As the Arkansas football team (4-3, 2-2 SEC) prepares for its Week 9 matchup at Mississippi State, redshirt junior Keyshawn Blackstock and junior Patrick Kutas are in a battle for the starting left guard position.
Head coach Sam Pittman said Wednesday on the SEC Teleconference that the pair have split starter reps about half and half this week at practice.
"There's still a battle there," Pittman said. "We probably won't know exactly who we're going to start there, I think they'll both play. But, it's been a good competition this week. Both of them have played well. But, it is a competition. We're going to have to run one of them out there with the ones, we'll figure that out after today and tomorrow's practice. Both of them have had good weeks."
Kutas was a projected starter for Pittman's offensive line prior to the season, but a back injury suffered in fall camp kept him on the sideline for the first six games of the year. Kutas was available against LSU last week, but Arkansas opted not to play him while he continues to get into game shape.
"(Kutas) had two weeks of practice before this game, before LSU," Pittman said Saturday. "So it’s almost like he’s had, not necessarily the same type of practice that you would have for two-a-days, for camp, but he had two full practices there, to the point we thought that he would be ready Saturday and we told him that. If needed, we were going to play him.
"Obviously we’re trying to redshirt him if we can. Which means we’re going to get four games out of him. So he’ll be ready to go and it’ll depend on the week of practice he has whether he starts for us or not. But I believe that he’s fully healthy and ready to go."
Should the Razorbacks opt to redshirt Kutas at some point this year, they will still be able to play him in four of the final five games during the regular season. Since his return, Kutas hasn't skipped a beat in practice, according to center Addison Nichols.
"One thing Patrick has done a great job of is he hasn’t let that affect him," Nichols said Tuesday. "You’d think someone would have to come back and knock the rust off. He hasn’t had to do that. He’s come back and he’s had great effort. He’s got fresh legs so it’s been great to see him go out there and run fast, physical.
"He’s done an amazing job. We are really excited for him to get back. We know he wanted to get back and to be able to finally see him get back and get some snaps. Get out there and practice and play football, it’s been really exciting for us. I know it has been great for him."
The other wrinkle still needing ironing out is the positional transition of Blackstock, who switched with redshirt sophomore E'Marion Harris from right tackle to left guard for the LSU game. According to Pro Football Focus, Blackstock earned a grade of 51.0 overall, 41.8 in pass-block and 49.6 in run-block against the Tigers (grades from 0-100).
"We've done a great job in the transition," Nichols said. "We haven't let it affect us. We have trust in each other and we know that they're going to go out there and they're going to play the position to the best of their ability. It's exciting. The coaches are doing something that thinks best for the team and we trust that.
"(Blackstock and Harris have) gone out there and they've done fantastic jobs transitioning to the new positions. Obviously, it's a difficult thing to transition positions, but they've gone out there and they've done an amazing job with the transition. They've just hit it in the mouth and kept the ball rolling through the season, no setbacks."
The Razorbacks and Bulldogs are slated for an 11:45 a.m. CT kickoff Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
