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by Bob Holt , Tom Murphy
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman said the shakeup in the secondary last week, which elevated cornerbacks Hudson Clark and Kee’yon Stewart into starting positions and inserted Miguel Mitchell and Larry Worth in a three-safety scheme in a 3-2-6 alignment, looked pretty solid.
“Larry Worth played a really, really good game,” Pittman said. “I’m not positive off the top of my head how many tackles he had, but he was very, very physical. Mitchell played well besides the mistake on the screen-and-go, bubble-and-go [first quarter touchdown]. He let him go there; eyes got in the wrong place there.
“I thought our linebackers tackled well, D-line ran hard. I thought we played extremely hard and tackled. That was one of our better tackling games.”
The quartet of Clark, Stewart, Mitchell and Worth joined nickel back Doneiko Slaughter and safety Jayden Johnson in the starting lineup. Former starters Marquise Robinson and TJ Metcalf also logged playing time.
Worth and Clark made 8 tackles — 1 less than linebacker Stephen Dix for the most in the game — and 1 pass breakup each, while Stewart added 4 tackles and 1 pass breakup.
Pittman saved big praise for the cornerback starters, who were spelled by Robinson.
“I really liked Stewart,” he said. “He had a good game. And Hudson Clark probably played as good as he’s played in a while at the other corner. So I think the changes that we looked at helped us.”
Braxton update
Redshirt freshman cornerback Jaylon Braxton has been dealing with a long-running knee issue since the Sept. 7 loss at Oklahoma State and will not be back this week, Pittman said Monday.
“We’re running out of time,” Pittman said. “I’m saying possibly…the bowl, but I don’t [know]. It’s just not getting better.”
Braxton was in line to be the Razorbacks’ top cornerback this season. Robinson, then Singletary started opposite him the first two games.
Since then Robinson has made 7 more starts, Singletary has made 5 and Hudson Clark and Kee’yon Stewart have made 2 each at cornerback.
Injury report
Pittman said defensive end Anton Juncaj might need another week to return from a knee issue that prevented him from playing in Arkansas’ 20-10 loss to Texas last week.
Additionally, Pittman said running back Braylen Russell, who did not play against Texas after being limited to 4 carries against Ole Miss prior to the open date, got clearance from an undisclosed injury late last week.
“He really didn’t get completely OK…until Friday,” Pittman said. “He missed a lot of full-speed reps and with having [Ja’Quinden Jackson] back and all that, it would affect his reps some anyway. If he’s healthy we’ll certainly use him. He’s a good player.”
Linebacker Anthony Switzer and cornerback Selman Bridges, who showed up unexpectedly on last week’s availability report, were expected to return for Monday’s practice, Pittman said.
Junior talks
Asked on Monday if he had begun discussions with junior quarterback Taylen Green on the potential for his return in 2025, Pittman said he had a plan to talk with a number of players two days after the regular-season finale at Missouri.
“So you’ll know, Monday after the Missouri game, I’ve got six guys that I’m going to bring in and talk to, myself and the coaches are going to talk to,” Pittman said. “They [are] juniors…and really what I’m going to do is talk to them about their draft status and then talk to them about coming back. Certainly try to figure out how we can get them to come back.”
Pittman did not indicate which juniors he was referencing outside of Green.
Based on the timeline Pittman laid out last week for his hip replacement surgery, it would be the day following those meetings.
Tall tale
During ABC’s telecast of the Arkansas-Texas game, the announcers brought up the grass being cut high at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Pittman said. “That’s, I don’t know, regulation grass. We didn’t have it up higher than anybody else we’re playing, I don’t think. They had to come up with something to talk about maybe.”
Kutas’ redshirt
Junior offensive lineman Patrick Kutas, who has started the last three games at left guard, can play one more regular-season game against Louisiana Tech or Missouri and retain his redshirt.
Pittman said Kutas, who missed the first seven games with a back issue, expressed a desire to redshirt.
“It’s still up in the air,” Pittman said. “But our plans are to do what we told the young man we would do and that’s redshirt him. Whether that’s next week or whether that’s this week, we’ll just have to wait and see how we are health-wise and all that.”
If Kutas sits out one of the next two games he can still play in a bowl game keep his redshirt.
Keyshawn Blackstock, a junior and seven-game starter at right tackle, would likely start at left guard if Kutas doesn’t play.
Tube talk
Kickoff for the Razorbacks’ season finale next Saturday at Missouri will be at 2:30 p.m. from Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo., with SEC Network carrying the broadcast.
The Razorbacks and Tigers will not be playing on the Friday after Thanksgiving for only the second time since they became annual rivals in 2014. The game in 2020 was played on Saturday, Dec. 5, in Columbia after the Tigers asked for a delay due to covid-19 roster issues the weekend of Thanksgiving.
Missouri holds an 11-4 series lead and is 5-0 at home against Arkansas since joining the SEC for the 2012 season.
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