HOG CALLS: Hogs’ youngsters in for new experience

— Marshawn Powell may think he’s already seen it all.

He hasn’t. As older Arkansas Razorbacks teammates can tell him, and probably will, he ain’t seen nothing yet.

Starting with Arkansas’ ESPNU televised SEC opener Thursday at Mississippi State, freshman forward Powell and fellow newcomers Glenn Bryant and Julysses Nobles and junior college transfers Jemal Farmer and Delvon Johnson will experience things they never experienced through 15 nonconference games.

Yep, even Powell, the team’s second-leading scorer (15.6 average) and leading rebounder (6.5) who has started every game and impressed in most of them, which included scoring 18 points with 6 rebounds and 4 steals in a well-played loss to No. 2 Texas last week.

That first SEC game, particularly the first SEC road game, is an “eye opener” according to Rotnei Clarke,the lone Razorback who was made available to the media this week.

Arkansas’ sophomore shooting star guard recalled the jolt of last season’s conference comeuppance.

“I thought that was for me especially,” Clarke said. “Knowing you are going to the SEC and have the opportunity to play for a ring and a division championship and knowing it’s all going to go on your conference record is a real eye opener.”

Last year’s Hogs soared to 12-1 going into the SEC, including triumphs over Top 10 teams Oklahoma and Texas.

In the SEC, they floundered 2-14. Straight off the Texas triumph, Mississippi State shocked them 70-56 in the SEC opener at Walton Arena.

It got worse with travel. An armadillo crossing the interstate had better odds than last year’s 0-8 SEC road Hogs.

“It was tough,” Clarke said. “It is especially hard in the SEC to win on the road.”

Especially in Starkville at Mississippi State’s Humphrey Coliseum. Arkansas hasn’t won the Starkville portion of its annual Mississippi State SEC West home-and-home series since 2000.

Thursday’s numbers don’t bode well. The Hogs are 7-8. Mississippi State (13-3) won its SEC opener last Saturday at Ole Miss.

Arkansas is 0-3 away from Walton, including a home game loss to Baylor in North Little Rock.

At least Baylor shot-blocker Ekpe Udoh, who had eight blocked shots in the Bears’ 70-47 triumph, prepared Arkansas for MississippiState shot-blocker Jarvis Varnado.

Varnado has blocked 80 in 16 games.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said of already facing a premier shotblocker. “For some of our guys, that was probably a little bit of a new experience being challenged like that at the basket. But there’s nobody better at that than Varnado.”

Something else for Powell to learn, but Powell may teach the Bulldogs a few things, too.

Especially since Powell finally will hit the road both with point guard Courtney Fortson off disciplinary suspension and All-SEC forward Michael Washington’s back not ailing.

“He [Powell] has never played on the road in the SEC,” Pelphrey said. “But hopefully it will put him in a better situation, a better light, for us to be more healthy than we’ve been all year and for us to have more guys than we’ve had at any point in time.”

Sports, Pages 16 on 01/13/2010