HOUSTON -- Senior captains Brey Cook and Trey Flowers have passed along advice to some of the young Razorbacks making their first bowl appearance.
"I talked to a lot of younger guys and just told them stay focused and you know, you're going to be wowed by a whole lot of things," Flowers said shortly after the Razorbacks reported in Houston for Monday's Texas Bowl against Texas. "We're in the city of Houston, and there's a lot of things going on, but you've got to stay focused on the task at hand to get a victory."
The Arkansas team hotel is the Westin Galleria, connected to the Galleria Mall, which was overrun with cars and shoppers on Friday.
Cook said he's kept an eye on how the younger players were absorbing their first day in the bustling surroundings.
"It's cool to see them running around all excited," Cook said.
Cook said he is savoring this bowl experience in his final game.
"You know what it's like to not be able to come and do these things," said Cook, one of several Hogs who are back in a bowl after a two-year absence. "It's pretty miserable going home for Christmas, as terrible as that sounds. But not being able to come out here and compete and not have this opportunity for these young guys to get better and do all the fun things that come along with it."
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said the Razorbacks have full academic eligibility for the bowl game.
"We had 100 percent, so I think kudos to our academic staff," Bielema said. "In today's day and age, to have all those guys come through, not only is everybody eligible for the bowl, there isn't any fall ineligibility, nobody in the spring has any issues. Everybody got through academically."
Bielema said the Razorbacks did some conditioning work in Fayetteville early Friday before flying to Houston and that today's practice at St. Thomas High School, with parts of it open to the media, would be a "shine-and-polish" practice like a normal Thursday.
"The part I was a little bit nervous about was just not getting down here and their focus," Bielema said. "But they've been really good during the course of the week."
Bielema intentionally delayed arrival to keep from running into Christmas closings of restaurants and other businesses.
"I just felt that we could get better work at home," he said.
Bielema said senior tight end AJ Derby went through a limited practice in Fayetteville on Thursday and will try to get in parts of today's workout.
"The plan is to take him out there, see what he can do," Bielema said. "I think for sure there's some things he might be able to bring to the table, some third down and red zone, some things like that."
Sophomore defensive end Brandon Lewis, one of several young players Bielema wants healthy for winter conditioning and spring ball, has undergone another procedure to work on the knee that caused him pain for much of the season.
In the first off-the-field bowl activity, Arkansas and Texas tangled at Friday night's Rodeo Bowl, a series of events at the George Ranch Historical Park.
"They've got me lassoing a mascot or something," Flowers said in his low-key manner.
Cook said he was not scheduled to participate, but was eager to watch lineman Austin Beck dance and tight end Alex Voelzke "trying to tackle a calf."
Bielema said the teams had been asked to wear their hotel sweats to the Rodeo Bowl, but Voelzke, a native of Longview, Texas, asked for a waiver.
"Voelzke volunteered for everything so he's all excited and he's got a special uniform he's going to break out tonight," Bielema said. "I think he's throwing on a pair of blue jeans and some cowboy boots for his event.
"It'll be fun. I think some personalities will come out. It's obviously a competition with Texas in certain things. Again, it's a new thing. ... I've never per se been to a rodeo, so to kind of have this experience, put it in your back pocket and chalk it up as a learning experience will be fun."
Sports on 12/27/2014