Bobby Petrino passed Wednesday morning the NCAA test allowing him to recruit on the road, but Arkansas ’ new head football coach spent Day One recruiting right at his new home.

Petrino’s Day One agenda after meeting Wednesday with the Razorback team as a whole was individually meeting with Felix Jones. Jones, the junior All-American running back / kick returner from Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington, generally is expected to join junior two-time Doak Walker winner / two-time Heisman Trophy runnerup All-American junior running back Darren McFadden as declaring for the NFL Draft after Arkansas concludes its season in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri, New Year’s Day in Dallas.

McFadden has not officially declared. However it’s long been a foregone conclusion — even by nowformer coach Houston Nutt, the Ole Miss coach since Nov. 27 after resigning Nov. 26 at Arkansas — that McFadden will declare in January.

Petrino, most famed for a 41-9 record coaching the University of Louisville from 2003-06, resigned as first-year head coach of the NFL’s 3-10 Atlanta Falcons Tuesday afternoon and was introduced at 10: 30 Tuesday night in Fayetteville as Arkansas’ new head coach after signing a five-year contract at $ 2. 85 million per.

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“ He just introduced himself to me and said he’s got a plan for us and that he can’t wait to start the season, ” Jones said Wednesday after his closed-door meeting with Petrino. “ He’s a nice guy from what we’ve seen. We just have got to wait until the season starts and start practicing to see how he really is. ”

Does that mean Jones will return ?

The usually smiling Tulsan stayed poker-faced.

“ Could be, ” Jones said. “ We’ll just have to wait until after the bowl game to see what happens. We can talk about this all day long but we just have to wait and see. ”

Jones did break into one of his trademark smiles talking about the present, prepping for the Cotton Bowl and playing for interim coach Reggie Herring, who will coach the Razorbacks through the bowl game.

“ Coach Herring is a wonderful guy, ” Jones said. “ He’s full of spirit. We want to win this game for him. We want to finish strong. We know what we’ve got and we know what we can bring to this game. We are just ready to play. ”

Jones said for the team in general “ it’s a relief” to have a coach named.

“ We don’t have to do all the worr ying anymore, ” Jones said.

Junior Razorback All-American center Jonathan Luigs, winner of the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center, assured, “ I will be back, ” next year rather than turning pro early.

He seemed impressed with Petrino after Wednesday’s team meeting.

“ I think he’s a good hire, ” Luigs said. “ He has the right goals for us. He wants to win the national championship and make us graduate. If we can get that from a head coach, I think we’ll be fine. ”

Petrino will not be a part of the Cotton Bowl preparations but will immediately start recruiting.

Therefore, Razorback linebackers coach / recruiting coordinator Chris Vaughn has been released, Herring said, to start working for Nutt at Ole Miss.

Originally, Vaughn wasn’t going to join Ole Miss until Jan. 2, but the Razorbacks had to remove a full-time coach to stay within numerical NCAA regulations with Petrino recruiting.

Herring said he and defensive coordinator Louis Campbell would keep tabs on the linebackers as will Pierre Brown, a Razorback assistant strength coach and former Razorback linebacker lettering from 2002-05.

“ Chris has done a tremendous job here, ” Herring said. “ He has been an instrumental part in getting this team to a bowl game. He’s on his way to Ole Miss to be a Rebel and we wish him well. ”

Vaughn played for Nutt at Murray State and has been on Nutt’s Arkansas staff since 1999.

“ Leaving before the bowl game is not easy because of the players, ” Vaughn said. “ But with a new coach coming on and space being needed for Arkansas to continue to recruit, it just made sense. Since I’ll be heading up recruiting for Ole Miss, I need to go down there and get started. So it worked out for everybody. ”

Vaughn said he will be glued to the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day.

“ Those are my kids playing in that game, ” Vaughn said. “ I will definitely be watching and cheering for them. ”

Herring said the Razorbacks had “ a good practice ” working out Wednesday morning inside the Walker Pavilion.

Starting cornerback Matterral Richardson and starting safety Matt Hewitt missed Wednesday’s practice with pinkeye, Herring said.