Whatever Crosby Tuck catches Saturday night against Kentucky, it's unlikely to be by surprise.

Kentucky ought to be wise to Arkansas' unheralded freshman split end from Shiloh Christian who shocked both Troy and Alabama. Tuck is the spot player who sneaked in and sneaked out with a 42-yard TD option pass from running back Darren McFadden against Troy. Last Saturday at Alabama, Tuck slipped in to snare a 40-yard TD from quarterback Casey Dick on a shocking bomb on third and one.

However against Kentucky in Saturday's ESPN 2 5 p.m. televised SEC game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Tuck makes his starting debut. That means he starts with attention afforded a starter and likely will finish with a starter's fourth-quarter fatigue.

" Oh, yeah, " Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee said. " I've talked to him about that, and told him, ' you've got to prepare for everything and blocking and separation and looking the ball in and the conditioning and endurance to execute in the fourth quarter. ' "

Is Tuck up to it ?

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" He thinks he is, and that's the most important thing, " Lee replied.

Tuck gets this start the old fashioned way. He earned it.

" He started out seventh team, " Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said. " He's kept working and working, all the way through camp, first week, second week, he's just been consistent. "

While starting Tuck is a boost, fullback Peyton Hillis, the Razorbacks' most prolific receiver this side of still injured Marcus Monk, came out limping from Tuesday's practice in pads.

" He sprained his knee a little bit, " trainer Dean Weber said. " It doesn't appear serious, but we'll know more [today ]. "

A bulldozing blocker with soft hands, Hillis leads the Hogs with nine catches for 73 yards. Another projected to help the Razorbacks' passing game, sophomore tight end of Ben Cleveland, likely will redshirt, Nutt said Tuesday. Cleveland has a persistent nerve injury in his neck that has idled him since Aug. 9.

For good news on Arkansas' injury front, all-everything tailback Darren McFadden, giving his all with 33 carries for 195 hard-earned yards in the 41-38 loss at Alabama, practiced Tuesday in full pads. McFadden seems over the mild concussion that, under Weber's orders, withheld him from Arkansas' second-to-last series when the Hogs went three and out while clinging to a 38-34 lead.

McFadden so sparked Arkansas from down 31-10 to up 38-31 at Alabama that Lee said Tuesday, " guys, I don't know if I've ever seen a performance like that live, what he did the other night. He's got such a relentless spirit about him. That's the intangible thing about him that you just can't find in hardly anybody. "

Redshirt freshman reserve right offensive guard DeMarcus Love practiced Tuesday for the first time since dislocating his knee cap in August. Love instantly got back the backup spot he had before he was hurt.

" First day back and it doesn't look like he missed a step, " offensive line coach Mike Markuson said Tuesday.

Markuson's starters, center Jonathan Luigs, right guard Robert Felton, left guard Mitch Petrus, left tackle Jose Valdez and right tackle Nate Garner, got high marks at Alabama. Arkansas amassed 457 yards of total offense.

Wade Grayson, the true freshman from Harrison originally scheduled to be redshirted, is the backup left guard. Love is the backup right guard, and Michael Aguirre and Ray Dominguez the backup tackles while Felton doubles as the backup center. Felton also was listed as the backup left guard and even backup tackle in August.

Grayson lost his redshirt mopping up the 46-26 Sept. 1 victory over Troy. " We played Wade because we were struggling, and DeMarcus had that injury and we were flipping guys all over the place, " Markuson said. " You start moving a guy like Felton everywhere, it's hard to learn football that way in the offensive line. " Felton worked a lot at center Tuesday while Love worked some at first-team right guard. Luigs, who did practice some, rested an ailing toe. Arkansas junior punter Jeremy Davis has kicked his way on to the 40-man Ray Guy Award Watch List. Davis averages 43. 9 yards for 11 punts, including three inside the 20. A couple of wobbly snaps by freshman deep snapper Rhett Richardson has Nutt evaluating both sophomore Barrett Reynolds and Rhett to snap against Kentucky.

Nutt said the Hogs " got off to a good start " for their first practice in pads since losing the game they thought they had come back to win at Alabama.

" I was really proud of the attitude and focus today after a very, very tough, tough weekend, " Nutt said.