2008 Woodie Awards
Petrino: Practices will be open
Razorback football notebook
Matt Jones
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports
First-year Arkansas football head coach Bobby Petrino wants you at spring football practice.
Petrino told a gathering at The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers Thursday Arkansas' spring football practices will be open to the public this season, adding he wants hundreds of fans to come out and force the team off the practice fields and into the stadium.
"I think that will help our players understand what kind of stage we're on," Petrino said.
The Razorbacks open spring practice April 3 and will conclude the 15-practice session with the annual Red-White scrimmage April 26 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas's practices, including those in the regular season, were open to the public through 2004, until former Razorback head coach Houston Nutt closed practices prior to the 2005 season. Nutt drew the ire of fans who stated the coach was attempting to conceal the team from the fans.
Petrino said he wanted to make sure Razorback fans felt appreciated.
"We play for the fans," Petrino said. "That's certainly a big part of the university."
Monk turns heads
Darren McFadden and Felix Jones might have drawn NFL scouts to campus Tuesday, but former Razorback wide receiver Marcus Monk made the biggest splash at Arkansas's Pro Day.
The 6-foot-5 Monk, who finished his Razorback career as the school's all-time leader in touchdown receptions, ran an unofficial 4.43-second 40-yard dash, up from his 4.56-second dash at the NFL Combine in February.
ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen, whose son Alex is a quarterback for the Razorbacks, said Monk turned a lot of heads.
"All of a sudden there is a little more buzz on him," Mortensen said. "It just means (teams) are going to look at him harder."
Monk finished his Razorback career with 138 catches for 2,151 yards and 27 touchdowns, just four TDs short of the Southeastern Conference career record.
The Lepanto-native nearly entered the draft following his junior season, but opted to return to school. Monk then injured his knee in preseason drills last season and underwent two arthroscopic knee surgeries, forcing to miss the first half of his senior season.
Following his workout, Monk said his knee is 100 percent.
"It felt good running, and my routes felt good, getting in and out of my breaks," Monk said.
"I want to let everybody know I'm back."
Arkansas-LSU game moved
Arkansas's annual "Battle for the Boot" with LSU has been moved to Friday, Nov. 28 to accommodate CBS, the school announced Wednesday.
The match-up has been a hotly contested one as of late, with no team winning by more than five points in the last three seasons.
Arkansas beat the eventual-national champion Tigers last season 50-48 in triple overtime, marking the school's first win over a No. 1-ranked opponent since 1981 and first win in Baton Rouge since 1994.
CBS has televised the game the day after Thanksgiving since 1995. LSU leads the series 9-4 over that time.
Petrino told a gathering at The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers Thursday Arkansas' spring football practices will be open to the public this season, adding he wants hundreds of fans to come out and force the team off the practice fields and into the stadium.
"I think that will help our players understand what kind of stage we're on," Petrino said.
The Razorbacks open spring practice April 3 and will conclude the 15-practice session with the annual Red-White scrimmage April 26 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas's practices, including those in the regular season, were open to the public through 2004, until former Razorback head coach Houston Nutt closed practices prior to the 2005 season. Nutt drew the ire of fans who stated the coach was attempting to conceal the team from the fans.
Petrino said he wanted to make sure Razorback fans felt appreciated.
"We play for the fans," Petrino said. "That's certainly a big part of the university."
Monk turns heads
Darren McFadden and Felix Jones might have drawn NFL scouts to campus Tuesday, but former Razorback wide receiver Marcus Monk made the biggest splash at Arkansas's Pro Day.
The 6-foot-5 Monk, who finished his Razorback career as the school's all-time leader in touchdown receptions, ran an unofficial 4.43-second 40-yard dash, up from his 4.56-second dash at the NFL Combine in February.
ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen, whose son Alex is a quarterback for the Razorbacks, said Monk turned a lot of heads.
"All of a sudden there is a little more buzz on him," Mortensen said. "It just means (teams) are going to look at him harder."
Monk finished his Razorback career with 138 catches for 2,151 yards and 27 touchdowns, just four TDs short of the Southeastern Conference career record.
The Lepanto-native nearly entered the draft following his junior season, but opted to return to school. Monk then injured his knee in preseason drills last season and underwent two arthroscopic knee surgeries, forcing to miss the first half of his senior season.
Following his workout, Monk said his knee is 100 percent.
"It felt good running, and my routes felt good, getting in and out of my breaks," Monk said.
"I want to let everybody know I'm back."
Arkansas-LSU game moved
Arkansas's annual "Battle for the Boot" with LSU has been moved to Friday, Nov. 28 to accommodate CBS, the school announced Wednesday.
The match-up has been a hotly contested one as of late, with no team winning by more than five points in the last three seasons.
Arkansas beat the eventual-national champion Tigers last season 50-48 in triple overtime, marking the school's first win over a No. 1-ranked opponent since 1981 and first win in Baton Rouge since 1994.
CBS has televised the game the day after Thanksgiving since 1995. LSU leads the series 9-4 over that time.
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