Injury Report: How healthy are the Hogs going into fall camp?
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Razorbacks begin fall camp practice on Friday and, aside from a pair of key players, they should be fairly healthy.
Head coach Sam Pittman met with the media for his pre-fall camp press conference Wednesday and provided an update on where the Hogs are from a health standpoint.
Defensive lineman Taurean Carter and running back Dominique Johnson are the two big names that will be limited in fall camp and likely miss games at the start of the season.
Pittman said Johnson — who is still recovering from a knee injury suffered in the Outback Bowl against Penn State — is getting better, but might miss the first game of the year against Cincinnati.
"Dominique, we had a talk about that this morning in our staff meeting with (head trainer Dave Polansky), I feel like he’ll be able to do some things," Pittman said. "Maybe not the first week, as far as team-oriented type things. But he’s progressing well. He’s ahead of schedule. So I don’t know if we’ll have him for the Cincinnati game or not, but I feel like we’re gonna have him the majority of the season."
Carter suffered a knee injury during spring practice, and like Johnson, there is a good shot that he will miss time to start the season. Arkansas is deep at running back, so Johnson's injury is not as big of a blow, but the team needs a guy like Carter to help with depth on the d-line.
"(Carter) will be in camp," Pittman said. "He’ll be in camp, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be active in camp. But we felt like it was important that he come into camp, be a part of the team, be a part of the meetings, be a part of practice. Not that he’s going to be able to practice, yet. But we felt like that was important."
Super senior right tackle Dalton Wagner will be back in fall camp after missing time in the spring for a back-related injury.
"Dalton is a guy that, we want him to stay healthy every game," Pittman said. "But I don’t know that he can play every single rep of every game. I don’t know. He’s got some issues, some physical issues injury-wise."
Pittman mentioned that the staff is planning on having junior Ty'Kieast Crawford work on the right side at tackle and guard in the event that Wagner is unable to go. Either way, Pittman said he wants Crawford on the field this season.
LSU transfer defensive end Landon Jackson will be a full-go in fall camp after missing all of the spring. If he can solidify a spot on the defensive line, it will help make up for the loss of Carter at the start of the season.
Backup walk-on quarterback Kade Renfro and redshirt sophomore defensive back Jacorrei Turner were also guys that Pittman talked about.
Pittman said Turner hurt his shoulder and will be in a green jersey for the start of fall camp.
"He hurt his shoulder," Pittman said. "But he’ll be out there, so you guys will see. He’ll be out there in the green, but he’ll be going. He’s fine, but we’re going to play a little caution with him for a couple of weeks."
Renfro suffered a bad knee injury during practice prior to the Outback Bowl, and he will not be able to practice for most, if not all, of fall camp.
"Renfro hasn’t been cleared yet to practice, so he’ll be in the training room getting healthy and those things," Pittman said. "Now, he can throw, just can’t do anything team oriented right now. I think he will be able to do that by first, second game. I think he’ll be able… and maybe some during this fall camp. But with that said, he’s not going to get here. He’s not going to be able to practice until school starts unless we have some type of injury. Then we can pull him off the waiver list, or however you want to look at it."
The team is set to report Thursday and begin practice Friday around 5:05 p.m. CT.