Progress slow, sure for Cleveland, Tuck
Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — The frustration portrayed on their faces 1 told the story of their first 2 / 2 weeks of Arkansas’ spring practices. Ben Cleveland and Crosby Tuck had already enjoyed significant flashes of freshman success at Arkansas in 2006 and 2007, respectively, before injuries struck both of them. Now, with a new coaching staff requiring its own proof of work ethic, commitment and play-making skills, Cleveland and Tuck have been playing a desperate brand of catch-up on the depth chart while continuing to rehabilitate their ailments. It has not been easy on two players from Springdale. “You know it’s not really where I want to be right now,” Tuck said late last week. “It’s just on me. I’ve got to start playing a little better and getting back to that spot.” Tuck had two touchdown receptions as a true freshman receiver out of Shiloh Christian last year before he broke his arm while blocking in Game 3.
Cleveland, a tight end, suffered nerve damage in his neck last August and needed the full season to rehabilitate, then he required exterior tendon transfer surgery in his toe this winter and still isn’t 100 percent recovered from having a pin removed.
“It’s just so tight, I can’t do much,” Cleveland said late last week about the toe. “It’s just going to take time. I hope by the middle of summer I’ll be full strength.” Rehab blues lifted, at least a little, for Tuck and Cleveland on Saturday as each caught a touchdown pass in Arkansas’ third scrimmage of the spring.
Cleveland’s first catch came early in Saturday’s work, when he snagged a bootleg pass from Alex Mortensen in the right flat and immediately looked for somebody to hit.
Freshman safety John Michael Davis presented himself, and Cleveland delivered a smashing forearm chuck and plowed ahead for 17 yards.
“It’s just a fun experience to do,” Cleveland said. “I haven’t done it in a while, so I just broke out some new things. It felt real good to go out there and be part of a team.” The 17-yard catch-and-run was the big play in a six-play sequence that ended on Cleveland’s 5-yard touchdown catch, also thrown by Mortensen, on a crossing route.
“It’s been slow, a little hard on him not being 100 percent yet,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “But we’ve got to keep him going. We tried to get him a little more work [Saturday ]. It’s the best he’s felt.” Tuck had a long recovery from the broken elbow, but he was in the mix at receiver early in the spring when he suffered a pulled quadriceps that shelved him again.
“You know, that’s the way life is,” Tuck said. “I’ve got to figure out a way to overcome.” Tuck was an early sensation last year, grabbing a 42-yard touchdown pass from Darren Mc-Fadden in his first college game, then scoring again the next week on a 40-yard play-action pass at Alabama.
“Anything that happened last year, it isn’t the same this year,” Tuck said. “Things that maybe they were looking for in a receiver last year are different this year and all that. I’ve still got to be playing better, more like I did last year because I’m not there right now at all.” Tuck got closer Saturday, catching an 8-yard fade-route touchdown pass from Nathan Dick against Greg Gatson in the scrimmage.
“He’s hard to evaluate until he’s full speed,” Petrino said after the scrimmage. “He’s been fighting through it, and the last two days, he’s starting to get better.
“ He’s come in and got some extra meetings and worked the offense better. He just needs to hang in until he feels 100 percent.”
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
