Sam Pittman addresses adjustments to running back rotation

The Arkansas football team could be getting a key piece of their rushing attack back this weekend. However, running back Dominique Johnson’s status for the Hogs’ matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks this Saturday is still up in the air, according to his head coach, Sam Pittman. Johnson suffered a knee injury in the Hogs’ Outback Bowl victory seven months ago against Penn State and didn’t participate at all in spring drills. Last season, he played in all 13 games for the Hogs with six starts. He finished fourth on the team with 575 rushing yards and a team-best seven rushing touchdowns. Johnson is expected to be back in the lineup sometime soon, but it’s tough to tell when exactly that will be. In his Wednesday press conference, Pittman discussed the adjustments to the running back rotation.

“Well, I think it’ll, obviously, there’s only so many plays you have out there. So, it’s gonna affect all three of those guys. Because we believe in Dominique. And I thought he was, if not our top running back, one of our top two last year. He certainly was one of our top two, I can promise you that. And we’re waiting to get him back. I think that those guys have certainly improved with AJ [A.J. Green] and R-Dub [Rashod Dubinion]. But there’s [only] so many carries you can give away…We’re gonna give the carries to Dominique when he gets back. It’s just…how many I don’t know. Probably a lot of it dictates how the game’s going when he’s in there,” Pittman said.

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Johnson had been wearing a green non-contact jersey in practice this fall, but was seen without it for the first time on Tuesday. Pittman also discussed his running back’s status for Saturday’s contest in his press conference, but admitted that there’s still plenty of uncertainty.

“I thought he looked good,” Pittman said of Johnson. “I still think it’s up in the air whether we’ll play him or not this week, but I think he certainly has improved over the last week-and-a-half. Obviously, we have today to look at him as well. He looked to me like he’s ready to go, but we’ll have to see how he feels about it before we decide. We still have two pretty good days that he can build some confidence and see if he’s ready to play or not. To be honest with you, it’s really up to him.”

Upon his return to the field, he figures to mix into a Razorbacks rushing attack that also features Raheim Sanders and quarterback K.J. Jefferson.

Sanders led the team with 20 carries for 117 yards on Saturday as Arkansas earned a 31-24 victory against Cincinnati. Jefferson added 62 yards and a touchdown on the ground, in addition to 223 yards and three scores through the air. As a team, the Razorbacks finished with 224 yards rushing and an average of five yards per carry. Their rushing attack should only get more dangerous once Johnson is added back into the fold.

Dominique Johnson’s injury status will be one to monitor the next few days as the Razorbacks prepare to kick off against the Gamecocks at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday in Fayetteville.

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this article.