FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas wide receiver commit Maleek Barkley (6-0, 185) of Austin, Texas, Lake Travis and his teammates suffered a couple of tough losses – one off the field and one on – to start the season.
The first happened when senior tailback Santiago Villegas visited family in Mexico and was denied a visa to re-enter the United State.
The second came when Lake Travis coughed up a 28-13 third-quarter lead in its opener against visiting Converse Judson, who rallied for a 35-28 victory.
The Cavaliers have sent righted the ship and won a pair of road games by downing Cibelo Steele 59-56 last week and Dallas Jesuit 42-10 on Friday night.
“It (the season-opening loss) was definitely an eye-opener for us as we didn’t finish off the game and learned a big lesson,” Barkley said Saturday morning.
“But we have kept our heads high, taken care of business and are working hard to get where we need to be.”
After the loss of Lake Travis’ starting tailback last season, Barkley moved in from wide receiver and split carries with Villegas.
Now he is getting the bulk of carries this season and has rushed 30 times for 302 yards and a trio of touchdowns and caught 11 passes for 98 yards and another score.
“My main focus right now is to just stay healthy and do whatever I am ask to do to help us win,” Barkley said. “I’m taking care of myself and we are headed back the right way as a team.”
Barkley, who chose Arkansas over Arizona, Utah, UNLV, Illinois and others, is joined in the Lake Travis backfield by SMU quarterback commit Charlie Brewer.
“We have got a very good offense and have the chance to put points up on everybody if we just don’t have mistakes,” Barkley said.
Barkley got a chance to watch Arkansas’ 21-20 win over Louisiana Tech in the Razorbacks’ season opener.
“We obviously started slow and the wide receivers had some drops, but we got it going at the end and it was great to see,” Barkley said. “The most important thing is to get the win and then go get better,” Barkley said. “I’m sure that is what is going to happen.”
Arkansas plays TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday and will be back in Texas in two weeks to play Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
“I am supposed to go to that game in two weeks,” Barkley said. “I’m looking forward to seeing them play.”