FAYETTEVILLE -- Bobby Petrino held his weekly press conference following the team's second and final bye week.
Arkansas will go to LSU this week, then to Texas and finish up the season here against Missouri on Nov. 29. Petrino felt this bye week was beneficial.
"It was good for us," Petrino said. "We’re getting some guys healthy. That’s one reason. We had two good days of work last week and then came back last night, had a good practice last night. I thought the players reacted really well, had a lot of enthusiasm and worked extremely hard to get us into a normal schedule so they could be off today and then get us into a regular Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule."
Since Taylen Green and several others were injured against Mississippi State Petrino provided some updates.
"Yeah, there’s a few of them," Petrino said. "Taylen’s doing great. He was full speed and practiced all week last week, and then did a good job last night. Both offensive linemen (Caden Kitler, E’Marion Harris) are back going. Shaq (McRoy) did not practice last night. We probably won’t have him available for us. I’m just glad that it’s not worse than it was. It was an ugly look on video so he’s actually fortunate that it wasn’t worse than it was.
"Charlie Collins should get some work in tomorrow. That’ll give us an idea of where he’ll be at. A lot of his will just be able to handle the pain and see where that’s at. It’s a bone bruise, which are always very painful in your knee. No structural damage so that’s a great thing for him and his future. But it’ll just be how quickly he can get back and whether he can or not. Jordan (Young) will be back practicing again tomorrow too."
When Harris and Kitler missed the Mississippi State game they were replaced by Kash Courtney and McRoy. However, McRoy went out with a injury on the first series and Kavion Broussard, a transfer from Ole Miss, filled in at right tackle. Petrino updated how Courtney, a true freshman, and Broussard did.
"I mean, they both played well at times," Petrino said. "They showed their ability and that they're both going to be really, really good football players. And then their inexperience showed up at times, too. So it's kind of that, you know, balancing act of being able to get your job done even though you're inexperienced. But they both played well at times, and they're both going to be really good players for us."
The defense has shown improvement and forced turnovers the last two games.
"Yeah, I think the first down defense was really good, and the ability to cause negative plays helps us tremendously," Petrino said. "Carried over to third down when you do a good job on first down and get negative plays, it helps you be better on third down defense. So we've got to continue to do that."
Petrino was asked what's the challenge of being an interim coach?
"That’s a good question," Petrino said. "Not a bad question. I think the biggest challenge is just to keep the players motivated and keep them working together. Keep them trying to individually prepare to get better. Be good teammates. Make sure they take care of their teammates. Have a great attitude in the locker room. I think it’s a challenge sometimes, when you get beat, to come to work with a smile on your face and attack the day. That’s kind of what we’ve been focused on is to make sure when we come in the building we’re enjoying what we do. We’re very, very fortunate that we’re athletes in Division I football. Let’s come in and get better each day while we’re in the building."
Despite having lost seven games in a row the team has continued to play hard despite the coaching changes.
"I think it’s the leadership from within the team," Petrino said. "I always felt like as a coach one of the most important things is leadership from within the team. We’ve got good kids that are leading and want to finish strong. Win some games, so they continue to work hard, they continue to get the younger guys to help out. Our attitudes have been good. I think our assistant coaches have done a good job of understanding we’re working hard to get these guys better and preparing them for the game and keeping good attitudes in the building."
Arkansas and LSU will kickoff at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday in Baton Rouge. The game will be televised on the SEC Network
