FAYETTEVILLE — Watching his teammates blow an 18-point lead at Colorado State, C.J. O’Grady came to a realization.

The former four-star recruit was serving a two-game suspension for a violation of team rules and was back home in Fayetteville as Arkansas suffered an embarrassing 34-27 loss to the Rams in Fort Collins, Colo.

A few days earlier, linebacker Dre Greenlaw - who played with O’Grady at Fayetteville High and is a team captain - sent a Tweet encouraging him to go to class and show up at workouts, presumably the things leading to the suspension.

“After missing that second game, it was really hard just sitting at home and watching,” O’Grady said. That’s not what I came here to do. Something just clicked and it didn’t feel right.”

Since then, O’Grady said he’s really focused on being where he’s supposed to be and doing what he’s supposed to do.

It led to him getting his first playing time against North Texas and making the trip to Auburn. Then the last two weeks, he’s caught three passes for 77 yards and seven passes for 48 yards and two touchdowns in a losses to Texas A&M and No. 1 Alabama, respectively.

Greenlaw said he was proud of the way O’Grady has matured since his tweet and the suspension.

“We’re not perfect and sometimes you just need your friend to come in and tell you, ‘Hey, you’ve got to pick it up,’” Greenlaw said. “We all need that person.”

The light couldn’t have come on at a better time for Arkansas, as its offense had sputtered through much of the first five games of the season. It wasn’t until he made a couple of catches against the Aggies that they started moving the ball.

O’Grady made several key receptions again Saturday, providing a “big spark” for the offense in their 65-31 loss to the Crimson Tide, quarterback Ty Storey said.

“He’s really come along and you can see the raw talent the guy has,” Storey said. “I think it’s important for us to keep improving on that. … He’s going to be a huge factor for us going forward.”

The Razorbacks’ first touchdown came against man defense and they ran a concept that allowed O’Grady to read the play and break inside or outside. He ended up running a corner route and the Alabama defender was put in a bind because another receiver was coming inside. Storey found him for a wide open 8-yard score.

The second touchdown wasn’t quite as easy. Arkansas sold a run with backup quarterback Cole Kelley in the game and O’Grady was supposed to go vertical on the play, but there was a safety sitting there and he had to go across his face. Kelley fired a bullet to his tight end for a 3-yard score that pulled the Razorbacks within 28-14 in the second quarter.

“He’s had another really good week in his preparation and how he’s handled himself,” head coach Chad Morris said about O’Grady’s performance. “I think just watching production level, his playmaking ability continues to improve. I’m very impressed with C.J. and I look forward to watching him grow.”

In addition to O’Grady’s production, fellow tight ends Austin Cantrell and Grayson Gunter combined for three receptions and 31 yards. Eight of the 10 catches by tight ends resulted in first downs or touchdowns, with many of them coming on a concept Arkansas copied from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Also similar to plays they ran last year under former offensive coordinator Dan Enos, the Razorbacks had their tight ends act like they were blocking the defensive end or linebacker, then let him go and then find the soft spot behind the defense.

“That was something we actually put in this week,” Storey said. “We kept trying to come back to it and disguise it different ways, but it worked pretty good for us.”

It was something Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock schemed up specifically to combat Alabama’s talented front and likely to alleviate some of the struggles along Arkansas’ offensive line.

“I thought the were very aggressive in the D-line in how they rushed, the stunts they would do,” Morris said. “I thought maybe we could slow some things down by hitting our tight ends on some delays in the middle.”

With Jeremy Patton out for several weeks after undergoing ankle surgery last week, O’Grady was the main benefactor of those plays Saturday.

The Razorbacks are hopeful he’ll stay on the right track and continue to produce as they enter the second half the 2018 season.

“I know - as somebody that’s been going to high school with him and played ball with him for a while - he might not realize it, (but) he’s just got so much potential,” Greenlaw said. “I know the amount that he can contribute and help this team and really make us a lot better.”

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