FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas sophomore Brey Cook said he’s at full strength and ready to compete for a starting offensive tackle job this spring after being sidelined late last season by mononucleosis.
“Those first couple of winter workouts were definitely a little rough, but everything’s good now,” said Cook, a former Springdale Har-Ber standout. “It feels good being back out here at practice, going through everything and knocking the rust off.”
Cook is among several offensive linemen in the mix to fill starting spots with the graduation of tackle Grant Freeman and guard Grant Cook.
“The two Grants were great players for us. They helped Arkansas win 11 games and did an amazing job,” Brey Cook said. “Those are some big shoes to fill, but I don’t have any doubts we’re going to come together and find the right guys to replace them.”
Arkansas also — for the time being at least — is looking to replace senior tackle Jason Peacock, who was suspended indefinitely by Coach Bobby Petrino on March 16 after his arrest for theft of property.
If Peacock isn’t reinstated to the team, the only linemen left who started the majority of games last season will be center Travis Swanson and guard Alvin Bailey, redshirt juniors who have 26 consecutive starts.
Arkansas offensive line coach Chris Klenakis, who has 22 seasons of college coaching experience, said rebuilding the group is nothing new.
“It happens every spring, guys graduate and the next crew moves in,” Klenakis said. “A year ago we had the same scenario with a couple of holes to fill.”
Tyler Deacon, a fifth-year senior from Little Rock Christian, worked at the first-team quick guard spot the first two spring practices before Arkansas went on spring break. He’s never started and has played 15 games in his career, including 11 last season, primarily on special teams.
“It’s a great feeling being with the ones,” Deacon said. “I’m going to work hard to stay there. I’ve worked hard my whole career, and it’s definitely been worth the wait to get a chance to start now.”
Deacon came to Arkansas as a walk-on and was placed on scholarship last fall. He turned down several scholarship offers from NCAA Division II schools.
“I wanted to play big-time football at Arkansas,” he said. “I love it here.”
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said he hopes Deacon is ready to come through.
“I think every once in a while what happens with an offensive lineman is that you have that one guy that has that great fifth-year senior year,” Petrino said. “He’s that grinder that fought and got tough and was on the scout team for a couple years, then he backed up for a couple years. Then he finally got strong enough and physically ready to play, and he’s maybe one of your best leaders on the team and he’s the toughest guy.
“He’s the guy that just comes to work and gives you the toughness of the union. That’s what we really hope to see out of Tyler.”
Deacon bench-pressed 410 pounds in Arkansas’ off-season testing to rank sixth on the team.
“He’s a hard-working young man, he’s strong, and he’s intelligent,” Klenakis said. “He’s got an opportunity right now to fulfill a lifelong dream, and that’s to be a starter for the University of Arkansas.”
Deacon was a backup center last season, but has worked at all five line positions in practice during his Arkansas career. He is competing at the quick guard spot with sophomore Mitch Smothers, who started the first four games at quick tackle last season before being replaced by Peacock.
Junior David Hurd likely will work at first-team quick tackle when the Razorbacks resume practice Tuesday with redshirt freshman Grady Ollison as the backup. Hurd worked with the starters at times last week before Peacock’s suspension.
“He did a really nice job in the offseason,” Coach Bobby Petrino said of Hurd. “We like what we’ve seen out of him.”
Cook is competing for the starting strong tackle spot with sophomore Chris Stringer, who played in three games last season before getting a medical redshirt.
“Obviously, everybody wants to be the starting Hog here,” Stringer said. “So every day everybody comes out to work as hard as they can, and we’ll take it day by day and see what happens.”
Cook played in 11 games last season, mostly on special teams but also as a backup guard and tackle before being diagnosed with mononucleosis. He missed all of Arkansas’ bowl practices and the Cotton Bowl game against Kansas State.
“It was definitely a setback, because those bowl practices are so good for you and I can see now how much it helped my teammates,” Cook said. “The first couple of weeks after the doctors figured out what was wrong with me, I slept all day.”
Cook, 6-7, said he weighs 305 pounds after playing at 320 last season. The mononucleosis caused him to lose about 30 pounds.
“Eventually I got to where I could run a little bit, and gradually I got my strength back,” Cook said.
Cook said he bench-pressed 385 pounds and squatted 455 pounds in off-season testing.
“Brey really came on the last three weeks of the winter program and has made some great progress,” Klenakis said. “Now we need that to translate to the football field.”
On the line
Here’s a look at Arkansas’ offensive line depth chart going into Tuesday’s practice:
QUICK TACKLE David Hurd, Jr., 6-6, 300 Grady Ollison, R-Fr., 6-5, 286
QUICK GUARD Tyler Deacon, Sr., 6-4, 300 Mitch Smothers, So., 6-4, 296
CENTER Travis Swanson, Jr., 6-5, 305 Luke Charpentier, So., 6-4, 305
STRONG GUARD Alvin Bailey, Jr. 6-5, 312 Marcus Danenhauer, R-Fr., 6-5, 300
STRONG TACKLE Brey Cook, So., 6-7, 305 Chris Stringer, So., 6-7, 304 NOTE Senior Jason Peacock, a returning starter at quick tackle, is suspended indefinitely.
Sports, Pages 17 on 03/24/2012