Sam Pittman provides update on Taylen Green, others

FAYETTEVILLE — Taylen Green was injured in Arkansas’ 19-14 win over No. 4 Tennessee Saturday night in Razorback Stadium.

The Razorbacks are taking advantage of the bye week to try and get several players healthy. For the first time since Saturday, Sam Pittman provided some updates on injured players on the SEC Teleconference. Pittman didn’t hold his Monday press conference and no players were made available following Tuesday’s practice. Pittman and Arkansas is seemingly missing a chance to build some confidence and momentum with the fans following a huge win. But Pittman did get on the SEC Teleconference and was asked what the focus during the bye week is?

“Well, we’re trying to get healthy, first,” Pittman said. “I think that’s what the bye weeks are for. Obviously, if you’re looking for some positional changes. Getting some guys that haven’t played for a lot of the season back, but we cleaned up our Tennessee game on

“Monday like we normally would, but we just went to watch film after that on LSU, an hour film. Yesterday we watched an hour of film. Had an hour walkthrough. Today, we’ll have an hour of film, we’ll have a practice of about an hour and a half in spiders. Tomorrow, we’ll have the same, the practice will be about an hour and a half in full pads. Then, the kids will get off Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then we’ll come back to start the week on LSU on Monday.”

Of particular interest to Razorback fans was the status of Green. The Hogs quarterback was injured when hit on a low blow to the knees by a Vols lineman. The Hogs played much of the fourth quarter without Green.

“Well, we don’t think it’s MCL now,” Pittman said. “More of a bone bruise. Very, very sore on him. Hopefully he’ll be back by LSU. It’ll kind of be day-to-day right now, but our diagnosis was there was not any ligament damage.”

Against the Volunteers, Arkansas had no turnovers. They had three turnovers against both Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in the two losses. Green was 19 of 27 for 266 yards before exiting the game with the injury. For the season, Green has completed 107 of 189 passes for 1,502 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions. Green has also rushed 81 times for 326 yards and four touchdowns.

Redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton came in and replaced Green. Singleton completed 2 of 3 passes for 31 yards and rushed four times for 12 yards and one touchdown. Singleton has completed 10 of 14 passing for 151 yards and rushed eight times for 18 yards and two touchdowns on the season.

Rodney Hill missed the Tennessee game with an injury. That gave junior Rashod Dubinion a chance to get some extended playing time. He rushed twice for 10 yards and also pulled in an 18-yard reception.

“Yeah, MCL (on Hill),” Pittman said. “Rodney, we expect to be back by Monday. Probably not this week, but by Monday. R-Dub had a couple of nice runs and a pass catch out of the backfield. He’s been practicing well. He was hurt. His time was cut because he had been injured.

“The week before, (during) his suspension, he had a really good practice week and then coming back off of that he had a really good practice week. So it was good to see him out there. If he’ll continue — and he will — to have good practices he’ll continue to see the field more.”

The absence of Hill also gave true freshman Braylen Russell a chance to shine in extended playing time. Russell, the former standout at Benton, came up huge. He rushed eight times for 62 yards. On the winning drive, Russell had runs of 24 and 11 yards.

Pittman also provided an injury update on offensive guard Patrick Kutas and cornerback Jaylon Braxton. Kutas hasn’t played this season and Braxton was injured against Oklahoma State.

“Well, we’re certainly hoping they can come back,” Pittman said. “Kutas practice yesterday, will practice again today. Braxton will be ready by Thursday. So hopefully we can get some of those guys back.”

The tight end room was beaten up prior to the Vols game. Luke Hasz and Ty Washington have been limited while Andreas Paaske has missed the past few games with a concussion.

“That was probably our biggest concern going into the Tennessee game,” Pittman said. “You know, we were using Josh Street as a tight end, who plays tackle for us. But I feel really good about Luke. We still have a few test results to get back for Paaske, and Ty Washington should be ready by Monday, so I think that room there will be back to full tilt by Monday.”

Kicker Kyle Ramsey was injured against Tennessee. He was replaced by Matthew Shipley.

“I was proud of Shipley to come in,” Pittman said. “It wasn’t a long field goal, but he made it, and made the extra points, so I was proud of him to come out there and do that.

“Ramsey has a significant injury, and so he’s going to be out for a while. And so those kicking duties will go to Shipley.”

Arkansas will host LSU on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. and televised on ESPN.

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