FAYETTEVILLE — One of Arkansas’ thinnest position groups took another hit this week.

Two-time All-SEC linebacker De’Jon Harris will have surgery on his foot Friday that will cause him to miss the rest of spring practice, head coach Chad Morris announced Tuesday.

It is not a soft tissue injury, but there is a “real slight fracture” that has been nagging him since last season and will require a small screw, Morris said. He is expected to be good to go in May, which is the month following Arkansas’ April 6 spring game.

“We rehabbed it and thought we had it (healed), and it just…kept bothering him, so we had it looked at,” Morris said. “We don’t want this to carry on. That’s kind of where we’re at with it.”

Not only does the injury take a returning team captain off the field, but it also puts Arkansas in a dire situation at linebacker in terms of numbers.

In the first few days of spring ball, Hayden Henry has worn a green no-contact jersey and Deon Edwards has been off to the side doing work with the strength staff. Neither of their injuries are known.

That presumably leaves the Razorbacks with only four scholarship linebackers cleared for full-contact work: redshirt juniors Giovanni LaFrance and Grant Morgan, sophomore Bumper Pool and redshirt freshman Andrew Parker.

“We don’t have the depth that we need to have right now at the linebacker position, but what it does is it allows some of these other guys (to get) a lot of reps,” Morris said. “It’s good to see, to force these guys to have to grow up pretty quick.”

The Razorbacks knew they'd have to replace senior Dre Greenlaw this offseason, but Kyrei Fisher decided to transfer during the season and Dee Walker was dismissed from the team following an offseason arrest.

They whiffed on a pair of junior college linebackers, though, and will bring in just four-star signee Zach Zimos from Fort Bend Travis High School in Texas this summer.

Two other players who missed practice Tuesday were offensive lineman Noah Gatlin (illness) and defensive end Dorian Gerald (infection). Both of them are expected to return for Thursday’s practice.

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