A couple of weeks ago, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt hoped injured Preseason All-SEC senior split end Marcus Monk would debut with a few plays against Tennessee-Chattanooga and play in the Oct. 13 SEC game against Auburn at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

That dream has died even with Monk doing some drills in shorts Tuesday while the rest of the Razorbacks (2-2 ) practiced in full pads.

" I'm not going to go this Saturday, " Monk said.

Monk injured his right knee Aug. 9 and had two separate arthroscopic surgeries to repair damaged cartilage.

Monk's knee won't be ready Saturday, but it is progressing. Whether it progresses quickly enough for the senior from Lepanto to play or redshirt in 2007 remains undecided.

ADVERTISEMENT

While saying it was encouraging having Monk working in any fashion, David Lee said of the senior's playing status: " Everybody wants to know when... I want to know when, too. But we don't have that answer yet. " Right now, Monk still works like the answer will be play some time in 2007. " If it comes to it [redshirting ] that's what will have to be done, but I haven't thought about that at all, " Monk said. " Just taking it one day at a time. If I feel good, then I'm going to play. If not, just keep rehabbing. " Nathan Dick expected to redshirt While Monk doesn't want to redshirt but might have to, true freshman quarterback Nathan Dick and the coaches want him to redshirt. Whether Nathan Dick can be a be a fifth-year senior in 2011 primarily depends on his older brother, junior starting quarterback Casey Dick, staying healthy.

" He's been wanting to redshirt since we signed him, " Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. " But I told him, there are no guarantees. If something was to happen to Casey, we would pull that shirt off. "

On the other hand, playing just a little as a true freshman has wasted many a player who looked ready as a fourthyear senior to blossom if he had a fifth year available.

" We have been in this thing before, " Nutt said. " You play a game like last week and then might not play again until the end of the year. That just isn't worth it. Casey is playing good right now. He's got more experience. So we're going to leave it like that and just hope he stays healthy. "

So far, Shiloh Christian alum and former Missouri Southern quarterback Nathan Emert has quarterbacked all the snaps Casey Dick didn't when the Razorbacks had things in hand for their nonconference victories over Troy and North Texas. Reserve running back Michael Smith, suspended last week for disciplinary reasons, has returned to practice but now is listed fourth instead of third behind junior All-Americans Darren McFadden and Felix Jones and sophomore junior college transfer Brandon Barnett of Texarkana. Barnett, a former Arkansas High star who went on to Butler (Kan. ) Community College, netted 105 yards on 16 snaps against North Texas, filling the void left by Smith. Jerell Norton and Reggie Fish will be the opening punt returners against Chattanooga, Nutt said. Arkansas not taking UTC lightly Even off a 66-7 victory, a 2-2 team that's 0-2 in the SEC wouldn't be advised to underrate anybody.

Particularly after a weekend when some highly ranked unbeatens fell like rain.

Houston Nutt jumped on his Razorbacks, who defeated North Texas 66-7 last Saturday.

Their next opponent, Tennessee-Chattanooga (1-3 ) is a division lower than Arkansas, now called the Football Championship Subdivision.

However after Appalachian State rose up to smite Michigan back on Sept. 1, coaches from the big powers are on guard about subpar efforts against Subdivision foes.

" It could very easily be, " Nutt said of the Hogs taking Chattanooga lightly during Tuesday's workout. " You can't do that. We're going to get that message across one more time again. Anybody can beat anybody. It's been proven week after week after week, especially this year. We've got to go back and reiterate again. "

Offensive coordinator David Lee echoed Nutt's concern after practice and lauded fifth-year Chattanooga coach Rodney Allison, a name veteran fans from Arkansas' Southwest Conference days may recall as an outstanding Texas Tech quarterback from 1974-77.

" Definitely not a good Tuesday, " Lee said. " It looked like we had somebody patting us on the back for 48 hours or something. Just no intensity. "

Coaches usually take the blame for what ails, but not when publicly correcting players for midweek practice lapses.

" It wasn't our fault, " Lee said. " It was their fault. It was the players. I don't know what they've done. I don't know what happened, but they had better snap back. I know the head coach we've got scheduled this week, Rodney Allison. He'll have his bunch ready. Rodney is a fighter. "