After Arkansas' physical 21-17 loss to Texas A&M over the weekend, Razorback head coach Sam Pitman told reporters Monday that his team's overall health is concerning entering a showdown against No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday in Fayetteville.
The Head Hog mentioned after the loss to the Aggies that he spoke with Dave Polanski, the team's associate director of sports medicine, during the game about cramps and injuries more than what he normally does. According to Pittman, a majority of the concern right now comes on the offensive side of the ball, specifically at the tight end position.
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"Yeah, it is a concern," Pittman said. "We’re going to have to do a good job with some of our key players mentally because we’re not probably going to have them for at least a couple of days, some. And maybe get them back on Wednesday, hopefully. But it is a big concern.
"The ones we’re most concerned about is offensively. The big, physical d-lines I think have taken a toll on our tight end position. That’s the one right now I’m most concerned about. But yeah, I think it gives an advantage. We’re undefeated coming off our bye weeks and a lot of that is because we get our players back."
Star sophomore tight end Luke Hasz exited the game against the Aggies with a pre-existing back issue, plus Eastern Michigan transfer Andreas Paaske was in concussion protocol as of last week and Pittman labeled him as doubtful for the game against the Volunteers. Redshirt sophomore tight end Ty Washington also was banged up ahead of and during the Texas A&M game, but Pittman did not reveal what the injury was.
In the secondary, starting cornerback Jaylon Braxton is apparently still battling injuries. Pittman has mentioned Braxton is dealing with a bone bruise and tendonitis. Veteran safety Hudson Clark hasn't played the last three games due to a back injury, but Clark did dress out and go through warmups for the Texas A&M game.
"I don’t feel great about Braxton, but I feel pretty good about Clark," Pittman said. "(Clark) practiced last week. I believe he could have played if we really needed him to. (Kee'yon) Stewart went down. He was sick.
"I didn’t feel real confident with Clark. Not that he couldn’t play, I thought he was doing it more for the team than what his body physically could handle, and so we elected not to play him at that point. I think we just got to get his confidence that he can hit somebody, and I think he’s closer, obviously a lot closer than he was last week."
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Junior running back Rashod Dubinion, who was recently suspended for a violation of team rules, is back and available for the Tennessee game. Dubinion dealt with a knee injury in fall camp, but should be good to go if he puts together a good week of practice.
"We know that he’s a good player from a year ago," Pittman said of Dubinion. "He’s been hurt most of this year. He’s healthy now. You know, one thing you have a suspension, you have this, you do whatever the responsibility is and then after that it’s... We wouldn’t let guys back on the team or anything if we had a grudge or if we had anything like that. It’s what we felt like we need to do. If he’s ready to go and he’s practicing well, we’re going to use him."
Other known players dealing with injuries include receivers Khafre Brown and Monte Harrison, both of whom missed the Texas A&M game with undisclosed injuries. Safety Miguel Mitchell, a transfer from Florida, and offensive lineman Patrick Kutas have both also been out for the whole season to this point.
Tennessee is coming off a bye week, while the Razorbacks are coming off of five straight games in five different venues to start the season. To say the Razorbacks are at a bit of a disadvantage would be an understatement.
"We’re going to try to take a little bit off of them today," Pittman said in regards to Monday's practice. "Not the mental part of it. Not the speed part of it as far as how fast Tennessee goes. But we’ve got to … for us to compete like we need to and how we want to we’re going to have to be smart this week."
Arkansas and Tennessee are schedule for a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff Saturday at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.
