Braylen Russell injury update: Sam Pittman explains Arkansas RB's absence vs. Texas

Braylen Russell, the second-leading back for Arkansas, didn’t see any rushes on Saturday. Sam Pittman noted after the game that his injury status coming in was all there was to that.

Pittman got a question about Russell about not being able to play against Texas. He clarified in his answer that Russell could have seen snaps but that he wasn’t able to be fully ready for the game due to missing time during the week. With that, the Razorbacks went with other backs on their depth chart.

“No, he could go,” Pittman said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t know how much he played if at all but he wasn’t full speed, you know, this week. So, we played the healthy ones today.”

Russell appeared on the initial injury report for the game as questionable. However, he was designated as probable by the following day and remained at that status to end the week.

Still, Russell didn’t rush at all in the 10-point loss to the Longhorns. Ja’Quinden Jackson, who was also on the injury report coming in, led them on the ground again with 11 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown. Rashod Dubinion then had the next-most carries with seven for 30 yards.

Coming into the game, Russell, a true freshman out of Benton, Arkansas, had been the third-leading rusher this fall for the ‘Hogs. He had totaled 47 carries for 304 yards and two touchdowns. The touches and yardage were behind only Jackson and Taylen Green. He’s then tied with two other players for fourth in rushing scores.

Despite coming off of a bye the week prior, Russell wasn’t fully healthy enough to appear in this most recent game for Arkansas. He’ll now have another week to be ready enough again to play in their next one this weekend against Louisiana Tech.