FAYETTEVILLE -- There will be a mini-Fayetteville High School football reunion on Friday at Faurot Field In Columbia, Mo.
For Arkansas, senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw, junior tight end Cheyenne O'Grady and sophomore center Ty Clary all played at Fayetteville.
For Missouri, sophomore defensive end Akial Byers and quarterback Taylor Powell and slot receiver Barrett Banister, both redshirt freshmen, also were standouts for the Bulldogs.
"It's bringing back the glory days," O'Grady said. "It's kind of like a big family reunion. Everybody gets to go compete at the next level. So it'll be big fun."
Clary's excited to play his old high school teammates.
"I can't wait to play against those guys," Clary said. "Last year, we lost to them. This year, we're looking to beat them."
Clary said Byers has been impressive on tape.
"He plays his technique well, he plays his gap, he plays his assignment," Clary said. "He is assignment sound."
Byers has started the last four games and has 18 tackles. Powell has completed 5 of 12 passes for 41 yards as the top backup to senior Drew Lock. Banister, a walk-on, has 3 catches for 39 yards.
"They've played really well up to this point," Missouri Coach Barry Odom said. "The thing that's maybe more impressive than that is the way that they've led.
"The way that their role is on the team, each one of them is a little bit different, but they all three have leadership qualities and skills."
Clary snapped the ball to Powell, who threw passes to O'Grady at Fayetteville.
"He was my quarterback for three years," Clary said. "We had a lot of fun memories together and school work together, on the field together. We won two state championships. That team, I feel like, was pretty close."
O'Grady has been impressed by Byers' improvement.
"He's really developed since he's been in high school," O'Grady said. "He was kind of like a quiet player, wasn't really doing anything spectacular. Then the next thing you know he blew up when he got into college."
Greenlaw has missed two full games and parts of two others due to ankle injuries, but he has 80 tackles, 2 interceptions and a 24-yard fumble return against LSU.
O'Grady leads the Razorbacks with 29 receptions for 383 yards and 6 touchdowns and Clary has started the last 10 games.
"There's always that common bond and friendship any time you get to play a team from your home state or even your home city," Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said. "That means a lot to you.
"I know there's a lot of guys on this team [who have] friendships there. And for 60 minutes ... they'll be battling against each other and then shake hands and talk a little bit after the game."
Personnel update
Coach Chad Morris said senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw (ankles), who did not dress out for Tuesday's practice, would be available on Friday, as would running backs Rakeem Boyd (ankle) and Devwah Whaley (ankle), who were in green limited-contact jerseys.
Quarterback Cole Kelley, the 6-7 sophomore, got in some practice time on the scout team as a tight end this week, Morris said, because Missouri has big tight ends like 6-5 Albert Okwuegbunam, who is doubtful with a shoulder injury, and 6-6 Kendall Blanton.
Sophomore defensive back Derrick Munson, who announced on Tuesday he would be leaving the Razorbacks, will not accompany the team to Columbia, Mo., Morris said.
'Lock'ed in
Missouri quarterback Drew Lock has been the school's most productive player during its brief SEC era.
Lock broke the SEC single-season record for touchdown passes with 44 last season, topping the 10-year-old mark of 40 by Kentucky's Andre Woodson. He ranks second in SEC history with 11,599 passing yards (behind the 13,166 of Georgia's Aaron Murray) and is third with 94 touchdown passes behind Murray (121) and Florida's Danny Wuerffel (114).
Lock, who is considered one of the top quarterbacks available in the upcoming NFL Draft, holds the school record for single-game passing yardage with 521 yards against Missouri State in 2017.
Chase Daniels' school record of 12,515 career passing yards looks safe, but a monster game on senior day in Friday's regular-season finale against Arkansas, plus a big bowl game could get Lock close. He is 915 yards shy of Daniels' record.
The Lee's Summit, Mo., native needs seven touchdown passes to tie Daniels' record of 101.
Rookies face Lock
Missouri's record-setting quarterback Drew Lock will face an Arkansas secondary with three freshmen starters -- cornerbacks Jarquez McClellion and Montaric Brown and safety Joe Foucha.
"I know they'll be ready to play," Missouri Coach Barry Odom said. "They'll be well coached. At the point of the year, I don't really put an age by who's playing. We've got a lot of freshmen running around out there, too."
Battle Line stats
Missouri has won three of four games against Arkansas since the Battle Line rivalry game was created when the border rivals began playing on Thanksgiving weekend in 2014.
Arkansas' only victory occurred in the 2015 game, a 28-3 decision on a cold, wet afternoon at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. However, the Razorbacks have held substantial leads in all three of the losses, including 21-7 and 28-14 in last year's 48-45 setback in Fayetteville, which represented Coach Bret Bielema's final game at Arkansas.
In the series, the Tigers hold a 6-3 edge. Missouri won three of five games before joining the SEC, starting with an 11-0 decision in the first meeting in 1906.
Little Rock entrepreneur and former Razorbacks linebacker David Bazzel created the Battle Line Trophy in 2015, first claimed by the Hogs, but Missouri has won it two games in a row.
The teams have split two bowl appearances, with Arkansas claiming a 27-14 victory in the 2003 Independence Bowl and Missouri winning 38-7 in the 2008 Cotton Bowl when the Hogs were led by interim coach Reggie Herring.
The nine games have been played in six cities: Fayetteville, Little Rock, Columbia, Mo., Shreveport, Dallas and St. Louis.
The all-time average score is tight, with Missouri holding an edge of 19.6 to 17.6. Since the Tigers joined the SEC, Arkansas has averaged 27.8 points per game to Missouri's 25.0 points per game.
Going down
Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis left his normal position in the press box at halftime Saturday and worked the rest of the game from the field.
"I wanted to be around our kids," Chavis said. "Like I said, even making that decision [to work games from the press box] was a little bit of a struggle. I wanted to be around them on the field ... get to know more about the kids when you see them in that situation.
"I felt like I needed to be there with them and be in the battle with them. That's why I came down."
Chavis, asked if he had decided where he would work the game Friday, responded by jokingly asking about the weather forecast.
"No, just teasing," he said.
"I enjoy being around the kids when they're competing. Obviously I mentioned this earlier in the year, it's easier to do your job in terms of calling the defenses from the box. It's calm and an environment you can really think and do the things you need to do. But I've done it both ways."
Notable November
The Tigers won their eighth consecutive game in the month of November last week with a 50-17 victory at Tennessee.
Missouri's winning streak in November includes two victories apiece over Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
The streak started on Nov. 25, 2016, in a come-from-behind 28-24 victory over the Razorbacks. Arkansas' 48-45 loss at Reynolds Razorback Stadium last year is the smallest margin of victory during the eight-game streak.
Silent treatment
Missouri offensive line coach Brad Davis gave his unit a small dose of dialogue for a full week following a 39-10 loss at Alabama on Oct. 13, in which the Tigers allowed four sacks and averaged 2.3 yards per carry.
"He still coached us, but outside of football he was pretty mad at us," center Trystan Colon-Castillo told reporters last week. "We got the silent treatment."
Even the following week against Memphis, Davis spoke sparingly to his charges.
The Tigers responded with 273 rushing yards, 6.8 yards per carry in the 65-33 victory over Memphis. After a sub-par showing with 84 rushing yards in a 15-14 loss to Kentucky, the Tigers rebounded with three big run games in victories at Florida, vs. Vanderbilt and at Tennessee.
Missouri ran for 221 yards, 253 yards and 227 yards, respectively, in those games and scored seven rushing touchdowns. The Tigers rank No. 6 in SEC rushing with 198.7 yards per game, heading into Friday's game against Arkansas.
Kickoff count
Friday's 1:30 p.m. game at Missouri will mark the third afternoon kickoff of the season for the Razorbacks, joining 3 p.m. starts against Eastern Illinois and North Texas.
Arkansas will have played 8 of 12 games with a kickoff at 3 p.m. or earlier, as the Hogs also had 11 a.m. kickoffs vs. Texas A&M, Alabama, Tulsa, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. The Razorbacks' night games all kicked off at 6:30 p.m. at Colorado State, at Auburn, vs. Ole Miss in Little Rock, and on campus against LSU.
Turnover factor
Arkansas fell into a tie for No. 120 in the country in turnover margin with a minus-2 showing in the loss to Mississippi State. The Razorbacks average minus-0.82 per game on turnover margin.
The Razorbacks lost two fumbles -- on Johnathan Abrams' strip-sack of Ty Storey and on Chris Rayford's recovery of the dropped snap by punter Reid Bauer -- and safety C.J. Morgan notched an interception on a deep pass by Storey. The Razorbacks' lone takeaway came from the offense, when tailback Devwah Whaley jarred the ball from Abrams on his fumble return and lineman Johnny Gibson made the recovery.
Missouri is tied for No. 77 in the nation with a turnover margin of minus 0.09.
Computer aces
Missouri is not ranked in the College Football Playoff, the Associated Press or the USA Today Coaches polls, but the computers love the Tigers.
Missouri is ranked No. 10 by Massey, which gives the Tigers its No. 1 strength of schedule, and No. 14 by ESPN's Football Power Index.
Additionally, the Tigers are No. 17 in the Sagarin rankings and No. 22 in the Colley Matrix.
Futile fourth
Opponents have converted just one time in eight chances on fourth and 2 or less against the Missouri defense. The Tigers have allowed 3 total yards on those eight snaps, including a 2-yard gain by Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur on a fourth and 1 for the only conversion.
Sports on 11/22/2018