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FAYETTEVILLE — Facing a team fresh off a record-breaking upset, Arkansas will need all hands on deck Saturday.
The Razorbacks should be getting a few key players back on defense ahead of their Week 2 trip to Starkville, Miss., where they’ll play a Mississippi State team who opened the season with 623 passing yards in a 44-34 win over No. 6 LSU at Death Valley.
Head coach Sam Pittman mentioned after last weekend’s that cornerbacks Devin Bush and Jarques McClellion would return to practice Monday and Tuesday, respectively. He added in Monday’s press conference that defensive end Mataio Soli would be back this week, too.
Those were the only three scholarship players missing from Arkansas’ sideline against Georgia, indicating they might have been out because of COVID-19 testing or contact tracing.
The biggest question moving forward this week is whether or not starting defensive end Dorian Gerald will be available. He played 29 snaps before leaving the game with an injury and never returned.
“On Dorian, I think it’s just a wait and see,” Pittman said. “He obviously turned his ankle, so we’ll have to wait and see what comes out of that.”
Scholarship defensive backs Myles Mason, Micahh Smith and Malik Chavis - all of which have appeared in the Razorbacks’ two-deep during their careers - were present, but not dressed out Saturday. Their status is unknown.
Junior Joe Foucha was listed as the starting boundary safety last week, but came off the bench. Former walk-on Simeon Blair, who was awarded a scholarship during camp, started in his place and played well, earning one of the top grades on defense, according to Pro Football Focus.
Pittman said that switch was made because Foucha missed a few days of practice and didn’t return until Thursday. With a full week of preparation, he could see more action after playing less than half of the snaps against Georgia.
Getting several key defensive players back in the fold this week will help, especially considering starting cornerbacks Montaric Brown and Jerry Jacobs played all 95 snaps and safety Jalen Catalon played 87. Pittman said after the game that he felt the defense wore down and they needed to be better with their rotations.
However, the first-year coach also said it is imperative for the offense to sustain drives to keep Mississippi State’s air raid attack on the sideline.
“We can’t go three and out on offense and especially take no time off the clock,” Pittman said. “I’m not blaming the offense - I mean, Georgia has got one of the best defenses in America - but we certainly need to have more success there to help our defense out.”
Kickoff against the No. 16 Bulldogs is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on SEC Network Alternate.
