FAYETTEVILLE — Pro Football Focus ranks Arkansas receiver Treylon Burks the SEC’s No. 10 NFL Draft prospect and top receiver.
ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic, a former Auburn offensive lineman, recently tweeted that Burks is the best receiver in the SEC.
Burks was a first-team all-conference pick among the voters at SEC media days.
“Those are just assumptions that people have made on me, all these accolades to win,” said Burks, a junior from Warren.
“I’m just like, ‘Well, I’ve still got a season to play.’ So it feels good to hear, but I don’t let it get to me.”
Burks exploded as a sophomore, leading the Razorbacks with 51 catches for 820 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon said Burks is being modest.
“We’re the same, we’re both humble,” Catalon said. “But I’ll speak for him. I think he is [the best receiver in the SEC].
“Just seeing him in practice every day, seeing the things that he does, you can tell that all the DBs have respect for him. Because every time we do 1-on-1s, we all want to go up against him. It’s almost like a challenge every single day.
“That just shows you the respect we have for him, the fact we know he’s going to be one of the guys that makes us better.”
Warren clear
Senior receiver De’Vion Warren, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at Florida on Nov. 14, has been cleared to practice today.
Warren tore an anterior cruciate ligament returning a kickoff.
“De’Vion Warren is a guy who’s healthy,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. “He’s looked good. I think we’re going to watch his rep take just on that injury that he had.”
Warren had career-highs of 15 catches for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns in 7 games before his injury. He also had 4 carries for 35 yards and 6 kickoff returns for 120 yards.
“He came in and worked hard just coming off that injury that he had last season,” receiver Treylon Burks said. “You can tell that he wants it more being his last year.
“He’s gotten bigger. He looks stronger and he looks faster.”
Good for SEC
Oklahoma and Texas have officially accepted invitations to join the SEC
“If it’s better for the league, then I’m all for it,” Coach Sam Pittman said. “If it’s 2025 and I’m still the head coach at Arkansas, then I’m all for it.”
However, Pittman didn’t go much deeper when asked about the Sooners and Longhorns.
“I really don’t have a thought on that,” he said.
Oklahoma and Texas are part of the Big 12’s media rights contract that runs through the 2024 season, but it seems likely those programs will be competing in the SEC before then.
Missouri and Texas A&M moved from the Big 12 to the SEC in 2013 with one year’s notice. Arkansas did the same in 1992.
The Razorbacks and Longhorns, former Southwest Conference rivals, will play a non-conference game on Sept. 12 in Fayetteville.
D-line starters
Sam Pittman said the probable starting defensive line for today’s opening practice would be Eric Gregory, Isaiah Nichols, Zach Williams and Jashaud Stewart.
“Behind them you have Dorian Gerald, Taurean Carter, Mataio Soli and [Marcus] Miller,” Pittman said. “I’ll tell you, Cam Ball has been impressive with his athletic ability this summer. … I don’t want to put pressure on a young guy, but I think he’s going to help us.”
Transfers Markell Utsey and Tre Williams, who both played at Missouri, and John Ridgeway from Illinois State are expected to push for quality reps.
“We brought them here for a reason,” Pittman said. “Two of the three have played in this league and had fine success in this league.
“Last year we played a lot of three down because that’s what we had. Hopefully we can get into more four-down defense.
“The way we practice is we have two fields going basically all the time, so I think we’re going to be able to find out whom we have fairly fast. And certainly we’re not going to bring in a guy from the transfer portal that we’re going to start Day One, but if he’s good it might be Day Two.”
Avant recovering
Freshman linebacker Marco Avant won’t practice today, Coach Sam Pittman said, as he continues recovering from surgery on his left foot that he underwent in early June.
Avant sustained the injury last season when he played linebacker and running back at Jonesboro. When the foot was still bothering him earlier this summer, the decision was made for him to have surgery.
Pittman said another player, whom he didn’t name, won’t practice today because of family reasons.
Vaccine rate high
Sam Pittman said 90% of the Razorbacks have been fully vaccinated for covid-19, a contrast to the state overall, which is at about 40%.
“I’m proud of our team,” Pittman said. “I’m proud of it because it was their choice and that’s how they chose because they want to play.”
Some NFL teams are struggling to have their players reach a high vaccination rate.
“It’s going on in the NFL right now and I hope there’s a day hopefully soon where we don’t have to talk about the vaccine because we found a way to figure it out,” Pittman said. “But certainly it’s not that way today.”