By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Hogs are enjoying the bye week and Sam Pittman feels it came at a perfect time considering the injuries his team has particularly in the secondary.'

"We needed an open date," Pittman said. "We’re a little beat up. We do think we can get however many we think we can get back healthy. Hoping so. Gave the kids off Sunday, Monday. Had a later night practice yesterday and it was all walk-through and things of that nature. So we’re trying to get acclimated a little bit to Auburn, but at the same time get healthy. That’s where we’re at right now."

The secondary is beat up and was missing six players against BYU once cornerback Malik Chavis left the game. That has forced Pittman, Barry Odom and Dominique Bowman to play many younger players which could benefit going forward.

"Absolutely," Pittman said. "That’s a great point. Absolutely. We’ll feel much better about putting guys in the game, or spelling guys, because of the reps that, like you mentioned there, Keuan (Parker) and Trent (Gordon), have gotten. I think that will help us down the road. Obviously we’re a little over halfway through the season but I do think it will help us as we move forward."

Parker is a redshirt freshman from Tulsa (Okla.) Booker T. Washington and was forced into additional duty on Saturday when Chavis left with a head injury. Pittman likes what the cornerback does when on the field.

"I thought he did a nice job," Pittman said. "Got thrown into a tough situation there with a good quarterback from BYU and hadn’t played much ball, and I thought he did a really nice job in his time that he played."

Hudson Clark has played well since moving to middle safety though he is also still seeing some action at cornerback. On Saturday, Clark had 11 tackles, four solo, one interception and a fumble recovery. Is Clark going to be strictly a safety going forward or still see duty at cornerback?

"To be honest with you, I think he’s going to have to play both, I do, throughout the remainder of the season," Pittman said. "I think he can. But he has to be available to play corner, as well. But I do like him. I think he’s getting better back there at safety and things of that nature, but I do think that he’ll have to play both spots."

Talented safety Jalen Catalon was injured in the first game of the season and then following surgery was ruled out for remainder of year. Pittman was asked if Catalon might come back in 2023?
"Yeah, I don’t really know," Pittman said. "I don’t think he’s decided what he wants to do, yet. I don’t think he’s really made the decision of what he wants to do. I did talk, speak with him yesterday."

Catalon was among the seniors that Pittman said he would like to have back in 2023 in addition to a cornerback, LaDarrius Bishop, who is also out for the season.

"There’s a bunch of them," Pittman said. "I’m going to guess somewhere around six to eight that we would ask to come back. One of them being DayDay Bishop, who’s not playing right now. Obviously Catalon would be in that, because he’s going to graduate, that would be another one that’s not playing right now. Then we have several, a lot of them on the d-line that we certainly would like to have back. Yeah, I’d say that number would be around…it might be a little higher than that, but at least six to eight."

Quick Hits:

*Dominique Johnson still hurt?

Last season, running back Dominique Johnson was very successful. He rushed for 575 yards and seven touchdowns on 97 carries. He played in 13 games with six starts, but was injured in the Outback Bowl. This season, Johnson has eight carries for 43 yards in four games. He missed the beginning of the season with an injury, but is he still hurt?

“No, he’s 100%,” Pittman said. “You know, it’s just a situation where while he was out the other guys got better. We’re very, very confident in him. We’re confident in Dominique, but right now he’s in a depth chart battle, and we’re very pleased with how AJ (Green) has improved and certainly the addition of R-Dub (Rashod Dubinion).”

*Taurean Carter coming back this season?

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Taurean Carter was injured on April 16 at a spring scrimmage. He hasn’t played this season, but Pittman is still hopeful of seeing him on the field this season.

“On Taurean Carter, we probably would be fortunate to get him back somewhere around the last two regular season games,” Pittman said. “Two… maybe it’s late as the bowl game. I definitely think we’ll get him back if we qualify for a bowl. I think we will get him back then. But we’re trying to press toward maybe the last couple of games of the year. We’ll see how that works, but that would be probably the earliest.”

Arkansas has a bye week, but will face Auburn on Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. and televised on the SEC Network.