FAYETTEVILLE — Highly touted Arkansas freshman safety Montaric Brown is on campus and going through practice after receiving NCAA clearance shortly before school began Monday, but senior receiver Jared Cornelius is still limited.
Brown arrived on campus over the weekend after completing a required online course and being ruled eligible just in time for the start of classes. The 6-foot, 175-pound Ashdown native has worked with the scout-team defense the past two days.
“I believe they expect him to play this year,” senior safety Santos Ramirez said. “Right now, he just got (in) the kick of things.”
Still, Ramirez and seniors De’Andre Coley and Josh Liddell figure to command most, if not all, of the snaps at safety, but Brown was one of the prized signees of Arkansas’ 2017 recruiting class, a consensus four-star prospect ranked as one of the best players nationally at both his position and overall. ESPN ranked him the No. 12 safety prospect and No. 191 overall player in the nation in his class.
“So far, like every freshman, he a little shy,” Ramirez said. “He don’t really talk that much, but Montaric seems like an eager guy to learn. He’s real quiet back there and he’s taking notes, so I can tell that he’s real into being a student of the game. I’m going to make sure I take him and teach him as much possible to get him coming along.”
Cornelius was taken off the 105-man roster early in fall camp to allow him to deal with a nagging back issue similar to the injury that affected him last season. The senior, easily Arkansas’ most experienced receiver, was able to rejoin the team with the start of school but hasn't done much during practice so far this week.
“He’s out there working on the side, helping the young receivers get better on their game,” senior cornerback Henre’ Toliver said.