FAYETTEVILLE — While his teammates and coaches were disappointed to hear of redshirt sophomore reserve quarterback Rafe Peavey’s decision to transfer to SMU, Arkansas still has a game to play in 10 days and that remained the Razorbacks’ focus on Wednesday.
That includes redshirt junior quarterback Austin Allen, who will be making his first career college start when Arkansas opens the season against visiting Louisiana Tech on Sept. 3 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Allen will be backed up by redshirt freshman Ty Storey, whose elevation to the second-team role prompted Peavey’s transfer.
“I love Rafe with all my heart,” Allen said. “He is a great guy, a great quarterback and I really hope that he does well at SMU, but back to Ty, he has really stepped up for us.
“He really worked hard in the summer and I can’t say enough about him and how he has worked every day trying to get better. He really understands how to play quarterback.”
Senior wide receiver Drew Morgan echoed that sentiment.
“It kind of caught all of us off-guard, but I have known Rafe since he got here and I love him to death and wish the best for him,” Morgan said.
Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos knows that Allen – who is 9-of-19 for 188 yards with one touchdown while playing in eight games the last two years - is anxious to start the season.
“I think Austin is ready for it,” Enos said. “Now the big thing for Austin is that he has got to go out and play a game. He has been through a lot of practices over the last few years.
“I know he is chomping at the bit, but we feel real good about running a lot of our stuff with him.”
Storey has put in the work to earn the back-up spot per Enos.
“He has just been very consistent and did what we asked him to do,” Enos said. “He got better. By no means were any of them perfect. They all had days when they played like freshman and played like young guys,
“But I think at the end of the day, it comes down to having confidence when you call something that they are going to execute it and Ty earned the trust of his teammates and his coaches.
“He did a good job and still has a long way to go and a lot of development to do, but we like where he is at and we like his progress.
Storey was a four-star prospect out of Charleston that had offers from both Alabama and Auburn as well as his home state Razorbacks and others.
“He’s been a guy that has been competing since he got here,” Enos said. “His work ethic every day, his mindset, his preparation – he’s done a good job and gotten better every day and worked very hard after it so nothing has really changed for him.
“He has had the same business-like attitude since I got here.”
Allen, Storey and true freshman Cole Kelley are now the top three quarterbacks.
“We are down to three guys getting reps,” Enos said. “Obviously Austin gets the lion’s share of that and then Cole and Ty are the next two guys up. Instead of five and six guys getting reps, we are down to three.”