FAYETTEVILLE — Dan Skipper will likely be picked by a team sometime over the course of the next few days in the NFL Draft.
The offensive tackle’s graduation leaves Arkansas with a 6-foot-10-sized hole to fill on the offensive line, but the Razorbacks will still have 1 of the tallest players in college football on their roster. In fact, he’s already on campus.
True freshman Dalton Wagner, all 6-foot-9 and 330 pounds of him, is 1 of 3 offensive linemen who decided to forego their final semester of high school and enroll early in order to go through offseason workouts and spring practice. He only turned 18 in October, but he’s already 1 of the most imposing players on campus.
He hasn’t disappointed on the field, either.
“Of the 3 guys that came in, he’s the 1 that’s showed the most probably possibility of playing next year as a true freshman,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. “He gets it. He’s intelligent. He’s tough. He’s gifted.”
Wagner worked with the second-team offense at right tackle last week when Brian Wallace was limited by an arm injury for a few practices. Despite his age, his mix of physicality and smarts has impressed the coaching staff.
“He’s obviously a monster of a man,” offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said. “He’s huge. He’s heavy handed and so when he hits you, guys go flying. Obviously his dad being a former college ballplayer, his older brother being a college player, they did a great job letting him be him.
“He’s got an aggressive nature for such a massive man, which is good. Now it’s about fine-tuning his technique, footwork, eye progression and an overall understanding of what we’re trying to do conceptually.”
Wagner has practiced mostly at right tackle with a recent stint at right guard. Nashville native Kirby Adcock (6-5, 300) has worked at right guard and right tackle, while Festus, Mo., native Shane Clenin (6-6, 295) has been at left tackle almost exclusively, with a few snaps at right tackle in 1 practice.
“I think they’ve exceeded expectations,” Anderson said. “These guys should be getting ready to go to their senior prom, but they’ve been here and worked extremely hard. … They have made huge, huge strides this spring and all 3 of them have flashed to the point that you can see that if they progress this summer and fall camp, all 3 could be guys that could help us.”
The good news for Arkansas is Wagner, Adcock and Clenin may be able to redshirt and spend a year in the weight room while adjusting to the college game. That’s a luxury Skipper and classmate Denver Kirkland didn’t have back in 2013.
“The really good thing is that we’ve built some really solid depth with our first 2 units that we may have the luxury of being able to redshirt those guys, which is only going to help them,” Anderson said. “But I feel good with where they’re at. I feel good with where their mind state’s at. It hasn’t gotten too big for them.
“I think it took them a little bit to get used to the speed of the game, but they’ve assimilated very well and really picked up to that and they’re doing well.”