FAYETTEVILLE -- Jonesboro High School Coach Randy Coleman said earlier this summer that he expected offensive lineman Noah Gatlin to be a good fit for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
"One, he's got length and flexibility and footwork, and he's super athletic," Coleman said. "Two, he's competitive and he's focused on a goal.
Gatlin could get on the field for a game as soon as Sept. 1 when the University of Arkansas opens the season against Eastern Illinois at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
A back injury to junior Colton Jackson -- projected to be the starting left tackle -- before preseason camp thrust Gatlin onto the depth chart as a true freshman.
Jackson is expected to miss at least six games, so Arkansas' coaches are preparing Gatlin to play significant snaps.
Gatlin, 6-7 and 293 pounds, has worked at second-team left tackle since camp started and gotten some first-team reps.
Razorbacks Coach Chad Morris said Gatlin needs to get stronger in his upper body, but praised his performance overall.
"He's a tough kid," Morris said. "He's just a freshman and trying to figure this whole thing out, but nothing intimidates him. I'm really pleased with his mindset."
Coleman said Gatlin plays with some nastiness -- in a good way from a coaching standpoint.
"Yeah, he's nasty," Coleman said with a laugh. "There were a couple times he locked onto a guy he was blocking and the whistle blew, and he continued blocking. He had three or four personal foul calls over three years, which is not a lot.
"There were times we had to pull on the reins a little bit to draw him back, but that was fine. You always want an lineman -- whether on offense or defense -- to have a little nastiness about him, and Noah's got it.
"He plays to what I would say is the echo of the whistle. You always look for that. You don't want to have to try to coach a kid to be more physical. Noah definitely has a physicality about him."
Razorbacks offensive line coach Dustin Fry said prior to camp that Gatlin has a different personality off the field than as a player.
"Just being around Noah, he's so reserved," Fry said. "But then when you watched his film from high school and you heard about referees coming up to his coaches and saying, 'Hey, let's back him off a little bit. He doesn't need to be pushing guys into the stands,' you got excited about that.
"In practice I want him to keep stacking good days on good days and see what we can get out of him."
Senior starter Hjalte Froholdt, who last week moved from left guard to center, said he's been impressed by Gatlin considering he's a newcomer.
"Still, he's a true freshman," Froholdt said. "There's some mental lapses here and there, but he's doing a good job."
Froholdt smiled when asked about Gatlin's nasty streak.
"You can kind of see it in his eyes," Froholdt said. "He seems a little crazy."
Sophomore Austin Capps moved from defensive tackle to guard for last Saturday's scrimmage to help with the offensive line's depth. He is working at second-team left guard next to Gatlin.
"He's telling me a lot of what I'm supposed to be doing when we're out there," Capps said. "So I'm pretty glad to be playing beside him right now."
Starting senior right guard Johnny Gibson said Gatlin is adjusting to the college game.
"He's been taking it upon himself to learn the plays and play as fast as he can and as physical as he can," Gibson said. "He's a young guy that's going out there and playing against some good players on our defense, and he's doing whatever he can to play strong and just compete."
Gatlin, who wasn't available for an interview, played baseball and basketball at Jonesboro before focusing on football going into junior season. His grandfather, Nelson Catalina, was a former Arkansas State University head basketball coach.
"I think playing basketball really helped Noah with football," Coleman said. "Any time we have a big guy that wants to play basketball, we think that's going to be a good thing because there's so much footwork in the post that carries over onto the football field. I think you could see that in Noah."
Gatlin was a three-year starter at Jonesboro -- at right tackle as a sophomore and left tackle as a junior and senior -- but Coleman said his potential was evident at MacArthur Junior High.
"I think you could see it with Noah in the eighth grade, just with his size," Coleman said. "Then in the ninth grade you saw the things he could do to take over a game at that level, and he just kept getting better."
Gatlin had several scholarship offers from Power 5 conference teams in addition to Arkansas, including Mississippi State, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Virginia, Iowa State and Indiana.
SMU, where Morris and his offensive assistants coached the previous three seasons, also recruited Gatlin.
"I had several conversations with Noah before I was at Arkansas, so I knew a lot about him," Fry said. "I really liked what I saw on film, but I didn't feel like we had a great shot at SMU after the big boys came calling.
"Once we got to Arkansas, I'm glad we were able to get him."
Sports on 08/14/2018
Noah Gatlin at a glance
CLASS Freshman
POSITION Offensive tackle
HEIGHT/WEIGHT 6-7, 293 pounds
HIGH SCHOOL Jonesboro
NOTEWORTHY Gatlin has worked at second-team left tackle throughout preseason camp and also has gotten some snaps with with the starters … A three-year starter at Jonesboro, he was rated a three-star recruit by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports … As a senior at Jonesboro graded out at 88 percent for the season and had 11 pancake blocks … Chose Arkansas over offers from Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Virginia, Iowa State and Indiana among others.
HOG FUTURES
Fourteenth in a series highlighting newcomers to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team
"You combine all those things and he's going to be a really good player. I look for him to be on the field sooner rather than later."