FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Razorbacks pitching coach Wes Johnson likes to hand out nicknames, and he's pulled out a blast from the past for Jackson Rutledge, a freshman right-hander, who stands 6-8 and weighs 260 pounds.
"Somebody said, 'What are you going to nickname Rutledge?'" Johnson said. "He's so big, and he's got nasty stuff, so he's Big Nasty Junior. That's in honor of Corliss, of course."
Corliss Williamson, a 6-7 power forward, helped lead the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville men's basketball team to the 1994 national championship and had a lengthy NBA career. Rutledge is from St. Louis and he was born in 1999 --four years after Williamson's last season with the Razorbacks.
"We had to educate Jackson about Corliss," Johnson said. "But now he knows."
Rutledge said he did some research on Williamson and came away impressed by his accomplishments.
"Now I know about Corliss Williamson," Rutledge said. "So that's a pretty good guy to be nicknamed after."
Rutledge's fastball has hit 95 mph, and Johnson said he's consistently in the 92-93 range.
"You get a kid that big out of high school, a lot of times they're uncoordinated, they haven't grown into their body yet, they don't know how to handle it," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "He's pretty good, and he can throw that curveball for a strike just about any time he wants.
"The fastball, let's just put it this way. He'll throw three perfect strikes and then he loses one. Guys don't like hitting off him because it's coming in hard and heavy.
"Right-handers, that ball chases them a little bit. They're bailing a little bit. So there's just a little bit of fear in there with him. He's a guy who could be a starter and he could close games for us."
Catcher Grant Koch said he's impressed with Rutledge.
"He's tough, has a lot of movement on his pitches, good sink," Koch said. "He locates well. He's a good dude for us."
"Mentally, I'm just as confident as I can be, Rutledge said. "I try, with my size, to intimidate people a little bit. I'm not afraid to go up and in."
Flu run?
Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Campbell was scheduled to pitch in Arkansas' scrimmage Saturday, but he was laid up with the flu.
"'We've had some sickness," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We've had one for sure that has the flu, and we have three or four more that are going to be tested. We're a little nervous right now. ... It's a little spooky."
Biggering
Shortstop Jax Biggers stayed in Fayetteville last summer to focus on lifting weights. The 5-11 junior said he's added 15 pounds and is up to 182.
"I feel like my arm got stronger. My swing feels quicker, faster," said Biggers, who hit a team-leading .338 last season. "The ball is jumping off my bat a little bit harder than last year. But you still have to square it up."
Fletcher changes
Sophomore Dominic Fletcher, who wore No. 29 last season, has switched to No. 24.
Fletcher said 24 was his number in high school, but Chad Spanberger wore it last season.
"I couldn't come in here and take it away from Chad," Fletcher said. "But once he left, Coach Van Horn called and asked me if I wanted it. So yeah, I took it."
Spanberger hit 20 home runs and had 67 runs batted in last season. He was a sixth-round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies.
Freshman goes 97
Freshman right-hander Bryce Bonnin hit 97 mph on the radar gun during Friday's practice. Bonnin signed with Arkansas as a pitcher and infielder, but he'll stick to pitching this season, Coach Dave Van Horn said.
As a senior at Barber Hills High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, Bonnin batted .355. Van Horn said pitching and hitting in the fall was a challenge for Bonnin.
"He actually held his own pretty good hitting," Van Horn said. "But trying to do both just wore him down because when he pitched, we hit him pretty hard. He'd never had that happen before. So he came to us with a couple weeks left in fall ball and said, 'I can see I can help this team a lot more as just a pitcher.' When he pitched in our split squad Red-White series at the end of the year, he was electric. You could just really tell a difference."
Hairy situation
Catcher Grant Koch has a mane sticking out of the back of his cap.
Koch said he hasn't had a haircut in six or seven months.
"I didn't cut it for a while," he said. "Then it just kind of kept going."
Koch said Coach Dave Van Horn hasn't told him to get a haircut, but he won't be surprised if it happens.
"Whenever he tells me to cut, I'll have to cut it," Koch said. "But right now he hasn't said anything, so I'm just kind of rolling with it."
Sports on 01/28/2018