Arkansas freshman defensive tackle Lavunce Askew sprints through a drill Wednesday during practice inside the Walker Indoor Pavilion in

Willy Robinson banks on having more to work with coordinating Arkansas’ defense in Saturday’s 6 p. m. game against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in Little Rock than he did in the Razorbacks’ 28-24 escape over Western Illinois last Saturday in Fayetteville.

“ We’re actually getting deeper, ” Robinson said after Wednesday’s practice, “ which is kind of nice, whether it’s a Jerell Norton, Elston Forte, Wendel Davis... we’re starting to get some of those guys back. ”

Cornerback Norton and linebackers Forte and Davis all missed the WIU game with injuries. All three apparently will be available at least for limited duty against ULM.

Also, at Jack, the hybrid outside linebacker / safety position, Walner Leandre will be in the rotation after being held out of last Saturday’s game, Robinson said.

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However, Robinson isn’t adding just experienced players who didn’t play last week. He’s adding rookies that are not quite the novices they were a week ago.

True freshmen safety Elton Ford, Jack linebacker Jerico Nelson, Will linebacker Jelani Smith and Marion native and redshirt freshman middle linebacker Jerry Franklin went every defensive snap against WIU, Robinson said.

“ You hope they start growing whiskers, because we’re young, ” Robinson said. “ But some of our freshmen played a lot of plays. ”

Some rookie reserves, like true freshmen defensive linemen Lavunce Askew of Camden Fairview and Zach Stadther of North Little Rock got some key time, too.

“ That some young guys in the D-line played as much, all of a sudden our depth is getting better, ” Robinson said. “ The thing about both of them is they got stronger as the game went on. ”

Askew even is a firstteamer now in some nickel pass-rush packages.

“ He’s not only a decent run guy, ” Robinson said, “ but really what he brings to the table is he’s got a nice pass rush. He’s really going to be a fine football player. And Stadther is just a strong, dependable guy. He is going to be a rock of Gibraltar in there for us. ”

Askew is hip to what he’s up against in elusive senior ULM quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster.

“ You’ve got to use his hips to catch him, ” Askew said. “ Keep your eyes on his hips, not his helmet. He’s a very fast quarterback. A very agile quarterback. ”

Askew said the thrill of playing his first Razorback game last week met every expectation.

“ I felt very excited to run through the A, ” Askew said. “ Very fun to go on the field for the battle. The battle was our friends against your friends and it was nothing but a big fist that came to win. ”

Willy Robinson frets the same problems that Arkansas tight end D. J. Williams causes, the Hogs might see Saturday from ULM senior tight end Zeek Zacharie.

“ No. 15 reminds us of D. J. Williams, ” Robinson said. “ That type of size and receiver. He’s got some shake. All their receivers are very capable. ”

On the Razorback offense, wide receiver London Crawford, concussion during the WIU game, practiced Wednesday.

Also, weakside offensive guard Wade Grayson of Harrison, not in full gear during the 20-minutes-open-to-themedia session of Tuesday’s practice, was bumping heads in full regalia at the outset of Wednesday’s workout.

Wednesday’s rain from the northern push of the Hurricane Gustav aftermath forced the Razorbacks to work inside the Walker Pavilion for a second straight day.

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino began the week challenging the Hogs ’ veteran defensive front four off their performance against Western Illinois.

“ I learned I had a higher opinion of our defensive front than I should have, ” Petrino said last Monday.

He kept up the challenge to the D-line during Wednesday’s SEC Media teleconference.

“ Probably our inability to stop the run, ” Petrino said when asked what bothered him most from last Saturday. “ We didn’t do a real good job of our gap control, our gap assignments. We had guys sometimes over-penetrating. We got cut and knocked down to the ground.

“ I thought that’s really what hurt us. I was surprised we weren’t able to push their offensive front back and cause more negative plays. ”

One of the challenged, senior starting nose tackle Ernest Mitchell, said Wednesday, “ It’s their job to issue us challenges. So we’re going to accept the challenge. ”