FAYETTEVILLE — Those hoping for reinforcements along Arkansas’ offensive line got some bad news Monday afternoon.
Head coach Sam Pittman, who once again brought up his desire to get Patrick Kutas healthy and rotating after the Razorbacks’ loss to Oklahoma State, revealed that he’ll likely miss Saturday’s Arkansas vs UAB home opener — and possibly more.
“I’m an optimist,” Pittman said. “I don’t know if I’m optimistic about him getting back anytime soon. I don’t believe he’ll play this week, to be honest with you.”
The junior from Memphis has been dealing with a back injury since the second day of fall camp, missing two full weeks of practice before returning in a limited fashion.
It’s unclear how much Kutas has been able to participate since then because practices have been completely closed to the media, but Pittman did say he would have an MRI the Friday following the opener against UAPB.
Although he confirmed the MRI happened, Pittman declined to reveal any further details last week. That was a red flag to Dr. Kirk Reynolds, an orthopedic surgeon at OrthoArkansas who specializes in sports medicine.
During his guest spot on 4th and Five, a podcast co-hosted by former Arkansas tight end DJ Williams, Reynolds — a Searcy native who attended the UA — speculated that the injury might be more severe than the coaches have let on.
“The fact that we’re hearing he’s just simply not playing and that he’s out for the weekend kind of raises the suspicion that maybe this is something a little more significant,” Reynolds said. “Certainly would worry that maybe he has a disc injury, pinched nerve as most of us would call it, or perhaps has a small fracture in the low back area.”
With Kutas out, redshirt sophomore E’Marion Harris has slid inside and started both games at left guard. While he graded out well in the opener against UAPB, posting a 70.8 Pro Football Focus grade on 61 snaps, Harris posted a 51.5 grade on 93 snaps at Oklahoma State. That was the second-worst mark on the offense, ahead of only right tackle Keyshawn Blackstock’s 42.8.
It’s also worth noting that despite Arkansas traveling 12 offensive linemen to Stillwater, the starting five — which included left tackle Fernando Carmona, center Addison Nichols and right guard Joshua Braun, in addition to Harris and Blackstock — played all 93 snaps against the Cowboys.
Other Sam Pittman Presser Tidbits
Here are a few other quotes, not verbatim, from Sam Pittman’s weekly press conference looking back at the Oklahoma State loss and previewing the Arkansas vs UAB game…
- Some roster updates: Jaedon Wilson has left the team. He’s going to enter the portal as a graduate. I’m proud he’s graduated from here. You can enter Oct. 1 as a graduate. Dazmin James has been suspended for violation of team rules this week.
- On UAB’s defense: UAB defensively is a quarters coverage team, lots of single blitzes. Lots of four-down linemen. Have a really good corner. Couple of transfer DTs with good size. Not complicated defensively. They play extremely hard.
- On UAB’s offense: Offensively, Mortensen played here and is their OC. They do a lot. They go empty to 13 to a reverse bone look in the backfield. Want to run the football. Have some transfers on the OL, plus some returning starters. QB is a transfer from Baylor. He’s a pocket guy. Thomas is a really good WR and their slot is also a good punt returner.
- On offensive mistakes vs. OSU: There’s some things we certainly learned. There were some crucial plays. We had a couple of MAs on empty protection. Had a guy wide open on a crossing route, Sategna, who probably would have scored. Then on fourth-and-5, we made a mistake and the end came free. We took two critical sacks in situations where we gave away points. … We left a lot of points out there. We just have to figure out how to finish drives and not have those critical problems.
- On clock management during final drive of regulation: There were two of them. The first one was we ran the ball to get first down. We didn’t get lined up. We had some communication problem there of getting lined up. Once that happened, we decided to just kill it. We wasted 15 seconds from the time the play before started to the next snap. Probably wasted seven seconds, crucial seconds. Then at the very end, we had 12 seconds left… We were very slow with our operation on that and almost ran out of time. Probably should have killed it in hindsight.
- On Krosse Johnson running into the punt returner twice: We should all be keying the returner as we’re coming down. We didn’t. The second one, he was more aware of where he was, but he was still way too close.
- On pressuring the opposing quarterback: Defensively, where can we get better? We didn’t get to the QB. Part of that is they’ve got a good protecting OL, but we have to be better than that. The guy was pretty clean the entire game. … We have to win one-on-ones up front and we did not Saturday.
- On cornerback Marquise “Cuddie” Robinson: Robinson got a stinger in pregame and went numb. A lot of times, that’ll come back really fast, but it did not. He’ll be at practice today in green. It was unfortunate, just hit the wrong way. He’ll be back.
- On optimism moving forward: I’m so excited about the football team. Both sides. The guys are coaching them so well. I don’t think anyone who watched the game thinks we don’t have a good football team. We just made too many mistakes.
- On safety Hudson Clark: Clark hurt his back. He did come back and played special teams, but didn’t feel well enough to play defense. He’s got a sore back. He’ll have an MRI today, but I don’t have the results yet. I love the kid. He was playing really well, too. Had a nice PBU. We’ll see.
- On not using their depth at OSU: We have to play more players. It was hot Saturday, but we also played 90-something snaps. We talked about getting more guys in the game earlier. We need to be stronger in the fourth quarter. We played a lot of guys a lot of reps and probably wore out toward the end.
- On Landon Jackson’s lack of production: I think what’s happening is he’s getting chipped a bunch. OSU slid to him, which basically means they were doubling him. Until somebody else sparks, people are going to really worry about Landon and will continue to do that.
- On the performance of Andrew Armstrong: You see the trust develop from spring ball, summer, preseason… You saw that come out. Armstrong’s a really good player. Taylen is, too. The great thing about Andrew is I thought he ran exceptional with the ball in his hands and ran great routes to get open. He had a great game.
Watch the full press conference here:
Arkansas Football Injury Report
Here’s the latest on several players who are dealing with injuries ahead of the Arkansas vs UAB game…
- CB Hudson Clark (back): Hurt his back early in the OSU game, playing only seven defensive snaps… Able to return for special teams, but didn’t feel good enough to get back on defense
- RB Ja’Quinden Jackson (cramps): Came out of the OSU game multiple times with cramps, unable to play the final snap of the game… Pittman said he should be good and didn’t require the postgame IV like he figured… Probably not quite in game condition because he missed time in fall camp with injuries
- TE Luke Hasz (undisclosed): Appeared to get dinged up during the OSU game and missed some time after his long touchdown, but did return in the second overtime… Pittman said he’s “fine” during Monday’s presser
- CB Jaylon Braxton (tendinitis): Missed some time in the OSU game and appeared to be limping… Pittman said he’s dealing with tendinitis and they plan is to “be smart with him” in practice this week
- CB Marquise Robinson (stinger): DNP vs. OSU… Suffered a stinger in pregame, which caused his arm to go numb and prevented him from playing… Expected to be back at practice in a green non-contact jersey Monday and is likely probably for the UAB game
- RB Rashod Dubinion (knee): DNP vs. OSU… Apparently still limited in practice because of lingering knee issue
- OL Patrick Kutas (back): DNP vs. UAPB or OSU… Pittman isn’t overly optimistic about him being able to return any time soon… Almost certainly out for game vs. UAB
- DB Miguel Mitchell (undisclosed): DNP vs. UAPB or OSU… Not clear if it’s injury related or not… Pittman said last week that he’s “out for right now”
- DB Jaden Allen (knee): Pittman said the freshman had “cartilage repair” done on his knee and that he’s not expected to play this season.
- LB Justin Logan (shoulder): After being limited and wearing a green non-contact jersey during the spring, Pittman said he probably won’t play this season.
- OL Zuri Madison (ACL): Missed the spring and will miss the 2024 season with a torn ACL suffered in a scooter accident.
Arkansas vs UAB Depth Chart
Here is the official depth chart for the Arkansas vs UAB game, from the UA’s game notes…
Offense
| POS | First | Second | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Taylen Green | Malachi Singleton | KJ Jackson Blake Boda |
| RB | Ja’Quinden Jackson | Rodney Hill | Braylen Russell Rashod Dubinion Tyrell Reed |
| TE | Luke Hasz | Ty Washington | Var’keyes Gumms Andreas Paaske |
| WR-Z | Tyrone Broden | Jordan Anthony -OR- CJ Brown | Davion Dozier |
| WR-X | Andrew Armstrong | Monte Harrison | |
| WR-W | Isaiah Sategna | Isaac TeSlaa | Khafre Brown |
| LT | Fernando Carmona Jr. | E’Marion Harris | |
| LG | Patrick Kutas -OR- E’Marion Harris | ||
| C | Addison Nichols | Amaury Wiggins | |
| RG | Joshua Braun | Ty’Kieast Crawford | |
| RT | Keyshawn Blackstock | Joe More |
Changes from last week:
- The only change is that Jaedon Wilson – who left the team on Friday – is no longer listed as the third-team wide receiver behind Armstrong and Harrison.
- There is still an “or” between Kutas and Harris at left guard, but Harris has started each of the first two games while Kutas has been sidelined with a back injury.
Defense
| POS | First | Second | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE | Landon Jackson | Quincy Rhodes Jr. | |
| DT | Cam Ball | Keivie Rose | Danny Saili |
| DT | Eric Gregory | Ian Geffrard | |
| DE | Nico Davillier -OR- Anton Juncaj | ||
| LB | Brad Spence | Stephen Dix Jr. | Alex Sanford |
| LB | Xavian Sorey Jr. | Anthony Switzer -OR- Bradley Shaw | |
| NB | Doneiko Slaughter | Tevis Metcalf | |
| CB | Marquise Robinson -OR- Jaheim Singletary -OR- Kee’yon Stewart | ||
| S | TJ Metcalf | Hudson Clark | Ahkhari Johnson |
| S | Jayden Johnson | Larry Worth III | |
| CB | Jaylon Braxton | Selman Bridges |
Changes from last week:
- The only change is that there is no “or” between Metcalf and Clark at safety. Metcalf has started each of the first two games of the season.
- There is still an “or” between Davillier and Juncaj, but Davillier has started both games.
- There is still a three-way “or” at cornerback. Robinson started the opener, but got hurt before the OSU game, allowing Singletary to start.
Special Teams
| POS | First | Second |
|---|---|---|
| K | Kyle Ramsey -OR- Matthew Shipley | |
| P | Devin Bale | Sam Dubwig |
| KO | Devin Bale | |
| LS | Ashton Ngo | Max Schmidly |
| H | Devin Bale | Sam Dubwig |
| KR | Isaiah Sategna | Rodney Hill |
| PR | Isaiah Sategna | Bryce Stephens |
Changes from last week:
- The “or” between Ramsey and Shipley has returned after Ramsey went 1 for 3 on field goals at OSU.
How to Watch Arkansas vs UAB
Date: Saturday, Sept. 14
Location: Razorback Stadium (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Kickoff time (TV): 3:15 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
Commentators: Dave Neal (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (analyst), Ashley ShahAhmadi (sideline reporter)
ESPN FPI: Arkansas has a 92.8% chance to win.
Odds/Betting Line: Arkansas, -23.5 | O/U 58.5 (BetSaracen)
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