Gibson excited about opening season close to home

Arkansas offensive linemen Brian Wallace (60) and Johnny Gibson (62) run during practice Thursday, July 27, 2017, in Fayetteville.

— Dumas will be well-represented when Arkansas opens its 2017 season with Florida A&M on Thursday in Little Rock.

Not only will former Dumas standout Johnny Gibson (6-4, 333 pounds) be starting at right guard, but he will have several friends and family in the stands at War Memorial Stadium, which is just more than an hour away from his hometown in the southeast part of the state.

“I am going to have probably around 20 family and friends there,” Gibson said. “Some are on their own, but (I) was able to get quite a few. Everybody (on the team) gets four each, but I got some from teammates that aren’t really using them. I was able to take care of about 16 or so.”

Florida A&M beat visiting Texas Southern 29-7 in its opening game last Saturday, while the Razorbacks have been practicing for over a month in preparation for the Rattlers.

“We are all just very excited,” Gibson said. “We have been banging each other for the last month-and-a-half. Just being able to go out there and play against another team, we are very excited and ready to get it going.”

Gibson, who started the final five games of the 2016 campaign and was awarded a scholarship after the season, will be making his first career start in Little Rock.

“It means a lot just that I am going to be out there at the beginning of the game and have all my friends see me go out there and see how much I have progressed in my career so far and being able to just be close to home and be playing."

Arkansas players watched Florida A&M's opener.

“They play hard and they are quick and good at using their hands,” Gibson said. “It looked like they were just a hungry group.”

Gibson said the biggest differences in last season and this campaign is his conditioning.

“I took it upon myself and with the help of coach (Ben Herbert) and the strength and conditioning staff to get ready to take on a bigger role this season," Gibson said.

Gibson is part of an offensive line that all has starting experience. Center Frank Ragnow joins Gibson, guard Hjalte Froholdt and tackles Brian Wallace and Colton Jackson on the starting line.

“It’s a big thing us being out there and being able to mesh together, communicate and know how each one of us plays, what we need to do and what everyone has, strengths and weaknesses,” Gibson said. “That’s been the biggest deal - us being the same five out there.”

Gibson has been impressed with true freshmen offensive lineman Ty Clary of Fayetteville, who is expected to see some playing time in the opener. Clary has backed up Gibson in the preseason.

“He is playing hard,” Gibson said. “Coach always says that he just wants us to play hard and physical and he is playing fast, he is playing hard and he is playing physical, he listens to Frank and he listens to me if I am in at tackle and he is in at guard, things like that.

“He is listening, he is playing hard and he is a very smart kid and he gets it.”

Gibson goes into the season believing that Arkansas can be a contender in the SEC West.

“We feel like we can contend,” Gibson said. “We just have to go out each week and execute our game plan and execute our three keys to victory that both sides of the ball have each week, special team units - if we go out there and just execute everyone of those and play hard and physical that we can compete with anybody.

“I think we really do have the talent starting from the top down. I think we have the talent and depth to compete with anybody.”