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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is searching for a No. 2 wide receiver and it might have an answer entering fall camp with the return of De’Vion Warren.
It seemed like the Razorbacks would have one of the best 1-2 punches in the country during the spring, but Mike Woods transferred out and left them looking for someone to complement preseason first-team All-SEC selection Treylon Burks.
A “super senior” who took advantage of the NCAA’s eligibility relief to return for another season, Warren has already shown he’s capable of stepping up when needed, but a torn ACL against Florida prevented him from going through spring drills.
Now nearly nine months removed from the injury, it sounds like he’ll be cleared when Arkansas returns to the practice fields Friday.
“De’Vion Warren is a guy who’s healthy,” head coach Sam Pittman said Thursday. “He’s looked good. I think we’re going to watch his rep take just on that injury that he had.”
Before getting hurt on a kickoff return, Warren caught 15 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. Most of that production came in back-to-back games at Mississippi State and Auburn early in the season, when Burks was out with an injury.
In those games, he had 100 and 95 yards, respectively. It was the first time Warren had been utilized on offense during his time in Fayetteville and the way he attacked his rehab this offseason, it seems like he hopes it’s not his last.
“He came in and worked hard coming off that injury that he had last season,” Burks said. “You can tell that he wants it more (with this) being his last year. He’s gotten bigger. He looks stronger and he looks faster.”
Warren is not an exception, as Pittman said Thursday afternoon that the team as a whole is mostly healthy.
He revealed that one unnamed player will miss the first few days of camp because of a “family reason” and another would be out even when the season starts Sept. 4 against Rice.
That player was eventually identified as freshman linebacker Marco Avant, who enrolled early and was on campus for spring ball, but didn’t participate because of the injury. He’s a 5.5 three-star signee from Jonesboro.
“Marco Avant has had some surgery and his foot’s not ready,” Pittman said. “That would be the one young man I was talking about as far as won’t be quite ready to start the season.”
Another player who should be good to go for camp is transfer offensive lineman Ty’Kieast Crawford. The former four-star recruit was a midyear enrollee from Charlotte, but only participated in about half of the spring practices and none of the scrimmages.
A concussion was part of the reason for his lack of action, but Pittman said Thursday that the big man - who was listed at 6-foot-5, 355 pounds on the spring roster - wasn’t physically ready to contribute.
“He just wasn’t in good enough shape,” Pittman said. “I feel like he’s learned the offense much better and he’s in good shape, so we’re expecting him to compete for playing time.”
It’s also worth noting that 90 percent of Arkansas’ players have received the COVID-19 vaccine and the football program as a whole is “over” 93 percent vaccination, Pittman said. That is slightly up from the 89 and 92 percent, respectively, he shared a couple weeks ago at SEC Media Days.