FAYETTEVILLE - And a Childs shall lead them.
Arkansas receiver Greg Childs may still be a little raw with the whole media swarm thing, but he wasn't near as bashful in his debut on the field Saturday.
The freshman from Warren had a touchdown among his six receptions for 88 yards, and after one weekend of college action, Childs leads the SEC in receiving yards per game.
"It feels good," Childs said, still breathing hard and sweating after a practice this week. "I just came out with the idea just to play hard for my team and try to help us win."
Put a check mark by both.
Childs caught Casey Dick's third pass attempt of the season, then had receptions on three of Arkansas' four touchdown drives in its 28-24 victory over Western Illinois at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
On the Razorbacks' two fourth-quarter scoring drives, with starter London Crawford out with a concussion, Childs had four catches for 63 yards.
"Great job for a young guy, and we really asked a lot of him, especially after London went out of the game," sophomore receiver Carlton Salters said.
"He really matured quickly in that game," junior receiver Lucas Miller said. "You love seeing a young guy like that take the coaching."
Getting production like that seemed like Childs' destiny after his practice efforts last week.
"We keep a catch chart of every single practice, and he made all the plays Wednesday and Thursday in practice last week," Arkansas offensive coordinator and receivers coach Paul Petrino said. "It wasn't surprising that he was the one who made them all in the game."
The Razorbacks trailed 24-14 in the fourth quarter and faced second-and-4 at the WIU 31 when Dick threw Childs' way on three consecutive passes. The first whistled through Childs' hands, but the next went for 5 yards and a first down.
Then Dick found Childs racing up a seam and hit him with a 26-yard touchdown pass just before the freshman was blasted - and stayed upright - in the end zone.
"He is going to be unbelievable," Dick said. "He made some great catches for us, and he'll continue to get better."
Childs, playing in front of his parents, Gregory and Carla, his sister and his girlfriend, had two more receptions, for 21 and 13 yards, on the Razorbacks' gamewinning touchdown drive.
"He's improved so much," Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. "The last two weeks in practice, you could see his confidence in catching the ball. We really like how he runs with the ball. He had a couple big, big runs in the mock game [in which he] broke tackles.
"Physically, his ability is very good. He's strong, he's quick. He's very strong off the line of scrimmage, and he doesn't havea lot of fear. He'll just go get the ball across the middle."
Childs appeared totally unfazed by the excitement and drama surrounding the opening of the 2008 season and the Bobby Petrino era.
"I wasn't real nervous about the game," he said. "I didn't get nervous. I was just excited to see all the people there.
"They started doing that 'Pig sooie' and we could hear them up in the locker room."
Childs is part of the highly touted trio of Warren freshmen in the receiving corps, and the only one of the group, which also includes Jarius Wright and Chris Gragg, who had a catch in the opener.
Childs was one of several Razorbacks receivers who had a drop, but he came back to make a big play against the Leathernecks.
"Being a receiver, you're going to drop a pass or two," Childs said. "Everybody's done it: T.O. [Terrell Owens], Jerry Rice, all the great ones have. You've just got to come back the next play with the mind-set, 'I'm going to catch this ball.' "
At 6-4, 205 pounds, Childs is reminding Arkansas fans of a recent favorite - Marcus Monk. Of course, Childs is also wearing jersey No. 85, the same one Monk wore when he racked up a school-record 27 touchdown receptions the past four years.
"They picked the numbers for us," Childs said. "I had nothing to do with that.
"Everybody wants to compare me to Marcus Monk, you know. I'm just going to be myself."
Right now, being himself is paying off well for Childs.
Greg Childs at a glance POSITION Receiver HEIGHT 6-4 WEIGHT 205 CLASS True freshman HOMETOWN Warren THE SCOOP All-State performer for Coach Bo Hembree had 65 catches and 15 TDs as a senior. ... Had two fade-route touchdowns in one fall camp scrimmage and came on strong the final couple of weeks of camp. ... Has tentatively broken into the starting lineup pending the status of London Crawford.
Sports, Pages 17, 23 on 09/04/2008