Hog Calls

Hogs will have to work around loss of Gerald

Arkansas defensive end Dorian Gerald is show prior to a game against Portland State on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Tragic doesn't describe Dorian Gerald missing this entire Razorbacks football season.

The tragedy last Saturday would have been Arkansas' training staff and medical team not detecting the senior defensive end's strained neck artery during the first half of the Razorbacks' 20-13 season opening victory over Portland State at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

"Credit Dave (Polanski, the head football trainer) and our training staff and our doctors for being spot on and on point with everything and taking quick action," Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said Monday. "The good news is he's on the road to recovery."

All shudder pondering had Gerald's condition stayed hidden and he continued playing against Portland State.

Thus even if Gerald ultimately gets deemed medically unfit to use this 2019 season as a redshirt for a final football 2020, call last Saturday a blessing.

That said, it's still heartbreaking for the second-year junior college transfer playing catch-up in last season's first half then ascending to starting defensive end.

Junior college transfers nearly always play better their second year than their first. Particularly ones like Gerald and Razorbacks running back Rakeem Boyd. Both had to spend the spring and summer of 2018 at their junior colleges completing their associate's degrees while their Razorbacks teammates trained together in Fayetteville.

"It's night and day," Gerald said last May of training on your own. "You can run all day and lift all day, it's different than when you are in here working out with 40, 50 guys. It's totally different. I got here so late that it was about just adjusting. This is the best league in college football, and it takes time to adjust for anybody."

Gerald said he arrived physically and playbook behind while held out of three games before starting the last two. He was one of Arkansas' few bright spots in its 52-6 and 38-0 debacles routed at Mississippi State and at Missouri.

So bright that last winter Morris and defensive coordinator John Chavis moved swingman D-end/D-tackle McTelvin "Sosa" Agim full time to tackle. They will keep him there. Agim, two sacks among his team-leading six tackles, disrupted Portland State inside like he disrupted Arkansas' offense in the spring and summer scrimmages.

Minus Gerald they planned on senior Jamario Bell joining senior Gabe Richardson bookending the starting defense in Saturday's SEC opener at Ole Miss.

However, Bell (injured knee) did not practice Tuesday.

So with crossed fingers they hope midterm high school graduates UA enrolled since the January-February offseason workouts readies true freshmen Mataio Soli, Tuesday's first-teamer, Collin Clay, Zach Williams in Oxford.

Meanwhile Boyd, also arriving in August, 2018 conditioning and playbook behind, blossomed six games into last season. He netted 102 yards on 15 carries against Alabama then 109 yards, one a 69-yard touchdown, on nine carries the first half against Ole Miss. He missed the game's second half injured.

Off his 114 yards rushing against Portland State, Boyd shows that second-year surge anticipated for him and for Dorian Gerald.

NW News on 09/04/2019