Rawleigh Williams could play next year

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas tailback Rawleigh Williams will miss the rest of the regular season while recovering from surgery that will require him to wear a neck brace for a period of time, Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said on Monday.

Williams is expected to make a full recovery, and Bielema said there are strong indications the freshman should be able to resume his football career.

"Every report says he's probably going to be able to play again," Bielema said. "It won't be until next year.

"Someone made reference to me they thought he might be able to do something in the spring. But when you're talking about the severity of the injury that it is, there's a lot of time between now and then to figure out what he wants to do and what his family wants to do."

Bielema would not give specifics on Williams' injury, but Arkansas' coach said he could tell it was serious from the moment he arrived on the scene.

"His eyes were not good, you could tell it was different," Bielema said, his eyes welling with tears. "When you have one of your players tell you he can't feel his fingers, it's pretty freaky. And then, like I said, his eyes got me."

Williams took a helmet-to-helmet shot from Auburn defensive back Jonathan Ford and went down just by the Arkansas sideline late in the third quarter of the Hogs' 54-48 four-overtime victory against Auburn on Saturday.

Williams was down for several minutes as medical personnel immobilized him, strapped him onto a stretcher and brought him to the hospital. He underwent surgery that night.

"I don't want to overspeak what I know," Bielema said. "I'll let Rawleigh -- he'll probably come in here and talk some time shortly and I'll let it come straight from his mouth."

Williams has been with his parents, Rawleigh and Kim Williams of Dallas, since the injury.

Williams, filling a larger role than originally expected this season after Arkansas lost senior Jonathan Williams in August with a torn ligament in his foot, has 254 rushing yards, with 1 touchdown, and 26 receiving yards. He also returned 1 kickoff for 17 yards and ranks fourth on the team with 297 all-purpose yards.

Film stars

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos brought some of the high points from the team's film review into Monday's media day to help explain several of the key offensive plays in the Razorbacks' 54-46 four-overtime victory over Auburn.

They raved over receiver Drew Morgan's double block on Kody Walker's 4-yard touchdown run on fourth and 2 in the third overtime. Morgan's first block got cornerback Carlton Davis on the turf, then he pivoted to shield off another Auburn defender who would have had an angle on Walker over the left side.

"We had Drew over there to take care of one, but there was only one guy there with two guys that could easily go tackle Kody, and the smallest guy on that side of the field ... not only takes his DB that's covering him, but he also blocks a linebacker about twice his size, and Kody just walks into the end zone," Bielema said.

"It was just a great play and we had a lot of those type plays," Enos said. "When you're in a game like that, you need those plays."

Perhaps the most critical play in overtime came on Arkansas' first two-point conversion, right after the Walker touchdown. Quarterback Brandon Allen was rolling right and running out of options as he neared the sideline when he fired a quick pass to tight end Jeremy Sprinkle, who was mirroring him just inside the goal plane.

"That was his third option," Enos said. "That was a great, great play by Brandon and Jeremy. We've run that play every Thursday as a two-point play, as our first two-point play that we're going to run."

Enos said Auburn covered Allen's first read, Morgan in the flats, and his second look, Dominique Reed on a corner route.

"Jeremy's job was to push up the field, try to create a rub if he could, and then get half a yard deep in the end zone and then sit and wait and work with the quarterback if he didn't get rid of the ball on time," Enos said. "He did exactly what he was taught and Brandon did exactly what he did and it was a great throw. Those two guys made that play."

Enos said offensive guard Frank Ragnow was engaged with Auburn pass rushers -- one on each hand -- on Allen's 6-yard touchdown pass to Morgan in the first overtime.

Injury news

Receiver Jared Cornelius, who has missed the past four games over a span of five weeks while recovering from a double left arm fracture, has been cleared to play on Saturday against Tennessee-Martin. Coach Bret Bielema said he discussed Cornelius' return on Sunday with the player and his mother, Sylvia.

"He's a little bit ahead of schedule, but it's one our medical staff feels very, very good about," Bielema said. "He's healed up very fast, very efficient. ... That should be a huge benefit to give us back another experienced wide receiver."

Bielema said tight end Hunter Henry had a stinger in his shoulder when he went down in the third overtime, but Henry was "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Sunday."

Quarterback Brandon Allen had a significant bruise on his left leg after being kicked at the end of his 11-yard catch to start the second overtime.

"It was a totally legal play, but it was obviously pretty sore for him," Bielema said. "And then he bounced back and played really well that last overtime. So hats off to him."

Greenlaw wins

Linebacker Dre Greenlaw was named SEC freshman of the week Monday by the conference office after he led the Razorbacks with 16 tackles in their victory against Auburn.

Greenlaw's tackles tied Wisconsin's T.J. Edwards and Florida Atlantic's Azeez Al-Shaair as the most by a freshman this season and were the most by a Razorback since Alan Turner's 16 against Mississippi State in 2013.

"The good news was Dre got a lot of tackles, but he can play a lot better," Coach Bret Bielema said. "If I had one or two more linebackers, I think we'd actually be playing better because he's getting worn so thin.

"He's back there as a kickoff returner as well because he does a great job back there. He's on kickoff coverage. We just need to continue to build depth to help our program overall."

Greenlaw, who took over at weakside linebacker in the third game against Texas Tech, leads SEC freshmen with 53 tackles and ranks sixth nationally.

MVPs

Bret Bielema announced MVPs for the Auburn game with awards going to quarterback Brandon Allen and running back Kody Walker (offense), safeties Rohan Gaines and Josh Liddell (defense) and kicker Cole Hedlund and punter Toby Baker (special teams).

Scout-team MVPs went to Matt Reynolds (defense), Troy Allison (offense) and Tyler Phillips (special teams).

"Brandon Allen, in my opinion, probably played one of the most complete games of his career," Bielema said. "Just really stood tall, got banged up, did a lot of really good things. Managed the game well. Played his best in the fourth quarter and overtime. It was absolutely awesome to see him smiling."

Tube talk

The Arkansas at Ole Miss game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 with a broadcast on CBS, the SEC office announced on Monday. It will be Arkansas' first CBS appearance this season.

Sports on 10/27/2015