Usually, my notebook is loaded with football leftovers. But this hasn’t been a normal week.

Basketball duty pulled me away from football practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Alex Abrams was there for the entire week, but it has left me searching for some leftover stuff worth sharing here on the blog. The good news? I think I found some.

• We all know that Arkansas running back Michael Smith will be a gametime decision before of his hamstring injury. It’s a situation Florida has been keeping track of, apparently. Florida coach Urban Meyer said earlier this week the Gators are paying attention to Smith, especially since he played so well against the Florida defense last season.

“I guess he’s got a little hamstring injury that we’re keeping an eye on because that’s how much respect we have,” Meyer said. “He ripped us apart last year. I’d never really heard of him until we played him, and I saw firsthand a hard guy to tackle, has great acceleration through the hole. They’re a big zone running team, and he’s perfect for it. No, we think he’s one of the top five backs in the league, no question.”

• Remember what Arkansas did with its punt return team last week? The Razorbacks dropped both Jerell Norton and Michael Smith back deep to catch the ball the entire game. Well, I asked John L. Smith about it on Wednesday night and he said it was something the Razorbacks came up with because of what the Tigers did. Auburn’s punter shaded the ball to the side and was getting extra yards on the roll.

“If we can eliminate the 10-, 20- and 15-yard rolls, then that’s going to save us and make us a lot of ground,” Smith said. “I told them our goal this week for us is to not let a ball hit the ground and we did that. Even though it doesn’t show in the stat as a 10-yard return or whatever, it shows up.”

No word on if the Razorbacks will try the same thing Saturday. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

• Arkansas LB Jerico Nelson has gotten plenty of publicity this week. And he deserves it, too, after his performance against Auburn. But there’s another reason for Arkansas’ defensive resurgence the past couple weeks. S Elton Ford has been back in the lineup and playing well. Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was asked about Ford on Wednesday night.

“I think he’s done a great job tackling,” Robinson said. “There’s still some liability with him in pass coverage. But I think he’s doing a great job of tackling the catch, showing up on the run. He’s starting to stay on his feet when he tackles and great tacklers do do that. They stay on their feet when they tackle. That’s something he’s made great strides in since these last two games as opposed to the last couple of games he played”

• It doesn’t really need to be said that Robinson and the Razorbacks have plenty of respect for Florida QB Tim Tebow. Who doesn’t, right? Well, here’s what Robinson had to say about Tebow and the way he leads the Gators’ offense even after the concussion.

“He runs that offense and he loves being the leader of that offense,” Robinson said. “So regardless of his injury or what it once was, he’s still going to be that competitor. So even though they might say, handoff, or be cautious here, that’s not part of his nature. His nature is to compete and compete and compete until the final bell.”

• Arkansas WR Greg Childs has really played well this season. His performance against Auburn was even more important because the Razorbacks were without Joe Adams and Jarius Wright. Childs will be needed once again against Florida. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino explained how much confidence Childs has and how important he will be against the Gators.

“Childs right now, he’s begging guys to come up and press him,” Petrino said. “That’s how you want it. You want to have that type of confidence. Come on and play me man and I’ll get the opportunity to make plays. More times than not he’s made the play and we’ve been pretty accurate with the throws. It balances out and opens up your run game. That’s kind of the balance you see. When you run the ball better, you can throw it better. When you can beat man coverage and beat one-on-one coverage, then that allows you to be able to run the ball better because they have to get out of the man coverage.”

• Finally, how does Arkansas feel about playing the No. 1 team on the road? The Razorbacks are looking forward to it, of course. Here is QB Ryan Mallett’s take from Monday’s press conference.

“I mean, there’s always a little bit extra when you’re playing a ranked team, getting ready to prepare for it,” Mallett said. “And then coming in No. 1 and playing the No. 1 team, it’s a big deal for our program. We need to go out there and come home with a win.”

If all goes as planned, this will be the last you hear from me today. I’m hoping to take the rest of the day off after a busy, two-sport week.

If that’s the case, I’ll check back in with you from Gainesville, Fla., tomorrow.

Make sure you follow us here on the Blog and also on Twitter (@NWARobbie, @NWAAlex and @NWAOnlineHogs)

There wasn’t much news out of Arkansas’ practice tonight. But we can still find three things worth talking about, right?

Of course. So here we go.

• Injury updates: RB Michael Smith was on the field again Wednesday, but didn’t do much in the portion of practice open to the media. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said earlier Wednesday that the hope was that Smith could do more in practice. Maybe he did after we left. WR Jarius Wright was on the field practicing, but did wear a yellow, non-contact jersey. Wright was running well and should be ready. Another guy that was dinged up Saturday, S Elton Ford, was on the field Wednesday and said he’s doing fine. Ford hurt his ankle when teammate Matt Harris collided with him in the second half. Ford missed some time, but did return to the field later.

• Tim Tebow talk: Since it was defensive day, plenty was said about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. The Razorbacks will get their second crack at trying to beat the Tebow-led Gators, but know it’s a big, big challenge. Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said no matter what happened to Tebow at Kentucky, the quarterback’s game won’t change. “His nature is to compete and compete and compete until the final bell.” Robinson, who typically refers to players by their numbers, said Tebow has his respect, too. “He’s No. 15, but with great respect. I know who the young man is. He’s a fabulous football player. I admire the heck out of him. I think we all do.”

• Jerico Nelson a hot topic: LB Jerico Nelson was a popular guy, doing plenty of interviews after his 10-tackle performance against Auburn. We’ll have a feature on Nelson in tomorrow’s paper, but here’s a good quote from Willy Robinson on the sophomore’s big hit against Auburn: “He’s one of those guys that, all of a sudden, you say, ‘Woah,’ to after he’s hit you. That play that he made on saturday, it ignited us on defense.” And here’s one more from position coach, John L. Smith. “After you watch Jerico and you watch his work ethic and you watch him work out a little bit, pretty soon, it doesn’t take you long to say, ‘Yeah, we can find a spot for this guy in a lot of places because he’s got a great attitude and a great work ethic.’ He just goes to the field and gives you what he has.”

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).

Arkansas wrapped up its Wednesday practice a few minutes ago, meaning it was a chance to talk to defensive coordinator Willy Robinson and defensive players. Let’s quickly run through some of the bullets:

• Yes, Andru Stewart and Elton Ford are working with the first-team defense in practice this week. Stewart and Ford are working in place of cornerback Ramon Broadway and safety Tramain Thomas, respectively, but Robinson wasn’t ready to name those two starters for Saturday’s game.

“That’s still up in the air,” Robinson said. “We’ve got a couple guys, to be honest with you, that what we’re doing is we’re spllitting time with the first unit and we’ll see how they practice this week.”

• Robinson also said the Texas A&M offense does look like Tulsa in terms of its speed and quickness. The Aggies don’t waste much time between snaps, meaning the Razorbacks will have to be on their toes. Robinson said it wasn’t quite the same speed as Tulsa, but the game against the Golden Hurricane last season will give them some knowledge of how to operate.

Particularly with substitutions.

“We will rotate guys, but it’s hard to substitute on and off at the pace that they give you,” Robinson said. “We learned that from Tulsa. I think we got caught two or three times last year, trying to do that during a series. They’re not going to wait for you. The ball is marked and ready to go.”

• Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson presents a new challenge for the Hogs. The big quarterback is a dual threat, who has shown the ability to do some damage with his feet. Johnson scored three rushing touchdowns last week. So Robinson said Arkansas must be aware if he runs.

“We’ve got to try to keep the gain to a minimum when he does break across the line of scrimmage,” Robinson said. “And we’ve got to rush with a good vision. He’s a good football player. He really is. He’s made great strides.”

• Robinson was asked about playing in the new Cowboys Stadium. He said it will be “pretty imposing” when players walk in there Saturday, but Arkansas can use it to their advantage by letting it add to their emotional buildup. He said it will be a chance of a lifetime for players.

That’s the highlights for now. Check RazorbackCentral.com and the blog for more later tonight and tomorrow.

A lot has been said and written about the Alabama postgame press conference last Saturday because two big issues/topics emerged.

First, Bobby Petrino’s assessment that the Razorbacks didn’t believe they could win raised eyebrows.

Second, the fact that Arkansas’ offensive and defensive coordinators weren’t available for comment did.

I was able to go cover the first topic in today’s notes, but didn’t get into the coordinator talk. However, Petrino was asked why Paul Petrino, Willy Robinson and John L. Smith weren’t available after the loss. Especially since they’ve been available throughout his tenure – win or loss.

Petrino classified it as a misunderstanding Monday. Apparently, when Kevin Trainor and Zack Higbee — who are in Arkansas’ media relations department — went to get the assistant coaches for interviews Saturday, they were already on the team bus.

“After the game, I did get on the players and I guess the last thing I said was, ‘Guys, lets get in the shower, get dressed, and get on the bus,’” Petrino said. “Coaches did the same thing. By the time Zack came in to get the coordinators, I guess they were on the bus.”

Petrino said he wasn’t keeping the assistants off limits.

“It wasn’t something that, ‘Hey, they’re not talking to the assistant coaches,’ or anything like that,” Petrino said. “We get our butts kicked they need to face the music just like I do. I’d rather say, ‘Hey, I’m on the bus and you talk to the coordinators.’ We can do that if it ever happens again. But it was nothing like that. I said, ‘Let’s get dressed, get on the bus, and get home. And that’s what the coaches did also.”

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.”

Wednesday is defensive day, so we just got done talking to defensive coordinator Willy Robinson and his group after practice.

The most interesting thing Robinson said came at the end of his six-minute press conference, when asked what he would tell his players before they leave the locker room and head to the field when they play Georgia on Saturday. His response:

“Play relentless for 60 minutes,” Robinson said. “This is a game for men. If we get punched in the mouth it will be interesting to see how we respond. We got punched in the mouth early last year and we didn’t respond very well at the beginning of the season. We’ve got to be the hammer. Let’s go get these guys. It’s still a game of fun and who is going to make who say, ‘Ouch,’ first.”

Good stuff from Willy. I asked defensive end Jake Bequette about getting hit in the mouth a few minutes later and he believes the Razorbacks are much more capable of putting a big play in the past and moving on to the next.

“That’s the trademark of a good defense, being able to say, ‘Next play. Next play,’ no matter what happens,” Bequette said. “I think that we gave up a couple big plays against Missouri State, but we were able to rally aorund ourselves and shut them out in the second half.”

A couple more things worth mentioning from practice:

• Robinson was also asked about Arkansas’ run defense and said it’s too early to tell if they can stop the run this season. But Arkansas will find out starting with Saturday’s game. “We fit our gaps a lot better, but I still don’t think you can take that first game as a barometer yet. I think this game is a benchmark for us to find out if we can do that or not.”

• Georgia QB Joe Cox has had an up-and-down start under center, but Robinson said he’s impressed by the senior so far. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world. He’s not the most accurate guy in the world. But the youngster just competes and he goes to the end.”

• Safety Elton Ford, who missed the opener with an ankle injury, has practiced the past two weeks. Robinson was asked if Ford was ready for the game. His response: “If they’re out there dressed, they’re practicing. So they’re getting reps. It’s a matter of what goes on in the game whether they play or not. That’s all of them.”

• Perhaps Robinson’s funniest quote came when he was asked if he knew anybody on Georgia’s staff. Short answer: Nope. But Robinson had more to say than just no. “I have no idea who they are. I only know Coach (Mark) Richt. I don’t know him, I just know him by name. I don’t know who those guys are. They don’t know who the hell I am.”

  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.

It’s a strange day. Arkansas players are reporting to campus today, but the school will not give the media any availability to players or coaches today. It’s the first time I can ever remember covering a team (Arkansas, Ole Miss, Florida) that didn’t allow the media to speak to a player or a coach on reporting day.

That’s OK. I’m working on a story for tomorrow’s paper anyway, and wanted to share a couple things.

The focus of my story is on Willy Robinson and his defense, which at the very least, promises to be much, much bigger than it was last season. We don’t know if it means the group will be any better this fall, but Arkansas should look much more like an SEC defense.

How do I figure? Well, take a look at the difference in size in the signing classes the past two seasons. Mainly, take a look at the height of all of the players Arkansas recruited. No one in the 2009 bunch is under 6-foot. I’m not criticizing last year’s group because there are some very good players in it. I’m just making the point that this is a much, much bigger crop of freshmen on defense.

(Update) By the way, these are height/weights pulled out of the media guides from 2008 and 2009 to stay uniform. One clarification. The media guide has Jerry Mitchell listed at 6-7, 205. The 6-7 part is definitely a typo and I’ve corrected it in this post. Thanks to Daniel for pointing out the error.

2008 Defensive Signees                    2009 Defensive Signees
DT Lavunce Askew (6-2, 290)         LB Ryan Calendar (6-7, 226)
LB Khiry Battle (5-11, 215)               DB Rudell Crim (6-0, 190)
DE Brian Christopher (6-2, 245)    DE Caleb Evans (6-4, 248)
DT Alfred Davis (6-2, 305)               DB David Gordon (6-0, 180)
DB Elton Ford (6-0, 208)                 DT De’Quinta Jones (6-5, 307)
DB Matt Marshall (6-2, 203)           DB Anthony Leon (6-4, 230)
LB Jerico Nelson (5-9, 195)              DB Jerry Mitchell (6-1, 198)
DB Chris Raggett (5-11, 172)             LB Austin Moss (6-3, 223)
LB Jelani Smith (6-0, 205)               DE Colton Nash (6-6, 261)
DT Zach Stadther (6-1, 285)             DB Ross Rasner (6-0, 205)
DB Tramain Thomas (6-0, 180)      LB Terrell Williams (6-3, 225)
LB Tenarius Wright (6-2, 230)        DB Darius Winston (6-0, 180)

To be clear: Bigger wasn’t the only quality the Razorbacks wanted. They were searching for speed and athleticism on both sides of the ball and feel like they achieved those two things as well in this class.

Combine it with the fact that several Arkansas players added muscle and weight to their frames (like DT Malcolm Sheppard, DE Adrian Davis and LB Jerry Franklin), the Razorbacks feel like a big step is possible on that side of the ball.

We’ll find out soon.