Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

News and notes from Thursday's Arkansas football media availability ...

I. Wilson Cleared
Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson has been cleared to play against Rutgers.

Wilson suffered a concussion in the first half of the Sept. 8 game against Louisiana-Monroe and was held out of last week's loss to Alabama.

"He’s been cleared to go. So that’s every exciting and we’re thankful that he is," Coach John L. Smith said. "... I know our football team is excited about that, as are we as coaches. And I’m sure the fans will be as well. Now we just need to go to the field and execute, execute, execute, everybody be accountable and do their jobs and play football."

II. Middle Man
Alonzo Highsmith will move to middle linebacker to fill the spot opened by Tenarius Wright’s return to defensive end.

Wright, who has manned the middle since spring, started three games at linebacker. Arkansas misses his ability off the edge to rush the passer and playing linebacker hasn’t seemed to be the best use of his skill.

Senior Terrell Williams and freshman A.J. Turner will play the weakside with Highsmith moving to the middle. Otha Peters is set to backup Highsmith.

III. Must-Win?
Arkansas (1-2) has suffered two consecutive losses. Rutgers (3-0) comes to Fayetteville as a final non-conference opponent before Arkansas hits a stretch of SEC games.

Is this a must-win game? Not any more than usual, Coach John L. Smith said.

“Well, they’re all must-wins," he said. "Yeah. So it fits right in there with the must-win we had last week and the must-win we had the week before. “

Speaking Out
“No.”
—Coach John L. Smith when asked if he had been given a timetable on his bankruptcy to be resolved. Smith reports $25.7 million in debt.