The day after the passing of Mitch Petrus was a blur. The phone calls last Friday were quickly returned from all who knew him.
Deep in that 12-hour period, I finally found a number for Mike Markuson, his first offensive line coach at Arkansas. Already with 3,000 words written, I decided to save Markuson's rich thoughts for another day.
It was Markuson whom Stephen Parker pointed to as the man most instrumental in so much of the offensive success in the Houston Nutt coaching era at Arkansas. Parker pointed to the walk-ons that Markuson developed. Parker was a Petrus teammate and mentor.
You might remember the touchdown makers like Madre Hill, Cedric Cobbs, Matt Jones, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis, but it was the product of physical offensive line play.
For every “can’t miss” lineman like Shawn Andrews, Tony Ugoh or Jonathan Luigs, there was a walk-on who also developed into a starter and sometimes All-SEC.
Along with Petrus, Markuson churned out top players from the walk-on list like Dan Doughty, Jerry Reith and Parker. Markuson arrived in 1998, the final year at Arkansas for Brandon Burlsworth, an all-time walk-on great.
It took several days to catch up with Markuson, now coaching high school football in Clarksville, Tenn., his wife Dottie’s hometown.
The lead-in to the conversation with Markuson centered on what Parker had said about his college offensive line coach when Petrus arrived at Arkansas. Basically, if you work hard in the weight room and on the practice field, a walk-on could play for Markuson. I relayed it and I’m sure it brought a smile.
“You sure could,” Markuson said. “Really, what Mitch did was the epitome of what worked for us at Arkansas those years.
“Those were great days. They are still among the most fun times I’ve had in coaching. I remember how sad I was to leave. I have a picture on my desk of that last O-line group I had at Arkansas, taken at the Cotton Bowl after our last practice.
“Those were great guys and so physical. They all took great pride that we were going to tell someone we’d run right at them and still do it. We’d mix in some play-action passing, but what we did was take it right at people with those guys. They were proud of it, too.”
That picture was actually taken at the practice field at SMU where the Hogs prepped for the Cotton Bowl after the 2007 season. Most of that staff was going to re-join Nutt in a matter of days at Ole Miss. Petrus was at the center of that wall of physical offensive linemen.
Then-Arkansas offensive line coach Mike Markuson (far left) is shown with his position group during his final practice with the Razorbacks in December 2007 on the SMU campus in Dallas. Notable linemen in the photo include Jonathan Luigs (63), Nate Garner (75), DeMarcus Love (65), Mitch Petrus (66), Robert Felton (61) and Jose Valdez (78).
Quickly, the conversation centered on Petrus, a two-time All-SEC, first in 2007 under Markuson. Then, after a redshirt year over an NCAA snafu about hours caused when Petrus switched majors, Petrus earned All-SEC again in 2009 under Mike Summers.
“I will never forget going to Carlisle to see Mitch and his family,” Markuson said. “That was Clifton Ealy’s school. Clifton projected that Mitch could eventually play for us in the O-line and we ought to talk to him.”
There was no scholarship available.
“It was typical Mitch, almost funny,” Markuson said. “We told him and his dad there was no scholarship, but that we had a history of awarding scholarships to walk-ons. Houston had been good at that everywhere we’d been.
“Mitch was not real happy, kind of mad. But he said, ‘Well, I’m fixing to show y'all.’ I told his dad one year later, Mitch showed us.”
Petrus played some as a true freshman, as a blocking back in what Markuson called “our heavy personnel.” There were veterans in the O-line.
“We were pretty loaded when Mitch got there with Zac Tubbs, Ugoh, Parker, but the next year we had some spots and we moved him to guard,” Markuson said. “We needed some help and he developed fast.”
Oh, there was a learning curve.
“The thing that you saw was how strong he was in the weight room, from the start,” Markuson said. “And, he could really run. That’s why we put him at fullback. I’m not saying he was ever a threat to get the ball and we never threw to him, but he had great speed.”
The speed never left him despite gaining 75 pounds.
“That speed made him great as a puller,” Markuson said. “He was strong at the point of attack – very explosive.
“But he could get outside and lead. He could get in space and move. There is lots of video of him running the field with our backs and they were pretty good.
“Really, you look back and we had some big guys, but they all could run. We were never sloppy (heavy).”
Markuson said all-time great runners like McFadden and Jones loved playing with Petrus.
““His technique wasn’t great because he hadn’t played inside at guard, but in time he got really good, just better and better," Markuson said. "And, there were no bad days. Everyone will tell you that about Mitch.”
Everyone did.
“The thing I will never forget is the daily meetings,” Markuson said. “He’d come bouncing into the room the same every day. He’d have a goofy smile and about to say something that made you know that he was ready to go with anything we had.
“Mitch just brought it day after day. He was so easy to coach. But to go with all of that was just some freakish athletic ability and strength. It was there from the start.”
Petrus was always ready for anything. I can recall the first time to sit with him at an interview. Kevin Trainor, then the communications director, told me it might be entertaining.
I recall it was after he’d made All-SEC for the first time. Not many had talked with Petrus because there were just so many stars on those teams on both sides of the ball.
It may have been that Trainor had suggested a story on Petrus. He predicted it would be worth the time.
“I got close to Mitch because he did have that great personality,” Trainor said. “If I told you he was going to be a fun interview, it was because there was no doubt.
“Mitch would ask us (in communications) about what was expected of him at those kind of visits. He wanted to be prepared to give you something that might help.”
I’m sure that communications specialists have to prep some on how to deliver the goods.
That wasn’t a problem with Petrus. You better have a new notebook because Petrus would fill it, both sides of the pages. You saw that goofy smile, just like Markuson did every day.
I don’t think anyone in the communications doubted that Petrus could handle it. After his first few weeks at Arkansas, all of the doubters disappeared. He did the showing in a hurry.