Injury Report: Pittman provides update on Franks, Morgan, Brown
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FAYETTEVILLE — After a rib injury forced him to miss the Missouri game, Feleipe Franks’ status remains up in the air this week.
Speaking to the local media in his weekly Monday afternoon press conference, head coach Sam Pittman said he didn’t have any update on his star quarterback as Arkansas begins preparing for No. 1 Alabama.
“The trainers have been with Feleipe and all those things, but we haven’t seen him move or throw or anything like that,” Pittman said. “We’ll get that opportunity today, so I don’t really have an update as far as his availability yet. We’ll know more on that after today’s practice, and tomorrow and Wednesday.”
The first-year coach said the Razorbacks hope to make a decision on who will start Saturday by the middle of the week and it’ll depend on how Franks looks in practice.
With Franks out, redshirt freshman KJ Jefferson made his second career start against Missouri. Even if the veteran is healthy enough to play, there’s a chance Jefferson could still make an appearance against Alabama.
“It’s hard to say what the game plan’s going to be on ifs - if Feleipe plays, if he doesn’t, things of that nature,” Pittman said. “Certainly KJ’s earned the right to play some ball and Feleipe’s earned the right to be our starter, so we’ll just kind of go from there.”
Jefferson played well against the Tigers, completing 18 of 33 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. He also used his legs to run for 32 yards and another score, as well as plow forward to moved the chains in a few third-and-short situations.
The performance earned him a 64.8 grade from Pro Football Focus.
“I thought KJ gave us a little bit more as far as in the running game,” Pittman said. “He ran the offense incredibly fast and I just thought… I mean, anybody could see he had a great football game.”
By leading the offense on its most productive day of the season, Jefferson “absolutely” earned Pittman’s confidence moving forward - whether that’s against Alabama, in a potential bowl game or next season after Franks is expected to move on to the NFL.
“I’m really, really proud of him,” Pittman said. “After the game he was very emotional. I certainly can appreciate that. I loved everything about him on Saturday. I really did.”
Kickoff against the Crimson Tide is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday and the game will be televised on ESPN.
Banged Up Defenders
Two of the Razorbacks’ starters on defense left Saturday’s game with injuries.
Late in the third quarter, linebacker Grant Morgan - who leads the nation in tackles - went down with an apparent knee injury and was unable to return.
Much like with Franks’ injury, Pittman said he didn’t have an update on Morgan as of Monday afternoon.
“We’ve got to find out about his knee,” Pittman said. “He won’t practice today. We’ll see if he can do something tomorrow, but I have no idea what his status will be for Saturday at this time.
It was a similar story for cornerback Montaric Brown, who was replaced Malik Chavis at some point during the second half. Pittman confirmed he was dealing with an injury, but didn’t provide any details or an update on his status.
“Again, that will have to be something that we will have to see how he does today and how he moves forward throughout the week,” Pittman said. “But yes, he was beat up a little bit on Saturday.”