FAYETTEVILLE – After dealing with a streak of injuries in the spring, Arkansas’ football team is back to full health entering the first practice of fall camp on Friday.
Senior linebacker De’jon Harris was forced to miss spring drills after undergoing foot surgery to correct nagging injuries from last season, but the Hogs’ defensive leader is back to 100 percent for the start of the season.
Arkansas strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll said on Monday that he has no concerns about Harris after watching him closely throughout the summer.
“They’re doing very well. Scoota (Harris) is moving faster than I’ve ever seen him,” Carroll said. “From an agility standpoint, he’s like, oh my goodness. It’s fun to watch. He’s the leading SEC tackler, but to see his competitiveness within drill work, it’s fun to watch. The foot is 100 percent back.”
In addition to Harris, the Razorbacks are also returning some of their key offensive players from injury.
Warren native and freshman wide receiver Treylon Burks suffered a torn ACL midway through his senior season last fall but is still expected to make an immediate impact for the Razorbacks this season. While the 6-3, 223-lb. playmaker has to wear a precautionary brace at times, Carroll suggested that he’ll be good to go for fall camp.
“Treylon Burks, same thing,” Carroll said. “I will say that they still make him wear his knee brace when he does certain things just as a safety precaution, but when he’s out there running routes and doing all of that, he looks really good. Really fluid, really fluid.”
Another returning Razorback who is considered one of the team’s top players is senior tight end Cheyenne O’Grady, who dealt with multiple lingering injuries last year. O’Grady, who caught 30 passes for 400 yards and six touchdowns in 2018, is now back to full health and is projected to be among the SEC’s top tight ends this season.
“I really can’t speak to injuries. That’s a question geared toward athletic trainers, but I can tell you that Cheyenne O’Grady is 100 percent full-go,” Carroll said. “He didn’t need any modifications or adjustments for the course of the summer. He was able to do everything. He looked good doing everything.”
No coach on the staff has had to deal with as many injuries as running backs coach Jeff Traylor. At one point last spring, there was only one scholarship running back available to take reps in practice.
Now, Rakeem Boyd, Devwah Whaley and Chase Hayden are all back to full speed, and junior TJ Hammonds has rejoined the team after missing the spring with non-football-related issues.
“Yeah, that was tough,” Traylor said of spring drills. “Obviously Devwah didn’t get to do much, but he’s played so much ball. He just can’t get past that injury bug, but we’d like to get him through a year where he can stay healthy. Rakeem is coming off the rotator cuff surgery and labrum, but Coach Tru had him all spring, so he put on 15-18 pounds of muscle. He was 193 pounds last year when he got here. He’s about 215-218 right now. So, when you see him, you’re going to see a noticeable difference.
“Chase had a really great spring, but he got hurt right there at the very end. He didn’t see much in the spring game, which was unfortunate because he had a great spring, so yeah, we’ve got three guys returning who have played a lot of ball, so we’re excited about that.”
The Razorbacks hit the practice fields Friday afternoon at approximately 4:30 p.m.