Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

News and notes from Wednesday’s Arkansas football media availability ...

I. Corner Battle
Kaelon Kelleybrew replaced Darius Winston early in last week’s game against Jacksonville State. He then played nearly all the remaining snaps in the 49-24 victory.

That provides no sort of guarantee Kelleybrew will start this week against Louisiana-Monroe.

Coaches maintain they will continue to evaluate Winston and Kelleybrew throughout the week. Defensive coordinator Paul Haynes said a decision could be made as late as Saturday. Kickoff with the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks is 6 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

“It’s up for grabs right now,” Haynes said.

Arkansas needs production from whoever plays the cornerback spot opposite Tevin Mitchel. A week ago the Razorbacks gave up 320-plus passing yards. Louisiana-Monroe is a team that likes to air it out, so the Razorbacks have to be better in the secondary.

Kelleybrew, a Little Rock native, said he’ll be ready for Saturday, whether he starts or comes off the bench like last week.

“My mother always told me to be prepared for any situation," Kelleybrew said.

It is likely both could play this week. Haynes said Winston should have gone back in the game after being pulled after the first series last week.

“He probably should have went in a little bit earlier,” Haynes said. “With us all being in the first game and kind of getting caught up in the thing we didn’t really think about putting him back in — and Kelleybrew was playing also pretty decent too.”

II. Preseason Form
Arkansas has taken time this week to do tackling station work like it did during preseason camp.

Tackling was poor during the Razorbacks’ season opener and Haynes said extra drill work was needed.

“I think that was a part of the problem in the first game, was missed tackles,” safety/linebacker Ross Rasner said. “That’s always something Coach Haynes stresses is our fundamentals in tackling, so we’ve been doing a circuit to start off practice, so we can get started fast to help us in the first quarter like we didn’t really do in the first game.”