

"God has really blessed me and to give me the best Christmas present, the best bowl present, getting to play a game in front of my home fans, in front of my family, for Arkansas against Texas, I couldn't ask for anything better."

Johnson said most of his family members have not been able to travel to Fayetteville to watch him play, so the game is extra special around his house.

Fumble or not?

Coach Bret Bielema said he had a phone conversation with SEC director of officials Steve Shaw on Nov. 29, the day after Arkansas' 21-14 loss at Missouri.

Bielema said he asked for an interpretation of the booth reversal on what the on-field officials called a fumble caused by Arkansas end Trey Flowers against quarterback Maty Mauk. The ball was recovered by the Razorbacks' Taiwan Johnson at the Missouri 19 late in the second quarter.

Replay official Jon Bible overruled the call on the field, saying Mauk's arm was just starting to go forward in a passing motion, and ruled it an incomplete pass.

Bielema also had an issue with a fumble by Alex Collins late in the game. On-field officials did not see the fumble, after which Collins was laying on the turf with his right arm over the ball.

Arkansas called a timeout, and Bible buzzed in to let the crew know he was reviewing the play. Not only did he detect the fumble, he ruled Missouri's Markus Golden, who had snatched the ball from under Collins' arm, had made the recovery.

"A question I had was when Alex had that situation, he kind of grabbed the ball but he let go when he heard the whistle," Bielema said. "Their guy grabbed it, but his [Collins'] arm was definitely around it."

Collins said a Missouri player's helmet hit his elbow and caused him to lose the ball, but Collins said he was able to gain control of the ball as he was falling to the ground.

"When I was on the ground, I had the ball," Collins said. "The guy from the other team was still trying to scrap all over me, and like the ref was calling me down. He was like, 'He's down, he's down.' So I kind of just let the ball go to get up, and he picked it up and made it seem like he took it from me."

Collins said he was surprised the call on the field was overturned.

"It was surprising, because I was actually looking at the ref when I had it, but it was ultimately their call," Collins said. "So I'm assuming that he assumed I didn't have the ball."

Missouri ran out the clock after being awarded the ball.

All eyes

The Razorbacks are eager to play well against Texas in front of a national ESPN audience Dec. 29 in the 8 p.m. spot normally taken by Monday Night Football.

The Texas Bowl will not only have the average college football fan watching, it could pick up an audience normally reserved for the NFL.

"We know it's going to be prime time, a big-time environment and a big-time TV slot," Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers said. "We know we're going to have the whole country pretty much watching us, so we want to go out and perform."

Young reps

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and his coaches are taking extra time at the end of practices this week to give younger players and redshirts a chance to impress.

"We'll do that three times during the course of this week, which is to me one of the more enjoyable times," Bielema said earlier this week. "It's not really game planning, you just execute what you believe in. We've got a lot of great work."

Bielema said the first three quarters of practice will involve first- and second-teamers, as is the norm, but last 20 minutes will be different.

"It will be developmental time where we just take our players that aren't going to play in the game, that we've redshirted or in the three-deep, and again just play Arkansas vs. Arkansas," Bielema said.

Recruiting road

Arkansas coaches have talked about having receptive audiences during their recent recruiting visits as the Razorbacks sell a program on the upswing that took some of the nation's best teams down to the wire this season.

"I think there's a lot of positive momentum right now," defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. "There's a lot of time between now and February, and we have to make sure we finish out the right way."

That's special

Redshirt sophomore tight end Jeremy Sprinkle of White Hall leads all Arkansas players with nine tackles on special teams. Freshman linebacker Khalia Hackett is next with seven tackles, and Caroll Washington has six. Brooks Ellis, Jared Collins and Mitchell Loewen have four each.

Sports on 12/12/2014