FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach John L.
Smith, indicating he might not have been clear enough when he said at SEC media days that players not included in the football media guide would not be on the team, tried again Thursday.
“If you see his name in the press guide, he would have a chance,” Smith said before the annual Razorback Golf Scramble at Paradise Valley Golf & Athletic Club.
“If you don’t see it there, then you won’t see him there.”
Receivers Marquel Wade and Maudrecus Humphrey and tight end Andrew Peterson were arrested in May on felony theft charges and have been off the team while awaiting an Aug. 27 trial date. They are not in the Arkansas media guide, and Smith said Thursday that the players would not be back this season. He did not rule out an eventual return.
“There’s always the possibility down the road,” he said, “but I would not expect any of those guys to be here.”
Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said he was disappointed to loseWade after the coaching staff set up a series of standards for the sophomore to meet to potentially return to the team and Wade failed to meet them.
Dual roles
Arkansas coaches have discussed Brandon Mitchell practicing at quarterback and receiver in fall camp, as well as Kiero Small working at fullback and linebacker.
Now it looks like tailback Ronnie Wingo, who has 52 catches for 560 yards and 7 touchdowns in three seasons, might split out wide for some reps in practice.
“That is a possibility,” running backs coach Tim Horton said. “I don’t know how much needs to be said about it at this point. We’re going to tinker with just putting him out there a little bit, just because he’s always been a terrific catcher out of the backfield.”
Additionally, redshirt freshman running back Kody Walker, who weighs 240 pounds, might take practice reps in the fullback rotation.
Ascolese appealing
The only Razorbacksnewcomer who has not made it to campus is linebacker Vin Ascolese of North Bergen, N.J.
“We have one young man that hasn’t gotten through, as far as eligibility,” Coach John L. Smith said. “He’s still working with the [NCAA] clearinghouse. What is going to have to happen, he’s in an appeal process.” Penn State process
Arkansas recruiting coordinator Tim Horton said it was unlikely the Razorbacks would be involved in landing any Penn State players, whom the NCAA declared in its announcement of NCAA sanctions Monday could transfer and be immediately eligible.
“There are three or four kids on that team that are from this time zone,” said Horton, who added the Arkansas staff has done some research on the Penn State roster. “There really are very few players on that team that are from what you’d call SEC territory.”
Arkansas Coach John L.
Smith said the Hogs would entertain calls from any interested Nittany Lions, but “we aren’t going to fly out and go visit anybody at this point.” Gilbert enters plea
Former Arkansas linebacker Tyler Gilbert pleaded guilty Thursday in Washington County DistrictCourt to misdemeanor theft of property and received 12 months probation.
Gilbert, of Sorrento, La., also will pay a $1,000 fine and $170 in court costs and other fees as part of the resolution of his case, prosecuting attorney Matt Durrett said.
Gilbert was originally charged with felony aggravated residential burglary and theft of property for an incident April 13 in which he and two other men, Jesse Booker and Ryan Graves, allegedly broke into a Fayetteville apartment and took items valued at $285, including $80 in cash.
Gilbert and Graves received the same sentences Thursday, while Booker, the alleged ringleader in the incident, pleaded guilty to residential burglary and received four years probation. All the men involved in the incident were in the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Intramurals again
The Razorbacks will move their fall camp operations to the intramural fields until the start of school, just as they did last summer.
Arkansas’ new football practice fields south of Walker Pavilion are scheduled to be opened Aug. 16, but there is a construction zone for the new football operations center between the south stands at Reynolds Razorback Stadium and Walker Pavilion, making it difficult to access the fields.
Sports, Pages 25 on 07/27/2012