FAYETTEVILLE - Brandon Allen’s teammates and coaches sounded more impressed about his ability to return from a severe leg gash last Saturday against Auburn than the quarterback himself.
Allen’s right leg was punctured near the shin by a rubber cleat from an Auburn defender on Arkansas’ first drive, and the sophomore returned about seven minutes of game time later after taking some stitches in the Broyles Center training room.
Coach Bret Bielema said he had to turn away from what he described as a pretty deep gash. Center Travis Swanson didn’t want to look either.
“I don’t do gruesome things like that,” Swanson said. “I try to stay away from them. … When I’m flipping through the channels and it’s surgery day on Discovery, I can’t do it.”
Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said he didn’t know if he had ever seen an injury that severe from a cleat.
“I’ve seen a lot of tears and cuts, but nothing to the extent that he got,” Chaney said. “He got a pretty nasty one on that thing.”
Fullback Kiero Small said he felt his cleat at practice Tuesday to see how it could do that kind of damage.
“I heard on the sideline what happened, and once I heard what happened I didn’t think he was coming back,” Small said. “But he came back out there like nothing happened.”
Allen downplayed the gash’s severity.
“It wasn’t bleeding that bad,” he said. “It was kind of deep but not too much of a problem at all. I didn’t really notice it at first. I was just going to kind of pull my sock up. I looked down and it was deeper than I originally thought.
“I just kind of showed them and we had to go close it up real quick.”
Herndon had it?
Receiver Javontee Herndon said Tuesday he thought he came down with the 41-yard pass that would have been a touchdown if not ruled incomplete by the officials and confirmed by the replay booth.
Coach Bret Bielema said he felt whatever ruling was made on the field, incomplete or touchdown, would have remained the call by the replay official.
Herndon appeared to take a couple of steps with the ball before falling to the turf with the ball underneath him during Arkansas’ first series.
“I feel like it was a touchdown,” Herndon said.
“I caught the ball, I took a couple of steps, and I kind of hit my head on the ground and when I did that, I think I landed on top of the ball. That’s maybe what they saw.”
Light on LBs
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema talked in recent days of issues affecting three linebackers, including 2012 starters Otha Peters and A.J.
Turner, who have both been dealing with broken wrists.
Bielema said Saturday that linebacker Martrell Spaight, whose playing time has been limited in recent games, has “got to get it all together” while referencing being accountable in the classroom before he gets more defensive snaps.
Turner has not played all season while rehabbing his broken wrist.
“AJ, he’s in rehab, but he hasn’t even really for the last two months been with the program as far as practice or anything like that just to get that wrist and everything right,” Bielema said Monday.
Internet message boards Tuesday speculated on the long-term future for Peters and Turner at Arkansas.
Bielema said Monday that Peters’ wrist injury is probably bothering him and that he hasn’t shown consistency in recent weeks.
“I know some guys that played in the past aren’t playing now, but it can’t be explained,” he said. “I can’t diagnose why that is or isn’t.”
New stuff
Arkansas offensive players volunteered Tuesday that they’re putting in new wrinkles for the Ole Miss game.
“I thought we did a lot of sharp things today, worked on a few different things we’re putting into the game plan and for a first day working on some new stuff, we did pretty well,” quarterback Brandon Allen said.
“We made it through practice and got some new things in and had some fun with them,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. “The kids, I thought, had a nice practice and a good tempo to them.”Road romps
Since thumping Auburn 24-7 last Oct. 6, the Razorbacks have not been competitive in SEC road games.
Arkansas has lost its past four SEC road games by an average margin of 30.3 points, falling by 18 at South Carolina, 31 at Mississippi State, 20 at Florida and 52 at Alabama.
Young ones
Arkansas has played eight true freshman scholarship players, as well as rookie holder Matt Emrich, but the Razorbacks trail Ole Miss in that department, which signed a highly regarded class in February and has played 12 of the freshmen.
Six true freshman Rebels have started games: defensive back Tony Conner, tight end Evan Engram, defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, wider receiver Laquon Treadwell, offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive back Derrick Jones. Ole Miss is tied for eighth among FBS teams in number of true freshmen played.
Worth noting
Saturday’s 11:21 a.m. kickoff will be the fifth for Arkansas at or before 5 p.m. this season, while it will be the first for the Rebels.
Ole Miss players are wearing “PS” stickers on their helmets to honor former teammate Park Stevens, who was killed in a car accident July 3.
Ole Miss linebacker Mike Marry, who wore jersey No. 52 last year, now sports No. 38 as the recipient of the annual Chucky Mullins Courage Award.
Sports, Pages 22 on 11/06/2013