FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks get a new complexion when some seasoned veterans are given downtime for the banged-up Hogs.
That was the case Tuesday when a handful of top Razorbacks were out for an early team period on the first heavy day of practice during the open date for University of Arkansas (2-3, 0-2 SEC).
Tailback Rakeem Boyd and tight end Cheyenne O'Grady were among the group in green (no-contact) jerseys, so they missed the team period along with would-be starters in center Ty Clary, left guard Austin Capps, left tackle Colton Jackson, right tackle Dalton Wagner, and wide receivers De'Vion Warren and Trey Knox. Senior tailback Devwah Whaley also was rested in the early period.
On defense, senior linebacker De'Jon Harris was given rest, senior tackle McTelvin Agim was out, and senior end Gabe Richardson donned a green jersey for the first time this season.
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Junior quarterback Nick Starkel, wearing a sleeve on his bruised left arm, led the top offense with junior slot back T.J. Hammonds; wide receivers Koilan Jackson, Treylon Burks and Tyson Morris; and tight end Chase Harrell. The offensive front was composed of Myron Cunningham, Kirby Adcock, Shane Clenin, Ricky Stromberg and Ryan Winkel.
Bumper Pool and Grant Morgan ran with the ones at linebacker, while the secondary consisted of the regular starters -- Montaric Brown and Jarques McClellion at cornerback, Kamren Curl and Joe Foucha at safety, and nickel back Greg Brooks. The starting front had T.J. Smith and Jonathan Marshall at tackle, and Jamario Bell and Mataio Soli at end.
Joining Boyd, O'Grady and Richardson in no-contact jerseys on Tuesday were Warren and receiver Jordan Jones, who is nearly back from ankle surgery, and freshmen defensive end Zach Williams.
QB update
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Quarterback Nick Starkel, who left Saturday's 31-27 loss to Texas A&M in the second quarter with a left arm injury, was back at work Tuesday wearing a compression sleeve on the arm while directing the top offense.
Starkel left the game with Arkansas trailing 14-3 after making a tackle on 304-pound Justin Madubuike after a tipped interception in the end zone.
Senior Ben Hicks turned in a solid relief outing, completing 15 of 27 passes for 188 yards and 1 touchdown to go along with 2 sacks. Hicks has not thrown an interception and has one touchdown pass in 72 attempts.
Starkel was 12 of 17 for 109 yards, with 1 interception and no touchdowns Saturday. He has thrown 7 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions in 131 attempts.
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O'Grady honored
Cheyenne O'Grady was recognized Tuesday as the John Mackey Award tight end of the week for his performance against Texas A&M.
O'Grady had eight receptions for a career-high 91 receiving yards against the Aggies, including catches of 27 and 23 yards.
The senior from Fayetteville leads SEC tight ends and is seventh in the nation with 243 receiving yards. O'Grady also leads SEC tight ends with 18 receptions and 122 yards after the catch, figures that both rank ninth in the country.
McClellion's stops
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Cornerback Jarques McClellion broke up third-down passes on back-to-back series against Texas A&M in the third quarter while covering Jhamon Ausbon, the Aggies' top receiver.
Both breakups came on slant routes.
"Those were big plays for us," Arkansas cornerbacks coach Mark Smith said. "He has been as steady as any of the guys on the back end this season. I think his play has been consistent."
McClellion has been called for some pass interference penalties, but he has 17 tackles, 3 breakups and 1 interception.
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"Some of those pass interference [penalties], they're going to call that sometimes," Smith said. "We want them to be aggressive in the way that they play.
"Not to the point where we get a penalty, but we want them to play aggressive, and in this league they allow you to do that. So we're going to be as aggressive as we can right to a point."
Limpert update
Senior kicker Connor Limpert went 2 of 3 on field goals last week -- missing from 51 yards and connecting from 46 and 40 yards -- to stay on pace to become the most accurate placekicker in school history.
Limpert is now 35 of 43 (81.4%) as a Razorback, a fraction below the 81.8% rate with which he opened the season.
The current record belongs to Zach Hocker, who made 61 of 79 field goals (77.2%) from 2010-13. Todd Wright (75.9%), Kendall Trainor (73.9%), Ish Ordonez (71.0%) and Chris Balseiro (70%) are the only other Arkansas kickers to make 70% or better for their careers.
Punt power
The Razorbacks saw a strong punting performance Saturday from Texas A&M's Braden Mann, who averaged 49.5 yards on four punts, had three punts of 54-plus yards, and put his other inside the 20-yard line.
But there's an even better punter out there: Kentucky's Max Duffy, who the Razorbacks will face Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Duffy earned the Ray Guy Award punter of the week after averaging 51.1 yards on nine punts to break his own single-game record (with a minimum of eight punts) in a loss at South Carolina. Duffy also became the Wildcats' all-time leading punter with an average of 46.6 yards.
Kentucky leads the country with a net punting average of 49.3 yards per punt.
Night kick
The Razorbacks will play their second night game of the season when they come off their open date.
The 6:30 p.m. Central kickoff at Kentucky on Oct. 12 will be the third game at that time for the Hogs, joining the road date at Ole Miss and a home game against San Jose State.
Arkansas has had two 3 p.m. kickoffs (Portland State, Colorado State) and an 11 a.m. kickoff (Texas A&M) in the first half of the season.
Kentucky leads the all-time series 4-3. The teams have not played since the Razorbacks' weather-shortened 49-7 victory in 2012. The Wildcats won the last game played in Lexington, Ky., 21-20 on Oct. 18, 2008.
Sports on 10/02/2019