One week is already in the books for the Razorbacks' 2023 season, but it is quickly onto the next with Kent State coming to town for the home opener at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday.
Arkansas is three days removed from a 56-13 win over FCS opponent Western Carolina, and the Hogs might be facing an even easier foe in the Golden Flashes out of the MAC. Under first-year head coach Kenni Burns, Kent State had a serious roster overhaul and it showed in its 56-6 loss to Central Florida on Thursday.
While the Razorbacks aren't going to face a true test on the gridiron Saturday, there are still questions surrounding the team. The main concerns are with starters who are dealing with injuries, but the team also has on-the-field concerns from the season-opener that they are hoping to fix this weekend.
With so much going on, I've decided to just compile a notebook with observations, thoughts, roster updates and much more...
Paying tribute to Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins
Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek announced Tuesday that the Razorbacks will pay tribute to former quarterback Ryan Mallett and running back Alex Collins, both of whom tragically died this year.
The school will paint the initials of each player on the yard line of the jersey number they wore at Arkansas — No. 15 for Mallett and No. 3 for Collins.
Offensive line health
We can all agree that the offensive line not getting much push in the run game against Western Carolina was concerning. I wrote about this topic and why there's a decent excuse for it yesterday.
It was good to see starting left guard Brady Latham back at practice Monday afternoon. While he was in a green jersey, it is a good sign that Latham could play this weekend after he missed the season-opener.
Head coach Sam Pittman would not reveal what Latham's injury was.
"I don’t want to talk about it," Pittman said. "But I think everybody can figure it out. So, we keep waiting to see if he gets cleared, so I think everybody can figure it out."
Pittman did say center Beaux Limmer had a hand issue during Saturday's game in Little Rock. I asked Pittman if he was concerned about Limmer having a few bad snaps and he then asked if I was worried about it, which I'm not. He eventually got around to answering the question, though.
"That's always concerning when it's over the head and things of that nature," Pittman said. "Obviously it was very hot, so we lost the grip on the ball. I went over to KJ at some point and said 'help him with your towel,' things of that nature. And, his hand got beat up in the game, as well. But I don't think that'll be a problem. It hadn't been in practice."
The rest of the group seems to be healthy and the only remaining battle is at left tackle, where Andrew Chamblee and Devon Manuel will likely continue to split reps. Chamblee started the Western Carolina game and I'd expect the same to happen against Kent State.
Other non-participants
As most know by now, there are three players who are done for the season — DB Quincey McAdoo (car accident), WR Sam Mbake (knee) and OL Terry Wells (pec).
Everyone else seems to be day-to-day, including running back Rocket Sanders and cornerback Jaheim Singletary. Both players, who are starters, were present but not participating during Monday's practice.
Also not participating at practice was safety Malik Chavis (hand), defensive end Quincy Rhodes (undisclosed), offensive tackle Luke Brown (undisclosed) and offensive lineman Luke Johnson (undisclosed).
It's worth noting that Pittman mentioned sophomore running back Rashod Dubinion had a back issue during Saturday's game, but Dubinion was a full participant during the media viewing portion of practice.
Vito is back
Former Razorback kicker Vito Calvaruso is back in Fayetteville after transferring to Wisconsin following the 2021 season.
Calvaruso spent his freshman and sophomore season as Arkansas' primary kickoff specialist. He recorded 63 touchbacks on 73 total kickoffs as a sophomore in 2021.
As a junior for the Badgers last season, Calvaruso played in just two games and was 7-for-7 on extra point attempts and 1-for-3 on field goal attempts.
The Jefferson City, Missouri, native will have to redshirt this season and Pittman said he thinks Calvaruso will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Stewart no longer suspended
As HawgBeat reported prior to Saturday's game against Western Carolina, defensive back Kee'yon Stewart was arrested Friday morning on reckless driving and speeding charges.
Pittman said Stewart was in fact suspended for Saturday's game against Western Carolina, but he is no longer serving a suspension and he was at practice Monday.
"He’s got five events that he needs to go, community service-wise and things of that nature," Pittman said. "And obviously he wasn’t at the game, we suspended him for Saturday’s game. But, he’s back, he’s back now. He’s got a few things to complete but he’s back on the team."
Tough first game for tight ends
After the first offensive play of the game for Arkansas was a 14-yard reception by freshman tight end Luke Hasz, it looked like we were going to see a steady dose of tight end action in the passing game.
Hasz caught one more pass for five yards against the Catamounts and that rounded out the tight end receptions for the Hogs in Week 1. While we all expect offensive coordinator Dan Enos to utilize the tight end position a lot, that wasn't the case Saturday.
"We threw the ball a little more vertical than even what we thought we might," Pittman said. "I think they’re going to be fine. Luke catches a ton of balls at practice. I think he’ll have an opportunity to get a whole bunch of them. But I felt like he did well.
"He cramped up later in the game, didn’t play quite as well toward when it got hot. We were conscious about playing him too many reps and we may have played him a little bit more than we should have."
I remember watching Hasz kind of hobble off to the sideline and I didn't see him return to the game, so it was good to hear that it was an issue with cramps and nothing more serious.
Overall, I was pleased with the blocking of Francis Sherman and I'm not worried about Hasz in the passing game. I did watch the freshman out of Bixby, Oklahoma, get pushed around a bit as a blocker, but it was his first collegiate game so I'll cut him some slack.
The tight end room has plenty more who can contribute, though. North Texas transfer Var'keyes Gumms got in a bit against Western Carolina, but he didn't catch any passes.
Ty Washington, Nathan Bax and Shamar Easter are all also part of that position group, so it'll be interesting to see how things shake out when the Hogs play the Golden Flashes at 3:00 p.m. CT Saturday on the SEC Network.
