Cornelius settling in as old man on campus

Arkansas receiver Jared Cornelius goes through practice Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at Charlotte Latin High School in Charlotte, N.C.

— It seems like yesterday to Jared Cornelius that he was the new guy in the wide receiver room.

But now, senior Cornelius (5-11, 220), who has 74 catches for 1,120 yards for nine touchdowns so far in his career, is the old man after the Razorbacks lost four seniors from last year’s squad.

“It feels great,” Cornelius said while laughing. “Finally, I can get some balls. But being that only senior, that only guy that has had some experience, is hard. I’m not used to it. I’m the only guy that I think has more than like three catches on the receiving group.

“So I’m just trying to be a guy that they can look up to. No matter what the position (out of the three wideout spots), I know I want to know it like a quarterback and I want those guys to be able to ask me anything and when they ask me, I want to be able to tell them. It’s hard, but I’m definitely getting used to it.”

Cornelius admits he had some real thought of leaving for the NFL and was one of the Razorbacks who got feedback from the league.

“I definitely took some time to think about it,” Cornelius said. “Of course, I obviously think I made the right decision by coming back. But it was definitely a decision that I had to make, but I feel like I made the right one. It was pretty close.

“Ultimately, the fans, the state, this football team, I couldn’t leave these guys behind, so I decided to come back.”

Cornelius was told by the NFL that he was too heavy.

“I’ve got to slim down,” Cornelius said. “That was one of the things I’ve heard. I’ve got to run a faster time, but the main thing is weight and being able to move around.

“Probably going to be a slot guy, a flanker guy in the NFL, so I’ve got to slim down and quicken up a little bit.”

He’s gone to work on that.

“Yeah, I’m coming down,” Cornelius said. “I’m kind of between 215 and 212 every now and then, but I was 220 at the beginning of this winter. I am trying to be 210-205.”

Cornelius saw action at both flanker and the slot this spring.

“I try to learn all three positions and just go in where they need me,” Cornelius said. “That’s what I want to be able to do, is just play every position on the football field.”

The Razorbacks lost four seniors — Drew Morgan, Keon Hatcher, Cody Hollister and Dominique Reed — who combined for 137 catches, 1,877 yards and 13 touchdowns last season for wide receivers coach Michael Smith.

“I think it’s been an adjustment for all of us,” Smith said. “It’s been an adjustment for me. To go in that room now and not see those guys … I knew that day was coming, but we’re gonna get through it.

“I think Jared’s taken on a great role and understands it’s his turn to be that vocal guy.”

Cornelius had 32 catches for 515 yards and four TDs while freshmen Deon Stewart and LaMichael Pettway combined for three catches for 44 yards and a score.

The Razorbacks will add junior college transfers Brandon Martin (6-4, 220) and Jonathan Nance (6-1, 180), redshirt freshmen Jordan Jones (6-1, 180) and Kofi Boateng (6-3, 190), true freshman Maleek Barkley (6-0, 190) and sophomore walk-on, transfer and former Fayetteville High star Tyson Morris.

“B-Martin is a crazy athlete,” Cornelius said. “He’s just a guy that you throw the ball up in the air and he’s going to come down with it a big percentage of the time. Jordan Jones is looking good. You add in Kofi Boateng, Tyson Morris, you can see we’ve got a lot of guys this year. Lot of young guys, not a lot of experience, but as far as raw talent and God-given ability, we definitely have that covered this year.”

Sophomore T.J. Hammonds, who played running back last season, spent the first four weeks of spring practice at wideout before working the final week at tailback. With Rawleigh Williams not returning because of injury, Hammonds might be needed more at running back.

Offensive coordinator Dan Enos said it’s just a process of getting more consistent at the wideout position, throughout the depth. There were issues in the spring with consistency because of nagging injuries that had the availability changing each day for all of the receivers.

“The one thing when (starting quarterback) Austin (Allen) is out there,” Enos said, “we want guys to know where to line up and what to run. That’s the measuring stick. If they don’t know that, we can’t put them with the ones.

“… It will be a continual process. Jared Cornelius knows the offense and can play all positions. He’s going to be there. The rest of the guys, it’s going to be a continual process through the summer and fall camp. I think at the end of the process, we’ll have some good players.”

Smith echoed that sentiment.

“I’m just looking for consistency,” Smith said. “That’s my biggest thing with my position. I want my guys to always play well. I don’t want any balls on the ground. I want the consistency of getting lined up and playing and making plays out there, because when we have our opportunities, we’ve gotta take advantage of them.”

The Razorbacks signed the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College duo of Martin and Jonathan Nance to have some older guys in the mix.

“Brandon Martin is ready to go, Jonathan Nance is ready to go,” Cornelius said. “Those guys … they know football. That’s one thing we brought up about Jonathan and B-Martin.

“Of course, it’s going to take them a while to learn the offense and what we call everything. But as far as finding holes, finding zones and getting opening, they know how to do that already.”

Cornelius knows he is expected to a be a favorite target of Allen, who had 3,430 yards passing and 25 touchdowns with 15 interceptions last season.

“Austin’s a vet,” Cornelius said. “He knows the offense like the back of his hand. Me and him are getting closer and closer. My locker is right next to his, so we’re building chemistry. For the past four years, we have been.

“He’s been learning the offense and he’s the kind of guy that takes it into his own hands to learn it better than anybody else on this offense. Better than any of the coaches. So he comes out every day ready to go, knowing what he’s supposed to be.”

Cornelius likes what he has seen of Stewart.

“He’s quick,” Cornelius said. “He’s kind of the second guy that I would say knows the offense best on the receiving team. He just knows what he’s doing. When you know what you’re doing, you’re able to play fast and get open quick. He’s been doing that.”

Stewart says he owes a lot of gratitude to last year’s seniors.

“All the seniors last year took me under their arm and helped me,” Stewart said. “I had to come in and learn, and it’s going a lot better than last year.

“I’m playing a lot faster because I know last spring it was kind of my first time with the offense, so I didn’t really know anything. I was slow out there.”

Cornelius, Stewart and Pettway worked with the ones most of the spring.

“Mostly, that’s the big three,” Cornelius said. “Jordan Jones has come in some. Jonathan Nance and Brandon Martin. Those are kind of like the six guys that have been rolling in.”

Pettway would have loved to have played more last season, but knows he had his path blocked to a certain extent.

“I had five great players in front of me,” Pettway said. “Like I said, I was letting everything slow down. Watching from experiences and learning from their mistakes. It was a plus for me sitting back and watching them play.”

Arkansas coaches have praised Pettway’s growth in maturity.

“The Drew Morgans, Keon Hatchers and Dominique Reeds, it makes you mature,” Pettway said. “I mean, sitting back and learning the playbook, that helped me a lot.”

Pettway is another receiver looking to strip off some weight after being 227 this spring.

“I’m actually trying to get back down to 220 or 215 range,” he said.

Pettway has been impressed with Jones and Martin.

“Jordan is a speedster,” Pettway said. “He’s fast and when you have that asset, that’s big-time. Brandon is just a big guy on those 50-50 balls. He’s coming down with them the majority of the time.”

Bielema was impressed with Pettway’s spring.

“You know, I like what LaMichael has done,” Bielema said. “He’s a guy when we had our January meeting, I kind of challenged him. I said, this is the time for you to either go forward or go backward. You’ve got a great opportunity.

“We lost a lot of senior players at that position. He has really stepped up and caught the ball well. He still has some moments that he’s still got to get better mentally, just knowing what we’re doing and converting several things. But I think overall, you would say he’s had a pretty good spring.”

This story originally appeared in Hawgs Illustrated