FAYETTEVILLE — Ryan Powers ran too well to be run off, but too unfocused to be trusted.
Now he runs some with the first-team defense.
After four years of frustration running through the last two years of the Houston Nutt regime and Bobby Petrino’s first two Arkansas seasons, the 6-1, 223-pound linebacker from Athens, Ala., sees opportunity calling for his fifth and final season.
This time, Powers vows, he’s ready to answer the call.
“I am going to take full advantage of it,” Powers said after Tuesday’s practice, “and come out here every day with a focus and make an effort to be disciplined in my plays and listen to what the coaches are saying and play the way I know I can - full speed every day to the ball.”
When he runs full speed, no Razorbacks linebacker runs any faster.
Unfortunately, Powers often used to beat everyone to the wrong place.
Mistakes, Powers said, hurt his playing time.
Medically hardshipped in 2006, Powers played 12 games in 2007 but in a decreasing role after startingthe first two.
In 2008, he played nine games as a reserve, and he mopped up just three times without a stat last year.
“These past few years I just wasn’t focused,” Powers said. “Sometimes I wasn’t coachable. Like I say, it was me making mistakes.”
Especially the mistake of thinking that his speed could overcome casually reading the playbook.
“You have got to learn the plays,” Powers said. “If you don’t learn the plays, they don’t trust you. You are not going to be on the field. I probably wasn’t trustworthy enough.”
Many new regimes eventually cut an inherited player who isn’t cutting it, but Petrino and defensive coordinator Willy Robinson stuck with Powers. They knew he couldrun in fast company.
“I am just glad they gave me a second chance to get back on that field and make some plays for them and do what I can to help the team to win,” Powers said.
Powers said the light switch finally flicked on last spring and he burned bright through summer conditioning.
“I had a good spring and knew what I had to do,” Powers said. “This summer I busted my butt real hard in the weight room just to get bigger and stronger and get my playbook to know what I have to do on that field.
“I think it clicked that I can go out there and help the team win some games.”
The powers that be noticed Powers. Petrino and Robinson touted the forgotten man heading into August.
“I think this fall I took it to another level, being focused and knowing what to do and in different formations, what checks to make and run full speed to the ball,” Powers said.
Powers has been the first-team weakside linebacker because twoyear starter Jerry Franklin was withheld from Monday’s two practices and resumed Tuesday on the second team.
Look for Franklin, a team captain, to start again, but don’t expect Powers to disappear.
“We need to find a role for that youngster,” Robinson said. “He’s a guy we need to have playing fast, because when he does, he’s a pretty effective football player.”
Sports, Pages 14 on 08/18/2010