ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas A&M delivered a painful loss in Saturday’s 34-22 decision against the University of Arkansas.
Not only did the Aggies bruise the Razorbacks in a mental and physical sense, they did it literally as well.
A handful of key Razorbacks, including senior cornerback Dwight McGlothern and freshman tight end Luke Hasz, suffered injuries that knocked them out of the game.
The worst of them came when defensive end John Morgan III needed to be carted off after suffering a neck injury late in the game.
Morgan was strapped down to stabilize his neck, and with all of his teammates nearby offering support, was carted off the field and taken to a local hospital for testing.
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman provided a promising update on Morgan after the game.
“He had movement everywhere,” Pittman said. “He was communicative. He visited with me, said, ‘Coach, I’m fine,’ but he did have some soreness in his neck. So they took the precautionary [route], which they should.”
A hard tackle on the sideline sent Hasz out of the game on the first series, and the Razorbacks lost other key personnel during the hard-hitting affair.
Hasz suffered a broken clavicle on the game’s third snap after he converted a third-and-10 play with a 14-yard reception and was driven into the artificial turf by Jacoby Matthews.
Hasz, who was coming off a 116-yard performance in a 34-31 loss to LSU, will be lost for a lengthy period of time and possibly for the year, Pittman said.
“I mean, man, he’s so valuable,” Pittman said. “You go back to LSU and take him out of there and what’s it look like?”
Hasz was second on the team behind Andrew Armstrong with 15 catches for 239 yards and tied for the team lead with 3 touchdowns entering the game.
“Losing Luke, you are losing a guy that is willing to sacrifice a lot,” Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson said. “Versatile guy, block, catch, run. So you’re losing a guy that’s pretty valuable to the offense of the team as well.
“So it was pretty frustrating, but I feel like he’ll be back stronger than ever now.”
Arkansas also lost McGlothern, its top cornerback, to a concussion at the 5:27 mark of the second quarter after he tackled Texas A&M quarterback Max Johnson on a 1-yard scramble.
The loss of McGlothern tested the Razorbacks’ cornerback depth, especially with freshman starter Jaylon Braxton missing some of the game with an undisclosed issue.
Linebacker Jaheim Thomas and defensive end Landon Jackson also missed reps with injuries.
Jackson suffered a turned ankle, but he did postgame interviews.
“It’s a little sore,” Jackson said. “But I’ll be full go come Monday. I’ll get in for treatment tomorrow morning, but overall it’s good.”
