It’s that time of week again. Done with final stories in preparation for Saturday’s game. Waiting for the Stephens jet to pick us up and take us to Arlington tomorrow (and hopefully we’ll get there before kickoff this time).

But while we wait, it’s time to clean out my notebook with some leftover notes, quotes and thoughts before the Texas A&M game.

• Everyone wants to know how QB Ryan Mallett is going to respond after a bad day at ‘Bama. I got a chance to ask Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino about it after Thursday’s practice. He said Mallett has given plenty of indication that he’ll bounce back this week.

“He’s done a great job of leading,” Petrino said. “He’s been very focused. He’s worked real hard at his footwork. Like you would like a guy to respond. Like you would like a great competitor to respond.”

Mallett will get his opportunities against a defense that hasn’t faced a big test, yet. But Texas A&M has shown an ability to pressure quarterbacks, collecting 14 sacks in three games. Eight of those have come from defense end/linebacker Von Miller. Mallett said earlier this week his inability to handle the pressure cost his team at ‘Bama. But he wants to make sure he does a better job Saturday.

“I was trying to make plays and get my team back in the game, but in reality, if I would have stuck to my technique, I would hit a lot of those throws that we missed,” Mallett said.

• One more thing Petrino was asked about Thursday: Does the SEC vs. Big 12 matter? His response was, not really. Arkansas has other things to worry about after dropping a couple of games.

“It means that we need to go down and get us a win,” Petrino said. “You know what I mean? It adds up probably for the conferences and all that, but this is really about us going down and playing well. Seeing our hard work pay off. Being able to fight through tough times and stick together and go down and play well. I want to see us compete, play well, finish the game with a ‘W.’”

Petrino also was asked if this has become a “backs against the wall” game for his team. He wouldn’t go that far.

“We want to win it,” Petrino said. “There’s no question about it. We need to execute, play well and win the game.”

• A lot has been said of Texas A&M QB Jerrod Johnson. And for good reason. Johnson is off to a great start, averaging more than 300 passing yards a game. He has 9 TDs, 0 INTs. He also is the team’s second-leading rusher and has scored 4 rushing TDs so far.

The dual-threat is a new element for the Hogs. Safety Matt Harris said Arkansas will have to be on its toes tomorrow night.

“It’s just one more thing,” Harris said. “The beauty of football and defense. There’s’s always something they can throw at you. There’s always an offense to prepare for. But we’ve been working hard all practice all week long. So we’re not going to go in there intimidated by a dual-threat quarterback. We’re going to respect him, but we’re going to play our defense.”

• Junior college transfer Andru Stewart spent part of the week working with the first-team defense. We don’t know if he’ll start Saturday, but do know he is starting to impress Arkansas’ coaches. It has taken Stewart time, but defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said he’s starting to figure out what he needs to do to succeed at this level. The first step was to get past feeling overwhelmed by it all.

“He was overwhelmed,” Robinson said. “There was a lot of information being pushed to him (in the spring). I think the other part of it is sometimes you come in and here’s a young man that comes from California and he’s made it to the SEC and it’s like, ‘Well, I’m here.’ So there’s a little bit of, I don’t think it’s confidence, it’s that he felt shoot he made it. Why do everything else? So he had to learn how to earn his money.”

• We all know Arkansas’ secondary has struggled to defend against the pass. But the Razorbacks could use some help from their pass rushers, too. The Razorbacks defensive front has 3 1/2 sacks in three games. The defensive ends have just one of those. I got to talk to DE coach Kirk Botkin for a little while Wednesday and we talked about getting pressure on the quarterback.

“We’ve been pretty productive so far stopping the run,” Botkin said. “We’ve got to get better pressure on the quarterback and that comes from all four of the defensive linemen. But I think at the end spot we only have one quarterback sack. That’s an area I’m tryng to emphasize.”

Botkin said it’s not all about sacks. The Razorbacks won’t get to the quarterback every time, but need to make him hurry his throws. We saw what can happen last Saturday. Alabama only had three sacks, but Mallett was under pressure and hurried most of the day.

• We all know that Arkansas’ receivers, like Mallett, had a tough outing against ‘Bama. Dropped passes and other mistakes were costly. WR Jarius Wright said the group probably lost its confidence early with some dropped passes. However, he said there’s no excuse for it and vowed that the Razorbacks’ receiving corps is determined to play better this week.

“After the game, we just had to get our priorities straight,” Wright said. “The way we bounce back is just coming into the next game and showing everybody that we can play lights out. We can be the lights out receivers everybody thought we were in the first two games.”

• Arkansas needs to run the ball Saturday. It’s something that has been said plenty of times, but offensive tackle Ray Dominguez added an important reason when he spoke to us Tuesday. The Razorbacks need to help their defense as much as possible because of Texas A&M’s frenetic, no-huddle offense which is averaging more than 80 snaps a game. The more Arkansas can stay on the field, the more rest the defense gets.

“Everyone knows we can pass the ball, but we’re really trying to establish the run just so we can control the clock,” Dominguez said. “Three-and-out and only wasting 30 seconds off the clock doesn’t help. It keeps our defense out (on the field) and it keeps them tired.”

• I wrote something on Matt Harris and his father, former Dallas Cowboys great Cliff Harris for today’s paper. But I didn’t get in a funny quote from Monday’s press conference, when Matt Harris was asked what his dad thinks of the new stadium.

Harris said he hasn’t heard from his dad about it. In fact, he didn’t even know his dad was there for the opening game in Cowboys Stadium.

“He didn’t even actually tell me he was going to the game because we played Georgia and he came to the Georgia game,” Harris said. “They played the Giants the next day. He was so caught in the Georgia game and asked me a question about the Georgia game that he forgot to even mention he was going to go to the opening game at Texas Stadium. That is the kind of guy he is – just so concerned about his kid still that he didn’t even say anything about it. I called him at halftime. ‘I said I saw you on TV, you didn’t tell me you were going to the game.’”

• I’ll close with one more note from Texas A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines. The Aggies have been relying on tons of youth on defense this season (sound familiar). There are 14 freshmen and sophomores on the defensive depth chart. Kines was asked about it by the media in College Station, Texas, earlier this week. Here was his response:

“That’s what we’ve got,” Kines said. “They’re a good bunch and they’re getting better every day. They’re fun to coach and it’s fun to come to work with them. They’re going to make some mistakes, but they’re going to run out of some problems sometimes, too. I think that’s the biggest difference this year. Sometimes we can make a mistake and we’re fast enough to run out of it and overcome it. Before we just say, ‘Oh my goodness.’”

That’s it for me for the week. I’m going to try to slip away and enjoy some downtime before setting up in the press box tomorrow night.

Make sure you check out RazorbackCentral.com later tonight and tomorrow for more on this game. Alex Abrams is in Arlington right now working on a story on Cowboys Stadium and another on the renewal of this old SWC series.

Don’t forget to check back here to the Hog Blog tomorrow for plenty of info before, during and after the game. And you can always follow us on Twitter at three locations (@NWAOnlineHogs, @NWARobbie, and @NWAAlex).

I’m still working on my final story for the week. One that will appear in tomorrow’s paper. But wanted to take a break from putting it together to run through all of the leftover notes, quotes and tidbits. It’s a weekly thing I like to do here on the blog. So let’s get started:

• Saturday’s game is shaping up to be a very interesting battle between head coaches. Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino is regarded as an offensive mastermind, whose team is rolling (especially through the air) this season. Alabama’s Nick Saban, on the other hand, is well-known for his defensive background. And the Crimson Tide has one of the nation’s best defense. It has clearly impressed Petrino this week.

“They’re really good on defense,” Petrino said Thursday. “They have real good players. They have a great scheme. They challenge you. They come up and try not to give you anything easy. They make you earn it. They have great schemes to attack your protections and your pass protection. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for what they do defensively and what he’s always done defensively.”

• The anchor of ‘Bama’s defense is nose guard Terrence Cody, who has given teams fits the past two years. After all, the guy is a 360-pounder and plugs up the interior. Not an easy thing to deal with. Arkansas guard Mitch Petrus talked about the challenge Tuesday.

“I’ve never played against him, but I know he’s big. I know he can move,” said Petrus, who was ineligible for last year’s game. “We don’t have anybody on the offensive line that’s 360. We’ve got to really make sure we use good technique and come off the ball. … You can’t go in there and get all freaked out and go in there and get scared. You can’t let him dictate where you go. You’ve got to hold him off the best you can.”

• We touched on it a little earlier this week, but defensive coordinator Willy Robinson indicated that S Elton Ford could be ready for playing time this weekend. Ford hasn’t played since his severe neck injury last October and an ankle injury slowed him the past couple of weeks.

But getting Ford back could help a secondary that struggled. Robinson said it has been a long process for Ford, though.

“He’s starting to come back,” Robinson said. “He’s starting to get healthy and he’s starting to put it all together. The mental aspect of it and the assignment aspect of it. We’re bringing him back. The thing is, we’re bringing him back slowly. It’s still a major situation. I think there was a confidence issue with him. Even thought I thought earlier there wasn’t, I think there was.”

• Along the same line, it’s clear Anthony Leon is getting closer and closer to contributing more. Robinson said he played about 30 snaps against Georgia and the Razorbacks want to see him continue to improve. Leon reported to campus later than most incoming players and it has taken time for him to get adjusted to the Razorbacks’ system.

“I think he had over 30 snaps and played pretty decent,” Robinson said. “He had two mental errors at the end of the first half that were kind of costly, but you live to play the next day I guess. He got more production last week than he’s had. So that was good.

“He’s starting to settle down. It’s coming to him. He’s had a really good week of practice.”

• Arkansas freshman LB Terrell Williams was put in a tough spot last week. He replaced Jerry Franklin when the sophomore was ejected. Georgia went right after him, too. Williams made a mistake on the 80-yard touchdown run.

But position coach Reggie Johnson said Williams can learn from the experience, as rough as it was.

“He is a good football player and he’s going to bounce back and he’s going to make some big plays for us this year,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to get him in the right situations. He’s got to continue to grow and learn in the defense as we go with this thing. Again, he’s going to come back and have some big-time ballgames for us. We’re not down on him by any stretch of the imagination.”

• Arkansas’ defense didn’t play well. We know that. But the Razorbacks weren’t totally discouraged. In fact, I got to talk to DE Adrian Davis about the run defense the other night. Outside of the 80-yard touchdown run, it was good. Georgia had 75 yards on 35 other attempts.

“That 80-yard run hurt,” Davis said. “But we held them other than that. We feel like we’ve got a better defense than what we had last year.”

Arkansas will find out how good it is against the run Saturday, though. ‘Bama is averaging 267.7 rushing yards a game.

• Last week, Georgia WR A.J. Green had a field day against the Hogs. This week, the secondary gets the pleasure of covering Alabama’s Julio Jones. We got a chance to catch up with Matt Harris, who spoke about the challenge Wednesday.

“It’s just the SEC,” Harris said. “Every week we’re expecting a different opponent with another star player. So it’s nothing that we fear.”

Harris was asked to explain the differences between the two receivers: “A.J. Green, I think has a litlte more speed than Julio Jones,” Harris said. “But Julio Jones is a big body guy. He can go up there and run across the middle and make you play.”

• We know Arkansas can throw the ball. But we don’t know if they can sustain success on the ground. Michael Smith’s injury left that a question mark last week, but Smith said he’s ready to go. And he said Arkansas is ready to balance out its attack at ‘Bama.

“We have to,” Smith said. “We don’t want them to just sit back deep and wait on the crossing pass, wait on the deep route. We want to come up every now and then so we can hit the play-action pass or sit back deep and run right down the middle. That’s what we’ve been working on since December, to become a more balanced offense. Now it’s time to start putting it together.”

OK. I think that about does it. I’m going back to writing my story for Saturday’s paper. I’ll check in later today if something newsworthy pops up.

If not, we’ll be bringing you more from Tuscaloosa, Ala., tomorrow. Make sure to check the Hog Blog and follow us on Twitter.

Had to shift my attention to basketball yesterday afternoon, but haven’t forgotten there’s a little football game coming up tomorrow night in Razorback Stadium. I’m finishing up work for tomorrow’s paper, so you know what that means: There’s plenty of extra notes and quotes about the Georgia game that won’t make it in print.

So it’s time to clean out the notebook:

1. First up, got a little note from our interview with Arkansas safety Matt Harris on Monday. He was asked if the defense was a little disappointed they never got to face former Georgia QB Matt Stafford. Harris told us he did play against Stafford in high school.

“We’re both from the Dallas area,” Harris said. “I played him when he was at Highland Park. When I played him, he was a sophomore and I knew he was going to go to the NFL. I committed to Arkansas, he committed to Georgia that next year and I figured I might have another shot at him. I was one year off if he didn’t leave. It’s kind of disappointing, but to not play against a guy like Stafford does take a little pressure off of you.”

2. CB Rudell Crim has his first game as a Razorback under his belt. But Crim – a JUCO transfer – is getting ready for his first taste of SEC ball Saturday. I talked to Crim for a few minutes Wednesday and the last question I asked was this: Are you getting any sleep?

Apparently, he isn’t. There may be some visions of Georgia WR A.J. Green dancing in his head.

“It’s not easy to sleep, honestly,” Crim said. “You just have to try to stay humble to yourself and try to get as much rest as you can. Right now everybody is so excited and pumped up about this big first SEC game, conference game. It can be overwhelming but you have to force yourself to stay calm and get some sleep.”

3. Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said some funny things Wednesday. Like his “they don’t know who the hell I am” response to a question about whether he knew anyone on Georgia’s staff. But one thing that didn’t create a laugh is worth nothing. Robinson was asked what he thought was different about the ‘Dawgs offense in their second game. Short answer: Quick screens.

“Their run game hasn’t changed much, but their pass game became more accessible for their quarterback to be able to manage it,” Robinson said. “A lot of screens to a lot of different players. A lot of quick game. You can make explosive gains off of quick game. You’ve got to be able to tackle the catch. … The quick game, the screens, it made it so much easier for the quarterback to manage it.”

4. It didn’t really fit into anything I was writing, but Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino was asked about Ryan Mallett on the SEC Teleconference on Wednesday. Specifically, he was asked if he could compare Mallett to any other quarterback he has coached.

“It’s hard to compare him because he’s so different,” Petrino said. “I’ve never coached a guy this tall before or a guy that has the arm strength that he has. I’ve been happy with his progress. He’s done a nice job. He’s a great student of game. He works extremely hard at it. Since he’s been here, he’s dropped from 265 pounds down to 238 so he’s really taken a lot of responsility in getting his body ready to play. And he came out and had a good game the first game.”

5. Well Rested vs. Battle Tested. It’s a topic we explored in a story we wrote earlier this week. Petrino was asked about it a little more on the teleconference Wednesday. Petrino said advantage Georgia. He said Arkansas must adjust quickly to the speed of the game.

“There’s a concern,” Petrino said. “When we see what we opened up with and the opponent that we played, we did play well. They’re not same quality teams as an Oklahoma State and a South Carolina. I think that gives Georgia the advantage in the fact that they’ve been in hard fought game and very fast and physical game. What we have to do is make sure we understand what getting ourselves into and we come out and be aggressive early and adjust to speed quickly.”

6. We know that Georgia has been impressive on the road in SEC games under Richt. Honestly, you can’t ask for anything more than a 24-4 record in an eight-year span. So why is Georgia so good in road games? Richt said it has to do with quarterback play.

“The one player who has to weather the storm is your quarterback,” Richt said. “Your defense doesn’t have to worry about it much. Not only handle noise and communication, but feeling if something goes a little bad the whole world is against him.”

Richt has had some pretty good ones in David Greene, D.J. Shockley and Stafford. How will Joe Cox fare?

7. A lot has been said about Green already. Clearly, the matchup with Arkansas’ DBs will be one to watch. But defensive end Jake Bequette said the defensive line will have plenty of responsibilities, too, knowing there’s a big-play threat outside.

“It gives us extra motivation to get back there because we know what an excellent player he is,” Bequette said. “It’s very obvious when you turn on the film who No. 8 is and what he can do. As defensive ends and defensive tackles, we’re going to have get back and put some pressure on No. 14.”

8. Finally, the last thing I’ll write is a quote I didn’t get to use from running back Michael Smith. Clearly, everybody realizes this is a big game for Arkansas’ season. Win this and the goal of winning every home game becomes more legitimate. Lose it and you just might have to be kicking and clawing to make sure you’re bowl eligible at the end of the year.

Smith was asked about his thoughts on Saturday’s stakes for the Razorbacks.

“If we’re going to have a big year we need to come out and win every game,” Smith said. “Making sure that we win every game. It starts right here with Georgia. There’s a lot riding on it. We have to make sure we come out and execute, we come out and compete, and most of all, just finish and come out with a win.”

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino told a pretty good story on his Bobby Petrino Live radio show last night.

Petrino was asked whether or not coaches get as nervous as the fans about a new season. His initial response to the question was basic: “You lock things out and focus on the task at hand.” But then he mentioned former Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield, who apparently visited with Petrino Wednesday and told him a story about his first game in Little Rock.

“He was talking to me about the first game he got to coach in Little Rock,” Petrino said. “They played Ole Miss and he was so excited for it, and before he knew it they were down 14-0. He said, ‘I learned never to get so excited for a game again.’”

Funny stuff. Now, let’s move on to some links.

• We know who is on the depth chart for the opener. But one intriguing name not on it: CB Darius Winston. The highest rated member of Arkansas’ recruiting class is still behind on the depth chart and doesn’t know if he’ll play Saturday. Or this season. Alex spoke with Winston after practice yesterday and wrote a story for today’s paper.

• Safety Matt Harris was challenged late last week and has responded, according to defensive coordinator Willy Robinson. The senior has regained his starting spot after being replaced by Jerell Norton last week. Nathan writes about Harris, receiver London Crawford going back to Little Rock for the first time since the catch against LSU, and more in notes this morning.

• Missouri State is being paid $325,000 to play Arkansas, according to the Springfield News-Leader. So what do the Bears think about their all expenses paid visit to Little Rock this weekend? Lyndal Scranton of the Springfield News-Leader wrote a good story on the David vs. Goliath matchup. One MSU player told him it’s “like Christmas,” getting an opportunity to knock off an SEC team.

• One more link just because – Arkansas is two days away from its opener, but the first SEC team is on the field TONIGHT. South Carolina opens against North Carolina State. Here’s a preview of that game by Travis Haney of the Charleston Post & Courier.

  Just left Arkansas’ practice. Since today is Wednesday, defensive coordinator Willy Robinson and defensive players spoke to the media. Here are some of the highlights:

  Robinson sounded impressed with Missouri State tight end Clay Harbor, who was named an Associated Press second-team All-American last year after leading the Bears with 40 catches for 457 yards. How talented is the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Harbor? He reminds Robinson of Arkansas tight end Chris Gragg.

  ”Very special football player. Trying to sum him up with someone we practice against every day, until we lost Chris (to an ankle injury), it was Chris Gragg. He’s got great size. He’s added 20 pounds. He’s got vertical stretch. He can do it all. He can catch all the balls, one-handed, two-handed. He’s a willing blocker. He does a nice job. He’s going to be a guy that’s going to be a great challenge for us.” 

  Robinson said that senior Matt Harris regained his starting safety job by showing that he could make tackles, run at full speed and be effective on both run and pass plays. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said Tuesday that Harris earned his starting job back with a strong performance in Friday’s mock game.

  “He was challenged and he responded,” Robinson said of Harris. 

  Robinson said several backup defensive backs will play in Saturday’s season opener, including junior cornerback Andru Stewart and junior safeties Jerell Norton and Anthony Leon. Meanwhile, Robinson said freshman defensive tackle DeQuinta Jones should “play a lot.” And he didn’t even rule out highly touted freshman Darius Winston getting in the game in certain situations.

Arkansas reported to campus on Aug. 5, started practice Aug. 6, and, by my calculations, have spent at least 30 hours in the past 10 days on the field.

So it’s no surprise the Razorbacks are pretty happy to get some time off.

Arkansas left the field at about noon today and won’t be back until Monday morning at 9 a.m. Safety Matt Harris said it’s a much-needed break for a team that has been going pretty hard for a week-and-half.

“A lot of people think physically we’re beat down and we are,” Harris said. “But mentally, I’d like to just get away and not put the cleats on for a day and not put the pads on. Just get in and study film and just kind of act like a normal human being for a day and not have to worry about all my checks and coverages.”

The Razorbacks don’t have the day completely off Sunday. The team will be around for meetings and will watch film of Saturday’s scrimmage. But it’s the fact they won’t be on the field, in the heat, colliding with each other that had running back Dennis Johnson pretty excited.

“It’s going to feel good,” Johnson said. “We’re get a lot of time off. We just come back (Sunday), meet and watch film.”

Johnson was asked what he was going to do with his down time. Simple: “I’m fixing to go to sleep.”

Quarterback Tyler Wilson has other plans. The sophomore will celebrate his 20th birthday tomorrow and said his parents are in town to help him celebrate. Wilson said he was planning to go to dinner with them tonight, then will try to get some rest before beginning another week of practice.

“We’ve worked hard the past two weeks,” Wilson said. “He has given us a day off. I think we’re all going to take full advantage of it. Go home, get some rest and preapre for next week.”

Want to know what’s going on at safety this preseason? Then senior Matt Harris is you man.

We got a chance to spend several minutes with Harris after Thursday’s practice and a good chunk of the conversation dealt with the rotation between he, Tramain Thomas, Elton Ford and Anthony Leon.

Like I said with the last Q&A, I didn’t ask all the questions here. But it’s some informative stuff:

Q: How is the back line shaping up this preseason?

A: “We’re getting some consistency. We’re watching film every day and working those kinks out. We’ve made huge strides since the last game last year and last spring and even since last Thursday when we first put on the pads. If we build on from where we started, we’re going to have a pretty bright future.”

Q: What does the two-deep look like right now?

A: “We’ve got a pretty solid two-deep. We’ve got Tramain Thomas there working with us. That kid is a ball hawk. I love working with him. He doesn’t say much. I guess when he doesn’t say much he’s been studying his plays because he’s out there and he’s right on his stuff. And Elton Ford right there with him. He know what to do. I’m just trying to help (Anthony) Leon learn the playbook so we can have a solid two deep everywhere else.”

Q: Is that slowing Leon right now?

A: “Oh yeah. That playbook, when they first threw it at us last year, it took all spring, all summer for us. We go from Western Illinois, struggling with them, to beating LSU. So it took us quite awhile to learn that playbook. We’ve kind of had to hurry the pace up with him.”

Q: You mentioned Tramain, he isn’t afraid to hit anyone is he?

A: “I love it. I love that kid. I don’t even know if he weighs 170 or 190, he doesn’t need a scale to know how hard he hits.”

Q: The safeties have been shuffled around some, have you?

A: “No. They told me I was going to move to open (free) safety at the beginning of the summer. I played open last season just as much as I did tight (strong), so it didn’t really affect me much. But Ford has never played tight so I had to kind of help him with tight safety during the summer. And then Tramain they just recently moved him from open to tight when Leon came. He had to learn the playbook. But he’s done a good job just like Leon has of learning that tight safety. They’re counterparts, they work off each other. They haven’t had too much trouble, but there has been a few kinks.”

  Need to kill some time on another rainy day? Well, here’s something that could take up a few minutes.

  Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino released his post-spring depth chart on Friday, and as expected, there are no surprises. For the most part, the depth chart looks how we thought it would.

  Sophomore Ryan Mallett is listed as the starting quarterback, and redshirt freshman Tyler Wilson is behind him as the backup. Redshirt freshman Jim Youngblood is penciled in as the No. 3 quarterback.

  Petrino said during a news conference last month to wrap up spring practice that Mallett would be his starting quarterback if the season started today. But Petrino added that Wilson would come in on the first series of the second quarter and run the offense.

  One position that included some shakeup is running back, where sophomore De’Anthony Curtis has moved up to the No. 2 spot behind returning starter Michael Smith. At one time, Curtis was buried on the depth chart and it wasn’t sure how many snaps he’d get in practice.

  But a slew of injuries in the spring – senior Brandon Barnett (broken leg), freshman Knile Davis (broken ankle), sophomore Dennis Johnson (swollen foot) – cleared room for Curtis and he looked impressive at times running the football. Of course, he needs to avoid his fumbling problems.

  Sophomore Broderick Green, who’s still awaiting word from the NCAA on whether he’ll be eligible to play next season, is penciled in as the No. 3 tailback on the depth chart. Interestingly, Johnson has slipped to No. 4 and Barnett is behind him as the No. 5 running back.

  The rest of the positions feature little change – aside from junior Van Stumon moving ahead of sophomore Mitchell Bailey as the starting fullback. The offensive line, wide receivers, defensive line and linebackers are the same.

  Meanwhile, senior Matt Harris remains ahead of sophomore Tramain Thomas for the starting free safety position. 

  Here is a link to Arkansas’ entire post-spring depth chart.

  So, did that kill a few minutes and beat watching more rain fall? If not, maybe this will help.

  

We here at the Hog Blog are making a small attempt to get fancy these days. Below, we’re posting some postgame audio comments from Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, quarterback Casey Dick and defensive back Matt Harris.

We’re hoping to make this a staple on the Hog Blog, so that you can check back every week after football games and listen to actual postgame interviews with coaches and players. Eventually, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed, we might actually be able to post some video, but for now, the audio will have to suffice.

Click To Listen: Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino

Click To Listen: Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick

Click To Listen: Arkansas defensive back Matt Harris

OK, I’ll admit we’ve been slacking a little bit over the past few days with updating the blog. Maybe it was the first full day off in three weeks that has caused me to get behind on the blog.

My day off wasn't as good.

But we’re back, so here is some tidbits from today’s news conference with Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, quarterback Casey Dick and strong safety Matt Harris.

Petrino said for now sophomore Alex Tejada remains the starting kicker despite his struggles against Louisiana-Monroe two weeks ago. Of course, Petrino said that Tejada and the other kickers will continue to work in practice this week. Petrino is the type of coach who doesn’t mind making a late change to his depth chart if someone has a rough week of practice.

Harris said Arkansas’ coaches and players have stressed special teams over the past week in light of the mistakes made in first two games of the season.

“In the SEC against a team like Alabama, we’re going to need field position because it’s going to come down to the fourth quarter,” Harris said. “It’s going to come down to who does their job every time the best, not just offensively or defensively but special teams.

“… We’ve picked up the intensity in practice too on how we practice our special teams.”

Look in Tuesday’s edition of The Morning News for a story on the odd finishes to the last two Alabama-Arkansas games, as well as an article on the Crimson Tide’s defense.