Razorbacks report

— Mallett upgraded to jogging

- Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett said Thursday he’s been upgraded to light jogging in his lengthy rehabilitation from two procedures on his broken left foot.

“I’m right on schedule,” Mallett said. “I can jog a little bit. Obviously I’m doing my pool work still for conditioning.

“I’m not conditioning running yet. But the first day at camp, I’ll be out there with cleats on, pads on.”

Mallett, a 6-6, 238-pounder from Texarkana, was named Wednesday to the Manning Award watch list after already being placed on the list for the Davey O’Brien Award.

Both awards are given to the nation’s top quarterback.

Among returning Football Bowl Subdivision players, Mallett ranks second in passing yards (3,624) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.29) and fourth with 30 touchdown passes.

When a reporter said Mallett was considered the best quarterback in the SEC, the junior said, “Obviously I don’t think you can name a best quarterback in the SEC until the season’s over.”

Motivating WRs

Arkansas’ receiving corps was ranked by Athlon magazine as the best in the country, but no member of the group - headlined by juniors Joe Adams, Greg Childs and Jarius Wright - was among the receivers voted to the top four spots on the coaches’ preseason All-SEC teams.

Razorbacks Coach Bobby Petrino said there are always surprises on preseason all conference teams.

“The fact of the matter is, when you have that many good players in a conference, you don’t how the voting is going to go,” Petrino said.

“I know our receivers will take it personal. They’re very motivated. They think they’re good as a group. They think they’re good as individuals.” Just in case

Ryan Mallett said he worked with the compliance staff at Arkansas to fill out paperwork and apply for an insurance policy protecting him financially against a career-threatening injury this season.

“I really didn’t have a lot to do with it except signing my name and filling out a bunch of forms,” Mallett said.

Arkansas tight end D.J.

Williams said he and his family have contemplated an insurance policy, but that he needed to “get up on the curve” in his understanding of the policy.

Agent angst

With the ripples from agent contacts and NCAA investigations spreading across the country and impacting the SEC, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino was asked about the issue and whether anything was happening with his team.

“We have not had any inquiries or incidents, knock on wood,” Petrino said.

Questions have been raised at several southern schools, including Alabama, Florida and South Carolina, about agent contacts and how players paid for airline tickets to a party held in Miami allegedly by an agent.

Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said, “We’ve had no inquiries and we’re not aware of any of our student-athlete’s participating in the things that are in question now. We work hard to stay on top of that.” It’s a process

Coach Bobby Petrino said Thursday he was still working through the process of determining whether fullback Van Stumon and offensive tackle Anthony Oden would face suspensions based on their summer DWI arrests.

Sports, Pages 23 on 07/23/2010

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