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FAYETTEVILLE — Whenever football returns to Arkansas’ campus, Feleipe Franks will be ready to lead the Razorbacks’ offense.
Head coach Sam Pittman said on Friday’s teleconference that Franks’ ankle has “certainly” healed and the graduate transfer from Florida is at least 90-95 percent healthy.
That is good news for Arkansas because there was some concern that he might not be ready for spring practice after needing to be carted off the field in his last game with the Gators.
The injury - suffered in Week 3 against Kentucky last season - proved to be a season-ending dislocated ankle with a fracture. Florida head coach Dan Mullen said a couple of days later that it would require six months of recovery, which would lead right into spring ball.
Of course, everything is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic and it’s unknown when or if the Razorbacks will get their allotted 15 practices. They were scheduled to start March 16.
Whether it’s after April 15, over the summer or not until fall camp, Franks and fellow quarterback K.J. Jefferson - who had offseason shoulder surgery - should be ready to go, especially with the additional time off.
“It’s not going to hurt them,” Pittman said Friday. “However, we felt like if we were practicing Monday of this week that Franks and Jefferson both would have practiced.”
Another position group that hasn’t been at full strength this offseason is the offensive line.
A pair of the Razorbacks’ starters, center Ty Clary and right tackle Dalton Wagner, have been limited because of labrum surgery. Although they’ve had to do modified weight workouts, their shoulder injuries haven’t prevented them from running and doing other conditioning activities.
Noah Gatlin was set to compete with Wagner for the starting job at right tackle last season until he tore his ACL on the first day of fall camp. He is also still limited as he works his way back from a successful surgery. The good news is that Pittman said he should be ready to go for fall camp.
“He's moving a lot better than what he did, obviously,” Pittman said. “He has done a lot with the team, all the running basically. The lifting obviously he's got alternative workouts, but he's doing a nice job. He's a tough kid.”
On the other side of the ball, defensive end Dorian Gerald - who missed all but the first half of the season opener last year because of a strained artery in his neck - is getting back into shape with a “good offseason,” Pittman said.
The first-year coach said he’s had one-on-one conversations with the fifth-year senior and he likes how he’s responded.
“He is a guy that could be a strong leader for us; kids look up to him,” Pittman said. “He is getting his quickness back. He is getting stronger. I really like the kid, think he is smart, a good guy to have in that D-line room.”
Linebackers Bumper Pool and Hayden Henry have been out, as well. Pool had back surgery, while Henry - like Clary and Wagner - had labrum surgery that actually caused him to miss the season finale against Missouri.
The plan had been for banged up linebackers and offensive linemen to split their practice time between doing walk-through, non-contact activities and conditioning on the side. However, everyone should be ready by at least Aug. 1, the tentative start date for fall camp.
Not missing spring ball is a silver lining to the current situation, but Pittman acknowledged it probably doesn’t outweigh the negatives of not having any practices.
“Certainly we wouldn’t have had our full roster ready to go, so that will help those guys,” Pittman said. “But percentage-wise, it’s going to hurt the team of not being able to try to do what we’re coaching them to do more than just the injured guys getting healthy.”