Arkansas redshirt freshman Tenarius Wright has been named the SEC’s defensive lineman of the week.

Wright was honored by the league office after his performance in the 47-19 win against Texas A&M in Dallas. He finished with three tackles, two for losses, one sack and forced two fumbles. The most important came in the first half, when Wright stripped the ball out of Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson’s hands inside Arkansas’ 20. Linebacker Jerry Franklin picked it up and went 85 yards for a touchdown.

The play gave Arkansas a 21-10 lead and was part of a 23-point second quarter.

Wright is in his first season as a defensive end after coming to Arkansas as a linebacker. He has played well the last couple of games, helping to give Arkansas a four-man rotation at defensive end.

“From week to week I’m gaining a lot of good trust in myself,” Wright said after Saturday’s game.

It’s that time of week again — with a twist.

Instead of just giving you the five keys review, we’re also going to close out each game week with a new feature here on the blog. We’ll be awarded offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week awards. Why? Just because. So here we go.

1. Run the Football: The Razorbacks had trouble getting their run game going in the first half, but finished with a season-high 163 yards on the ground. More important, Arkansas averaged 5.3 yards a carry. Most of the rushing total came on Ronnie Wingo’s 62-yard touchdown run late in the game. Clearly, the run game needs more work. But for one night … KEY ACCOMPLISHED

2. Beware of Johnson: Jerrod Johnson’s ability to scramble and buy time was a big concern of Arkansas’ in practice last week. Johnson proved to be dangerous, too, throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass after scrambling around in the first quarter. But the Razorbacks did a good job keeping a close eye on the quarterback, chasing him from sideline to sideline. He finished with 21 rushing yards. … KEY ACCOMPLISHED

3. Make Early Statement: The goal was to get off to a great start, putting Texas A&M on its heels in its first big test. Well, it was the Aggies who came out firing. Texas A&M jumped out to a 10-o lead and could’ve done even more if not for an ill-timed drop ball. The good news for Arkansas is that it recovered from the shaky start. But the start was not pretty … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

4. Win in the Trenches: Once again, this was a pretty one-sided key in the first quarter. But after struggling up front early on, Arkansas’ offensive and defensive lines took over the game. Especially the defensive front, which pressured Johnson off the edge nearly every snap. The offensive line did a good job, too, adjusting after Von Miller created havoc in the first quarter … KEY ACCOMPLISHED

5. Solid Special Teams: Give punter Dylan Breeding some credit. The true freshman had his best week as a Razorback, averaging 43.5 yards a punt Saturday. Alex Tejada made a couple of field goals, too, to improve to 6-for-6 this season. But Tejada missed an extra point and Jerell Norton fumbled a punt that could’ve been a killer if not for a defensive stand … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

As for the Players of the Week:

Offensive Player of the Week: WR Joe Adams — The sophomore turned in one of the biggest plays of the game when he hauled in a pass from Ryan Mallett and beat Texas A&M for a 67-yard catch and run in the first quarter. The Razorbacks had been awful on offense until that point, but the catch led to a touchdown. Arkansas rolled after that. Adams finished with 3 catches for 110 yards.

Defensive Player of the Week: DE Tenarius Wright — Don’t get me wrong, DE Jake Bequette was impressive all night. But so was Wright. The redshirt freshman continues to improve and produced, arguably, the play of the game when he knocked the ball out of Jerrod Johnson’s hands. Jerry Franklin scooped it up and scored to give the Hogs a 21-10 lead. Wright finished with 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles.

Special Teams Player of the Week: P Dylan Breeding — You could count on one thing with Breeding in the first three games. Inconsistency. The freshman would boot a good punt, then shank one. But there weren’t any 9-yard punts Saturday. Breeding was consistent throughout, averaging 43.5 yards on his four attempts. His shortest was a 35-yarder. His best was a season-best, 54 yarder.

  While at practice today, I got the chance to meet the parents of new Arkansas running back Garry Grace. His father was very easy to talk to, and at one point, he offered a bit of information on his son, who joined the team Thursday as a walk-on.

  Turns out, Grace has a nickname. It’s “Truck.”

  Talk about a good nickname for a big running back.

  Now, the Razorbacks can boast that they have a Truck to go along with their Tank, which is the nickname for defensive end Tenarius Wright. 

  Thursday morning proved to be one of the more eventful and definitely the most physical practice Arkansas has had this preseason, though it wasn’t what coach Bobby Petrino had hoped to see. And here’s why:

  • Wide receiver Lucas Miller suffered an apparent right shoulder injury early in practice when he dove to make a catch. As he landed on the field inside Arkansas’ indoor practice facility, it appeared that Miller drove his shoulder into the ground. He stayed down for several minutes, screaming in pain before he was helped off the field. He didn’t return to practice, and the extent of the injury isn’t known. But it didn’t look good.

  • The practice only got more physical. Two fights broke during a spirited goal-line drill that pit the offense versus the defense. The first skirmish was minor, but the second one started when offensive tackle DeMarcus Love and defensive end Tenarius “Tank” Wright ignored Petrino’s repeated whistling and threw punches at each other. The fight grew and continued for several moments until all the individuals involved were pulled a part.

  Upset with the fighting, Petrino yelled at his team and made them run sprints for a few minutes. Love and Wright, meanwhile, were forced to spend the rest of practice pushing rocks, doing crunches and taking part in other conditioning exercises. Oddly, they did these exercises while standing or sitting next to each other on the sideline.

  • Now on to something a bit more upbeat. Arkansas has a new running back on its roster, though he’s wearing an old number. Freshman Garry Grace is an invited walk-on who has joined the team and took part in his first practice Thursday morning. Grace played at the same high school in Alpharetta, Ga., as safety Elton Ford. Grace was wearing No. 42, which came open when tailback Adrian Moore decided to transfer.

  Coincidentally, Moore’s departure freed up a spot on the 105-man roster for Grace, who was recently cleared to play. He spent his first practice in shorts, doing conditioning work separate from the rest of the team.

  Arkansas practices again later today. We’ll have more on Miller’s injury, and hopefully the tempers cool down. But this is football practice after all.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson filled us in on where some of his defensive players will be lining up when preseason practice begins next week.

Redshirt freshman Tenarius Wright, who moved down to defensive end in the spring, will be back at middle linebacker this fall.

“He’s improved his running,” Robinson said. “To the day, we couldn’t tell you why at this time last year he was running well enough to be this linebacker. And then somewhere along the line after that in the spring time he lost all that speed and he wasn’t moving well enough. didn’t have any reports about injuries. It wasn’t a weight gain issue, so we decided to put his hand down.

“We noticed throughout the end of spring and summer, he’s got his speed back.”

The move will improve Arkansas’ depth at linebacker. So, too, Robinson said, will the decision to line JUCO transfer Rudell Crim up at boundary cornerback instead of safety as he was originally projected. Robinson said the move might not have been possible if safety Elton Ford was still slowed by his neck injury. But Ford will be back on the field next week and competing for his spot at free safety.

“He’s going to play behind Ramon and let him compete at that position,” Robinson said. “We feel like he’ll be a great corner in regards to that and it will carry over to the nickel situation when we move him in there. But he’s a great edge blitzer. He has great speed. He can defend that boundary and he’s a tough kid. He’s not a shy kid. He has great courage.”

Robinson was asked if there are any other personnel moves the Razorbacks made on defense this summer. He said that was it.

  Not long ago, Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino wrapped up a 35-minute new conference in which he previewed the start of spring practice. He also addressed several issues that have come up lately.

  For starters, Petrino said that linebacker Ryan Powers is taking part in early morning workouts as punishment for his arrest earlier this month on a misdemeanor shoplifting charge. Petrino said Powers has been working out alongside quarterback Ryan Mallett, who was also given early morning workouts as punishment for his arrest last month for public intoxication.

  Petrino said he was disappointed in Mallett’s decision, adding that both arrests were a distraction to the team. Still, Petrino indicated that Mallett will take the first snap at quarterback when Arkansas opens spring practice on Tuesday.

  Several players have changed positions since the fall. Redshirt freshman Tenarius Wright has been moved from linebacker to defensive end. Petrino said the move might not be permanent, but Wright will work at defensive end at least during the spring to add depth to the position and because he has looked good there during practice.

  Meanwhile, junior Van Stumon – who has played practically every position but punter over the past few years – is on the move again. He’s listed as a tight end. So is sophomore Chris Gragg, who has bulked up to make the move from wide receiver.

  As for running back Broderick Green, Petrino said he hasn’t heard anything new about the USC transfer’s status. Green is hoping that the NCAA will rule him eligible for the fall, but Petrino said he doesn’t think Arkansas will get an answer on Green’s status until spring practice ends in mid-April.