Sam Pittman details how bye week plan aims to get secondary healthy

With Arkansas football on a bye this week, coach Sam Pittman is hopeful it will provide a chance for his secondary to recover from a multitude of injuries. Cornerback Malik Chavis as well as safeties Myles Slusher, Jayden Johnson and Khari Johnson are all banged up heading into the off week, but Pittman has a plan to get them healthy by Week 9.

In his Wednesday press conference, the Razorbacks coach provided a detailed explanation of how he will approach the bye as well as the likelihood that each player will play in the next game against Auburn.

“Khari’s been cleared, so he’s fine,” Pittman said. “Jayden (Johnson)’s probably not yet cleared. In other words, if we were practicing today, he’d probably be one of those guys in (individual) to kind of check and see how he feels. But, I’ll be honest with you guys, I expect every one of our guys back for the Auburn game with the exception of (LaDarius Bishop) and (Jalen Catalon), who are out for the season. And Taurean Carter. I don’t know if he’s out for the season, but those guys (won’t play).

“I expect everybody else to be back by the way we’re practicing. We wanted to get the healthiest team possible. But Khari’s ready to go, Jayden’s close, then the next one would probably be Slusher and probably the furthest away is Chavis.”

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The Razorbacks secondary has been hit extremely hard by injuries this year, and its production has suffered as a result. Halfway through the season, Arkansas ranks 12th in the SEC with 315.7 passing yards allowed per game.

With that being the case, getting the secondary healthy is a top priority for Sam Pittman, and he laid out how he will manage Slusher and Chavis in practice this week.

“Let’s take for instance, Slusher probably couldn’t practice-practice if it weren’t for walks,” he said. “Chavis wouldn’t be cleared yet, too, unless it was for walks. Obviously, you’re banking on that they’ll be physically able to practice, so you want to get them in the mental aspect of it. Non-contact stuff. That’s another reason why we’re practicing the way that we are. Auburn, we obviously check what they’re doing as well and things of that nature. I don’t know what they’re doing practice-wise, but I think they’re going maybe Tuesday-Wednesday and coming back on Sunday. So it’s just different philosophies there.”

Pittman will need his defensive backs healthy as he prepares for the challenge of facing a Tigers led by quarterback Robby Ashford.

“They’re a very physical team,” Pittman said of Auburn. “They’re talented. They can get to the passer. I think they’re very talented on defense and their quarterback’s scary. Robby’s scary because he can run and throw. And of course, they’ve got Tank (Bigsby). (Jarquez Hunter), he’s a really good player. They’re a good football team. They’ve had some close games, some they’ve won and some they’ve lost. We haven’t beat some team since I’ve been here, and they’re one of them that we’re 0-2 against. So we’d like to change that if we can.”

Arkansas and Auburn are scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday.