HOG FUTURES: Long wait nears end for freshman safety

FAYETTEVILLE -- When the University of Arkansas football team opens training camp Friday, you'll be hard-pressed to find a Razorbacks player more eager to put the helmet and pads back on than Jalen Catalon.

The freshman safety from Mansfield, Texas, hasn't played a snap of football in nearly a year. A torn ACL in the opening game of his senior season ended his high school career.

Now, with nine months of rehabilitation past him and a renewed appreciation for the sport, Catalon is itching to prove he hasn't lost a step.

"I think once you really get away from something, you realize how much you really love it, how much you miss it," said Catalon, a three-sport star at Mansfield Legacy High School -- split just south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area -- who also played basketball and baseball. "I'm just ready for fall camp, ready to get back on the field and practice and get it going with my teammates."

[HOG FUTURES: Read full series on newcomers to the UA football team at arkansasonline.com/2019hogs/]

On Aug. 31, in the second quarter of a game against Jenks (Okla.) High School, Catalon -- who started at quarterback and safety for Legacy -- made a tackle on a receiver cutting up the middle of the field. His left knee then "locked up," Catalon said.

"It was sad, sad, sad," Legacy Coach Chris Melson said. "He had worked so hard. It was really heartbreaking to see him go down like that."

Legacy lost 35-14 that night in Jenks, and Catalon received an MRI the next Monday, which confirmed the worst -- an ACL tear.

Disbelief and disappointment flowed through him. Catalon had surgery the next day, and the long journey to get back to playing football at a high level began.

"You never really expect that to happen, but when it did, I just felt kind of shocked," Catalon said of his injury. "I was like, 'Wow, this really is happening.' But then after that, I just had to refocus really."

A four-star recruit and the No. 26-ranked safety nationally, per 247 Sports Composite, Catalon had been a key target for some of the best programs in college football.

The injury allowed him to focus more time on the recruiting process and visit more schools. Many coaches who had been recruiting Catalon reached out to let him know their schools were still on board.

"I think that was a little relief," Catalon said, "to know that my future wouldn't be affected by it, that coaches still believed in my talents and believed in me and they would stick with me."

One of the teams that stuck with Catalon was the Razorbacks.

Catalon took his official visit to Fayetteville the weekend the Hogs, in the midst of a 2-10 season, hosted No. 1 Alabama in early October. The Crimson Tide delivered a 65-31 drubbing that afternoon at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

The outcome was insignificant to Catalon. He already had observed what he really needed to that weekend.

"Even though they lost, you saw the fans -- they were really down for the team, and you just saw what Coach [Chad] Morris was trying to do and what he was preaching," Catalon said. "Obviously the record didn't show that, but you could tell that there were changes coming, and you could tell that he was making some transformations in the team, and that's something that I fell in love with.

"When I saw the campus and I saw the fans, I was like, 'Yeah, this is something I want to be a part of for sure.' "

Morris had been following Catalon longer than most. The Arkansas head coach had given Catalon one of his first offers in December 2016 during his sophomore year. At the time, Morris was in his second year as the head coach at SMU.

"We had a great relationship from the start," Catalon said.

Catalon took his time for the duration of his recruitment. In what's becoming less and less the norm in college football with the emergence of the December early signing period, Catalon waited to make his college decision until the official national signing day on Feb. 6.

Catalon chose Arkansas, joining two of his Legacy teammates in the Razorbacks' 2019 recruiting class -- defensive tackles Taurean Carter and Enoch Jackson (Carter and Jackson had each signed in December).

That day, Morris, a Texas high school head coach for 16 years who won back-to-back state championships at powerhouse Lake Travis, boldly called Catalon "one of the top five best high school players that I've seen play."

"I've watched Deshaun Watson play, seen Vince Young play. There's been some great ones that we've seen, and I'd have to go back and think of some more, but [Catalon]'s up there," Morris said. "I think the one word I would say more than anything is [he's] extremely instinctive, and he loves to play the game."

Catalon finished his nine-month rehab in May. He's been a full participant in the Razorbacks' summer workouts, and Catalon, whose older brother, Kendall, is a junior wide receiver for Arkansas after transferring from Southern University this summer, said he has grown more comfortable and even feels "more explosive in some cases."

Morris said on July 17 at SEC Football Media Days that he anticipates Catalon "making an impact immediately."

"He's extremely intelligent. I think through the course of the summer and player-led workouts and meetings, he's picked up the defense quite well," Morris said. "So we'll see. We'll see how it goes.

"He's very versatile, a guy that you can move around. We'll move him closer to the ball at times. He can be a nickel back, our nickel/sam position."

Still, at 5-10, 188 pounds, Catalon is undersized, and he knows he'll be at a disadvantage whenever he lines up against some of the impressive athletes who play in the SEC.

He said the strengths of his game are his eyes, awareness and football IQ. Carter, who, along with Jackson, has played more football with Catalon than nearly anyone, has personally seen that on display many times before at Legacy.

"You'd think [with] his size, he would not be able to make the plays that he makes, or you [would] think, 'he can't do that' -- but he gonna make it happen," Carter said. "That's what's crazy -- I just be on the field fascinated [by him] myself."

On Friday, Catalon will put a helmet and pads back on for the first time since Aug. 31, 2018. The difference is this time he'll also have a surgically repaired left knee, and the mental fortitude to show that what he lost on that Friday night in Jenks, Okla., was just a small roadblock to becoming a difference-maker for the Razorbacks.

"When I get on that field, I'm always trying to make a name for myself," Catalon said. "When I get on the field, it's strictly business because I know that every day could be my last time playing football.

"That's what I learned through my injury -- you're not promised every single day to play football. You got to take advantage of every moment that you get."

Sports on 07/30/2019