Monday Notes: Injury updates, Petrino talks Carolina

Bobby Petrino met with the media this afternoon. He hit on a few things like the improvement of the offense, injuries, and facing South Carolina's multiple-look defense.

Here are some highlights:

INJURY UPDATES

Jerico Nelson (knee) was hurt Saturday and his status for this Saturday is still up in the air. Defensive end Adrian Davis (sprained knee) and offensive guard Grant Cook (sprained knee) did not play against Tulsa and their status will be re-evaluated today when they attempt to join in on a late afternoon workout, Petrino said.

ANOTHER FAMILIAR FACE

Johnson

Arkansas will face off against South Carolina's defense, which is tops in the SEC in total defense. It's led by coordinator Ellis Johnson, who was hired at Arkansas by Petrino in January. Johnson got a call from USC coach Steve Spurrier on Jan. 24 and quit the Razorbacks to go back to his home state.

"He was here for a cup of coffee and a donut," Petrino joked this afternoon.

Petrino made sure to later add that, "We did not let him out of the building with some of his literature and the start of the playbook."

Willy Robinson, of course, was then hired as his replacement.

"It was crazy with what was going on but we ended up getting a good one," linebacker Wendel Davis said.

TAKING THE, UH, RESPECTFUL FIGHT TO 'EM

Arkansas (4-5) must win two of its next three games to become bowl eligible. South Carolina (6-3), meanwhile, is bowl eligible under Spurrier. All isn't great in Gamecock Land, though. Spurrier, reportedly, isn't too happy with the production of his offense.

"There's a lot of good coaches in the SEC, especially coach Spurrier over there at South Carolina," UA free safety Matt Harris said. "Whatever program he goes to is usually a successful program, but we're not going to bow down to coach Spurrier. We respect the guy but we're going to go out there and play hard football. It's the SEC, so we're going to go out there and take it to them -- coach Petrino and everybody."

Are those fightin' words I hear?

TACKING ON TACKLES?

Is it 12 or 11? Harris, who easily had the best game of his career Saturday against Tulsa, recorded 12 unassisted tackles against the Golden Hurricane, according to statistics released by the UA.

Coach Petrino, however, says Harris made 10 solo tackles and 1 assisted tackle.

So who's right?

Whatever the case, Harris did a heck of a job Saturday. He had two huge tackles on Tulsa's final drive that got as close as the Arkansas 4-yard line before being stopped for the tying — or go-ahead score with a 2-point conversion —on fourth down.

– Brandon Marcello
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