Plenty of reaction and quotes to share with you regarding the suspension of the SEC officiating crew today.

1. Let’s start with Bobby Petrino, who commented about it in an Arkansas press release:

“We took the appropriate steps to address any issues we had with the league regarding this matter earlier in the week,” Petrino said. “Our focus as a football team has been and remains on this weekend’s game against Ole Miss.”

2. A little more reaction from Arkansas. This from athletic director Jeff Long, who Tweeted about the decision earlier today:

“I respect Comish Slive for the action he took today, I appreciate his leadership. We have moved on, focused on Ole Miss in Football.”

3. Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard (who was the subject of the penalty, non-penalty) was told he couldn’t comment about the situation today. However, he did offer this when pressed a little more after practice.

“I think everybody came out and played hard no matter what happened with the calls and stuff like that. I think everybody competed well, and there’s a lot of intensity in the game and aggression that’s a part of game. And I thought we brought that to the table against Florida.”

4. Mike Fish of ESPN.com did a good job of getting in touch with referee Marc Curles, who is the leader of the suspended crew and also the man who threw the flag on Sheppard. Here is what Curles told ESPN.com. You can find the entire story by clicking this link

“I understand people are passionate about their teams,” Curles told ESPN.com. “Like I said, we sign up for this. I admit I made a mistake in this ballgame. I deserve a little bit of people getting on me. I am getting on myself.”

I have plenty of notes in Tuesday’s newspaper, but I wanted to throw one of them on the blog. After all, the hot topic on Internet message boards is the questionable officiating in Arkansas’ 23-20 loss at second-ranked Florida on Saturday.

It’s not often that the Southeastern Conference comes out and says, “My bad.” Well, it did today.

Here’s the story:

The Southeastern Conference admitted Monday that Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard didn’t warrant the personal foul penalty called late in last week’s 23-20 loss at second-ranked Florida.

Toward the end of the play, Sheppard was flagged for hitting Florida offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert away from the action. But a TV replay shows that Sheppard hit Gilbert only after the offensive lineman tried running into him first.

The penalty gave the Gators a first-and-goal from the 10-yard line, and Florida’s Jeff Demps ran for a touchdown on the ensuing play to tie the score at 20-20 with 7 minutes, 27 seconds remaining.

On the play before Sheppard’s penalty, Arkansas cornerback Ramon Broadway was called for a questionable pass interference penalty.

“After video review, there was no evidence on the video to support the personal foul penalty called on Arkansas midway through the fourth quarter,” the SEC said in the statement released Monday afternoon. “The other calls that were referenced are judgment calls and a review of those calls have been communicated to Arkansas.”

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said he spoke with Rogers Redding, the SEC’s Coordinator of Football Officials, about the controversial penalties.

Petrino said he was also disturbed that Florida wide receiver Riley Cooper wasn’t called for offensive pass interference on Arkansas cornerback Andru Stewart on the Gators’ game-winning drive in the final minutes.

“There’s not a lot of recourse. We do submit plays to the SEC just like we do every week,” Petrino said. “Obviously, I called and talked to the director of the officials, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it.”

Arkansas DT Malcolm Sheppard continues to pile up preseason accolades.

A little while ago, it was announced that Sheppard has been named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy preseason watch list. The Nagurski Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s best defensive player by the Foootball Writer’s Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

Sheppard is one of 62 players on the watch list. Other SEC names include: Alabama’s Javier Arenas, Rolondo McClain and Terrance Cody, Tennessee’s Eric Berry, Florida’s Brandon Spikes, Carlos Dunlap and Joe Haden, Georgia’s Geno Atkins, Rennie Curran and Jeff Owens, Vanderbilt’s Myron Lewis, Kentucky’s Trevard Lindley, Auburn’s Antonio Coleman and South Carolina’s Eric Norwood.

That’s a big list of SEC players.

It’s also become a big list for Sheppard. That’s his third preseason watch list this preseason.

Sheppard also on the watch lists for the Outland Trophy (nation’s top tackle, guard or center) and Bednarik Award (collegiate defensive player of the year).

We’ll try to catch up with Sheppard after practice in a couple of hours. Stay tuned.

The preseason watch lists for national awards have been pretty kind to the Razorbacks.

Today, defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard was named to the Outland Trophy Watch List. The Outland Trophy is presented annually to the nation’s top interior offensive or defensive linemen.

Sheppard is one of 40 players on the Outland Trophy Watch List. Other SEC names include LSU OT Ciron Black, Ole Miss OT John Jerry, Georgia DT Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens, Alabama DT Terrance Cody and OT Mike Johnson, Tennessee C Josh McNeil, and Florida OL Mike Pouncey and C Maurkice Pouncey.

Sheppard is one of four Razorbacks to land on a preseason watch list so far.

RB Michael Smith (Doak Walker Award), QB Ryan Mallett (Davey O’Brien Award) and tight end D.J. Williams (John Mackey Award) were all recognized earlier this summer.

Good morning from Hoover, Ala. The third and final day of SEC Media Days will begin shortly when Auburn coach Gene Chizik steps up to the podium. We’ll fill you in on the things he and the rest of the coaches say today.

One thing worth mentioning this morning: The SEC Media Days preseason All-SEC team has been announced. And a handful of Razorbacks have been honored.

Running back Michael Smith and tight end D.J. Williams were named to the first-team offense. Smith also was a first-team selection on the Coaches All-SEC team last week. Williams was a second-team pick.

Defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, a second-team pick on the coaches team last week, is on the second-team defense in the SEC Media Days list. Florida led the way with 12 selections on the All-SEC team. Alabama has 8.

As for the projected order of finish, Arkansas is projected to finish fourth in the SEC West. No surprise there. The West looks like this today: Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State. I’m a little surprised Ole Miss is listed third in the SEC West. I thought they’d be higher than that. Maybe even the projected division winner.

What about the SEC East? Well, you should know the answer. Florida was a unanimous selection (earning 64 of 64 first-place votes) to win the East. Charles Bloom tells us that has never happened before.

Florida is not a unanimous pick to win the SEC title, though. The Gators earned 63 votes. The other went to … Ole Miss.

Sure, football questions are important at SEC Media Days. Who is starting at quarterback? How much better should your team be? Can anybody beat Florida? What freshmen will make an impact?

But what about fashion?

It’s one of the few times we get to see players wearing something other than their uniforms. Arkansas’ D.J. Williams and Malcolm Sheppard (like other coaches and players) were decked out in suits today. It was nothing crazy, though. I asked Williams a little bit about their choices — which were pretty classy — before the Razorbacks headed back to Fayetteville.

“There’s a difference between a little personality and yelling for attention,” Williams said.

I’m not exactly a fashion expert, so I’m not qualified to describe or analyze them. I’ll just post a couple of pictures and let you decide. But I can fill you in on a couple details, according to Williams. They went suit shopping together at Dillard’s a couple of days ago. And Williams needed a couple of hours to pick out his multi-colored tie.

“I had to make sure it went with that,” Williams said. “The blue. It looks sharp. I had to throw some red in there for Arkansas.”

He should’ve just gone ahead and gotten a Razorback tie like the one Bobby Petrino was sporting today. But that’s another story.

OK, back to writing about football.

It was raining when we left NW Arkansas this morning. It was raining when we got to Ft. Smith. It was raining when we reached Little Rock. And it was raining when we were driving through Memphis.

Needless to say, it was a pretty long day in the rental car for Alex Abrams and I as we steered our way toward Hoover, Ala., for SEC Media Days. What did we miss while we were in the car? Well, it sounds like something happened on campus pertaining to a Razorback and something else TV related was announced by the SEC office. But we’re back online. We’ve been here at the Wynfrey Hotel for a couple of hours, plan to get a little sleep tonight and will be ready to go tomorrow morning.

Good news for Arkansas fans: The Razorbacks lead things off on Day One along with Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State. Coach Bobby Petrino will be here along with tight end D.J. Williams and defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard.

We’ll have all kinds of news, notes and stories from Arkansas’ two hours with the media here tomorrow. You can start by reading what we think could/should be some of the top SEC Media Days storylines. After that, make sure you check the Hog Blog pretty regularly for all kinds of info. And while you’re at it, follow us on Twitter, too, at a couple of locations (@NWAOnlineHogs and @NWARobbie). We’ll be tweeting before, during and after Petrino and the players speak.

There will be plenty to see, hear and write about in the next few days. So stay tuned…

I’ve been away from the laptop for a couple of hours and haven’t been able to post this:

Four Razorbacks were named to the Preseason All-SEC Coaches Team earlier today. The four are: RB Michael Smith (first-team), TE D.J. Williams (second), DT Malcolm Sheppard (second) and OL Mitch Petrus (third).

It’s no surprise Florida leads the way with 16 selections on this team, including first-teamers QB Tim Tebow, OL Mike Pouncey, C Maurkice Pouncey, LB Brandon Spikes, DL Carlos Dunlap and DB Joe Haden.

If you want to see the team in its entirety, click this link.

There will be another preseason, All-SEC team released next week when the media vote comes in from SEC Media Days.

  Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino has decided to go with the obvious choices when it comes to which two players will accompany him to the Southeastern Conference Media Days in Hoover, Ala., in late July.

  So who will be representing the Razorbacks? Tight end D.J. Williams and defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard. This should come as no surprise.

  Williams is arguably Arkansas’ top offensive weapon, and more importantly, he’s a class act who represents himself and the university well. It also doesn’t hurt that he likes to talk.

  Sheppard, meanwhile, is considered one of the Razorbacks’ hardest working players. Coaches never seem to have enough positives to say about the defensive tackle, who’s humble and tends to use the word “sir” when answering questions. 

  Maybe Sheppard’s appearance at the SEC Media Days will bring him more attention. He’s one of the league’s more underrated players despite his ability to wreak havoc up the middle.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was the only coach to speak with the media after practice this afternoon.

One interesting thing to note: Robinson said he watched the video of last year’s spring game and was surprised.

“We’re so much better than we were at this time last year,” Robinson said. “You watch it and you get mixed emotions. It was a wonder how bad we were, but then you realize how far ahead we are. … I think our kids are getting very comfortable in what they need to get done.”

Robinson said several players have stood out this spring on defense. He said LB Wendel Davis, S Tramain Thomas, CB Isaac Madison and DT Malcolm Sheppard have all been impressive. He also had plenty of praise for DE Adrian Davis.

“He’s gotten stronger,” Robinson said. “He’s heavier. He understands what he’s doing and he’s doing it pretty darn good.”

Even though Arkansas does look better on defense, there have been some flaws. One of the biggest has been in the secondary, where big plays have been problematic. A lot of it has come against the second-team defense, but Robinson is hoping that can be eliminated tomorrow.

“We’ve given up too many big plays,” Robinson said. “I think we’re tackling better than we did last year. We’re not being smart with our pursuit angles, but I think we’re taclking better this year. But we’re giving up way too many deep balls.”

So now the only thing left  is tomorrow’s Red-White Game, which will begin at 6 p.m.

Don’t forget, RazorFest will take place before hand. Festivities start at Noon and run to 5:30.

If you can’t make it, the game will be broadcast on Razorback Sports Properties radio affiliates. It’s also going to be on XM 200 and Sirius 214. And if that’s not good enough, Cox Sports Television is going to carry the game as well.

That’s a lot of information. If you want even more, click this link.

That’s all the football news for now. But we will have plenty of live comments, thoughts, news and notes from the spring game tomorrow night here on the Hog Blog. And if that’s not enough information, you can also follow me on Twitter tomorrow night at twitter.com/rneiswanger.