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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ first road game of 2019 is actually a home game of sorts for one of its players.
Tight end Grayson Gunter grew up going to Ole Miss games, as his father - Bubba - played for the Rebels and his family has had season tickets since his parents graduated from the school in the early 1990s.
They dropped the tickets a few years ago when Gunter signed with the Razorbacks and now attend Arkansas games with his player passes. The trip to see him this week will be short, as the Razorbacks play Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., at 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network).
“He made it very clear in the recruiting process that wherever I went, that was going to be his school,” Gunter said. “Even though I’m in the SEC and playing Ole Miss every year, it’s never really been about Ole Miss or Arkansas. It’s been about wanting me to play good and wanting us to win.”
Interestingly, Gunter’s father actually played with Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke’s brother, Tom Luke, in the late-1980s and early-1990s.
“Arkansas typically always had some really good tight ends, so I think he’s no different,” Luke said. “He’ll obviously have some extra motivation being from Mississippi, but a tremendous player and tremendous young man.”
Gunter said he’s treating it like any other game, but admitted that it will be pretty special to play at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the first time. (He was redshirting when Arkansas played there in 2017.)
“I think it’ll be pretty cool to walk in there,” Gunter said. “I remember being a kid always dreaming of playing in the SEC. To walk into the stadium where I used to dream about that, I think it’ll be very cool.”
Injury Updates
Starting with the good news on the injury front, tight end Cheyenne O’Grady is expected to make his season debut Saturday at Ole Miss after missing a few weeks with a knee injury.
He was in a green no-contact jersey the week leading up to the Portland State game, but has been full-go during the portions of practice open to the media this week.
“C.J. practiced yesterday and was full speed and looked as good as he did early in camp,” head coach Chad Morris said. “I would expect him to be a part of this.”
The Razorbacks are continuing to evaluate left guard Austin Capps (ankle) and defensive end Jamario Bell (knee).