The Arkansas Razorbacks are coming off a devastating 38-31 loss to BYU and now arguably the toughest test of the season awaits them in the form of the No. 12 LSU Tigers, who the Hogs will face Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Head coach Sam Pittman’s squad might be without running back Rocket Sanders, who has missed two straight games with a knee injury he suffered in the Week 1 win over Western Carolina. Pittman said Sanders will be at practice on Monday, but his status for the LSU game is still unknown.
“I don’t know if he’s going to be able to play or not,” Pittman said. “I tell you in all honesty it’s probably too early to tell on that injury. We’re going to have him out there a little bit today and kind of see where he’s at. But to be honest with you the answer is probably no at this point. Not no he’s not going to play, but no we just don’t know.”
The initial timeframe given by Pittman on Sept. 6 was “a couple of weeks,” so that would project Sanders back by this Saturday or next week’s game against Texas A&M. Getting Sanders back would bolster an Arkansas run game and offense as a whole that could use all the help it can get.
Also of note, quarterback KJ Jefferson was banged up going into the BYU game, according to Pittman. There were a few times that Jefferson elected to avoid contact against the Cougars and Pittman said that could probably be attributed to Jefferson not feeling 100%.
The Head Hog later added that Jefferson is doing a lot better now than he was last week, so there are no setbacks expected for the third-year starting quarterback.
Overall, the team came out of the BYU game pretty clean of any significant injuries. While some players remain out for the year, such as defensive back Quincey McAdoo and receiver Sam Mbake, the Hogs are working to get the rest of their injured players back as soon as possible.
“We got the nagging ones that are going to happen, you know, as ball gets played,” Pittman said. “But, we did (come out clean on injuries). I told the kids we were going to go spiders early in the camp. I said ‘Hey in week four, we’re going to go spiders and all that.’ But it’s a great time to go, because we are pretty healthy.”
A pair of offensive linemen — Patrick Kutas (back) and Andrew Chamblee (cramp) — did go down on the final drive, but Pittman said both are doing fine now.
Chamblee has been starting at left tackle, but that is thanks in part to the fact that Devon Manuel hasn’t been healthy. Manuel was the starter at left tackle to begin fall camp, but he’s had nagging injuries and he’s currently dealing with a stinger.
“We need him,” Pittman said. “Obviously, we had practiced Brady (Latham) out there a couple times, and he was the next best option we had. Just unfortunate when he had to move out there and all that, but he did as good of a job as he could do and he was the right guy to move out there. It’s just we need Dev back.”
Other notable players still trying to get back on the field include DB Malik Chavis (hand), DE Quincy Rhodes Jr. (undisclosed) and OT Luke Brown (undisclosed).
Arkansas and LSU will face of at 6 p.m. CT in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
