FAYETTEVILLE — Defensive tackle Alfred Davis was surprised, like everyone else, when head football coach Bobby Petrino was fired by Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long.
The coach who helped lead the Razorbacks to 21 wins in the past two seasons was gone and the abrupt departure left plenty of uncertainty about Arkansas’ immediate future. But after the initial shock, Davis said his concentration quickly shifted to something else.
“I was thinking about the next practice, to be honest,” Davis said on April 13, two days after the news. “Because I can’t do anything about it but go back to work.”
It hasn’t been a normal spring for the Razorbacks, who opened practice on March 14 with no idea how much turmoil was coming in April. Arkansas’ players haven’t made any excuses about the ordeal, though, sidestepping the distractions as much as possible as they work toward reaching their lofty goals for the 2012 season.
Arkansas plans to show off its progress amid the scandal when it closes spring practice with the Red-White Game in Razorback Stadium at 2 p.m. today. It will be the Hogs’ final practice before entering the long summer and they promise to make the most of their last opportunity.
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“The guys we went through the offseason with, the guys who we’ve been in the summer runs with, that’s the guys we’re playing for,” Arkansas tight end Chris Gragg said about pressing on without Petrino. “We’re the ones putting in the work. We’re the ones that have to go out there and perform when the lights come on, so that’s what we go out there and work for.”
The timing of the turmoil has placed Arkansas in the awkward position of being without a head coach four months before preseason practice begins. Long hasn’t publicly revealed his plans for placing someone in charge of the program for 2012, but said in a statement Friday there won’t be a resolution until after the spring game. Assistant head coach Taver Johnson, in his first spring with the program, will lead the team on the field today.
But offensive coordinator Paul Petrino believes the timing of the turmoil has been good for both players and coaches in one regard: they’ve had opportunities to escape the attention by stepping on the practice field.
“I think sometimes when you have different things going on in your life and you’re an athlete or a coach, the nicest thing is to go out on that practice field,” Petrino said. “To be honest with you, sometimes the days you don’t practice are harder than the days you practice, when you have to sit around and think about it.
“But when you actually get out on the grass and get to run around and play — and that’s something that they love, and that’s something we love to do as coaches — really that’s the best part of every right now.”
The Razorbacks have had plenty of veteran leadership with players like Gragg, quarterback Tyler Wilson, running back Knile Davis and receiver Cobi Hamilton to lean on, too. All four players had chances to enter next week’s NFL Draft, but came back to school for one more season.
And they’re not looking for sympathy, something that has seeped over to the rest of their teammates.
“It’s nothing I can control,” Hamilton said. “We never wanted none of this. But we’ve got to take the stuff we can control, come out here and work every day. Continue to do the things we’ve been doing throughout the whole spring and doing the things that got us here as a team.”
Hamilton said it has been an “interesting” spring, though. Defensive tackle D.D. Jones admitted it has been “tough” to navigate. But it’s not the first time the Razorbacks have dealt with adversity the past year.
They pressed on when Davis suffered his season-ending injury in August. They fought through double-digit deficits. Then there was tight end Garrett Uekman’s death in November, which was shook the program. Senior linebacker Tenarius Wright said those experiences help now.
“We’re all just trying to band together and feed off the things that coach Petrino did teach us while he was here,” Wright said. “We want to make sure we stick together, believe that we’re a family, and make sure that everyone’s all in to finish the mission we’ve started.”
Arkansas divided its team for the Red-White game and the format will be different than the three previous scrimmages this spring. The first-team offense and defense will be on the same team (Red), facing the reserves (White) in a four-quarter game that will feature a running clock during the second half.
Davis and the rest of the Razorbacks are looking forward to it. Players have plugged the scrimmage all week, asking fans to come out and support the program.
There are plenty of questions left to answer in the wake of Petrino’s dismissal. But no matter what happens next, Davis said Arkansas still has big plans for 2012. “Our goals haven’t changed,” Davis said. “We’re still trying to get to that national championship.”