Sam Pittman provides update on Dwight McGlothern’s availability vs. BYU

After dealing with some turf toe following Arkansas‘ Week 2 win over Kent State, head coach Sam Pittman had a positive update on cornerback Dwight McGlothern. After getting back to practice this week, Pittman expects he’ll play on Saturday.

It’s an apt time to get a key defender back in the line up as Arkansas hosts BYU on Saturday night. Barring any setbacks, McGlothern will be back out there for the Razorbacks.

“He’s practiced both days. He’s still got a little tenderness in that toe but I believe that he’ll be ready to play on Saturday,” Pittman said.

The defensive back will be needed for an upcoming stretch of big games for Arkansas: BYU, LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Alabama are all on the schedule between now and the middle of October, a brutal and critical stretch of games for the Razorbacks.

After the win over Kent State, in which McGlothern exited early — he played just one snap — Pittman updated his status.

“[McGlothern] has turf toe,” Pittman said during the postgame press conference. “We were checking him out before the game and he didn’t move very well. Then we put him out there the first play and he didn’t move very well. So we went with [Kee’yon] Stewart.”

Arkansas didn’t need its star cornerback to take down Kent State. The Razorbacks’ defense held Kent State to just 200 total yards of offense. However, 178 of those yards did come through the air. This number likely would have been minimized with McGlothern on the field.

After all, the senior Razorback led the team and ranked second in the league with four interceptions last season. Additionally, McGlothern posted a career-high 52 tackles. The LSU transfer picked up right where he left off in Arkansas’ season opener against Western Carolina.

In the 56-13 victory, McGlothern recorded a tackle for loss, a pass deflection and an interception. While Pittman’s defense stepped up without McGlothern, he wasn’t satisfied with their performance.

“We came out. We got a three-and-out. We went down and scored,” Pittman began. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do. This team right here. He had them [Kent State’s head coach] better than I had ours prepared today. They played better than we did today. We were fortunate to win.

“It’ll be a good wake-up call for us,” Pittman said. “We talked all week about not needing to be surprised. Not needing to be woke up. But, we got woke up. So,