FAYETTEVILLE -- Rice Coach Mike Bloomgren has pumped up the top two University of Arkansas quarterbacks, KJ Jefferson and Malik Hornsby, heading into Saturday's season opener.
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman followed suit Wednesday in his final media appearance before the Hogs host the Owls at 1 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
"You look at both those quarterbacks. KJ, obviously, has already been named as the starter, but I think the Malik kid, gosh, he could be a running back," Bloomgren said. "He could play about any position on offense, not just quarterback.
"So both those guys bring so much to the table. I think KJ's experience last year, I believe it was in the Mizzou game, is going to pay dividends for him and give him an opportunity to be more comfortable."
Pittman said he thinks Jefferson is ready for the challenge of being the starter. He was asked whether Jefferson is the kind of player who has typically performed better on game day than in practice.
"I think he'll be a better player on Saturday than what he is at practice, but he's also a very fine practice player now with his accuracy," Pittman said. "I don't know that I can tell you I believed that throughout spring ball.
"I knew he was getting better, but he's a good football player. But I do think he'll shine a little bit more on Saturdays. I think he is one of those guys."
Bloomgren said the top two signal callers are somewhat comparable.
"Those guys, I think they can do similar things within their scheme, but obviously Malik and his legs are pretty explosive and is a different concern if he enters the game," he said.
Pittman revealed things about the quarterbacks when asked whether he had a big surprise or revelation during camp.
"I was concerned about Malik Hornsby's accuracy, and I'm not for sure if every one of you guys on this [Zoom] that have seen our practices are going, 'Where is his accuracy going to be?' " Pittman said. "I was concerned at some point about ... KJ's accuracy, as well.
"But then every night I watched tape. I watched every bit of everything, walk-through, everything. Taking notes about it. But as I'm doing that, the accuracy of Malik and the accuracy of KJ were quite higher throwing the football than what I believed. That would be probably the biggest surprise. I had an opinion about it and then as I'm tallying up targets, it was much, much higher than what I thought it was."
Roster report
Coach Sam Pittman made it sound as if ace receiver Treylon Burks and transfer defensive tackle John Ridgeway are unlikely to play in Saturday's season opener.
Burks has been out for a while with a lower leg issue, while Ridgeway underwent an appendectomy last weekend.
Pittman said Burks hasn't been able to do much this week but is still day-to-day.
Later, Pittman described Ridgeway, a 6-5, 320-pound transfer from Illinois State who was listed as a starter, as "doubtful" to play against Rice.
Among other players who have been slowed or sidelined recently, Pittman said linebacker Hayden Henry "will be ready to go without any question," and that he doesn't feel good about defensive back Myles Slusher being ready by Saturday.
Henry was out or limited early this week.
"He's fine," Pittman said. "He's just a little sick this week, but he's fine."
Slusher has been wearing a green no-contact jersey much of the last couple of weeks and his injury has not been disclosed.
Otherwise, Pittman noted, many of the other players who have been in no-contact jerseys recently should be ready for game day. Those players have included tailback Trelon Smith, receiver De'Vion Warren, safety Jalen Catalon and tight end Blake Kern.
Newcomer watch
A handful of true freshmen look to start earning playing time right out of the gate for the Razorbacks.
Coach Sam Pittman said that group includes tailback Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, receiver Ketron Jackson Jr. and safety Jayden Johnson. Pittman went on to say linebacker Chris Paul and receiver Bryce Stephens might also have a shot at early playing time.
"Of course you have AJ Green," he said. "AJ's looked better in practice."
Green, a running back, was sidelined for more than a week during camp with an undisclosed issue and missed out on both scrimmages.
Expanding to players who are first-year Razorbacks, transfers such as defensive linemen Tre Williams, Markell Utsey and John Ridgeway, receiver Jaquayln Crawford and nickelback Trent Gordon are expected to be in the rotation.
Pittman said his general philosophy with the four-game redshirt rule is try to see what freshmen have early if possible.
"When you play them early, you'll know more about if you should redshirt them or if you shouldn't," he said. "I understand you learn those things at practice too, but some guys just show up better and some guys show up worse when the lights are on. I like to play them as early as possible if you ever get that opportunity and see how they look out there, then decide a little bit later about the redshirt."
Vaccine count
Coach Sam Pittman said his team is roughly 91% vaccinated and climbing against covid-19 and the building staff is at 100%.
"I think it's 91% fully vaccinated and then we have another three that are in the process right now that have had their first shot or their last shot, depending on if it was J&J or it was Pfizer," he said. "When their timetable comes up, we'll be at 93%."
Pittman said getting up to 100%, which he noted has been announced at other schools, is up to the players.
"I'm proud that we're at 93% of at least starting [vaccinations], and if we can get more that'd be awesome too," he said.
'Tui' terrific
Former Washington quarterback and longtime Pac-12 assistant coach Marques Tuiasosopo is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Rice who will work Saturday's game from the press box.
Rice Coach Mike Bloomgren, speaking about the versatility of offensive skill ace Jordan Myers, expanded his thoughts into how Tuiasosopo, who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior in 2000, has helped the Owls diversify their offense.
"That's the coolest thing for us right now," Bloomgren said. "Some of the things Coach Tui brought to our offense is the ability to do a lot of things out of the same personnel group. We can literally line up in something that looks like two-back, two-tight and Jordan can be a tight end or he can be a fullback or he can be a running back and then, oh yeah, we can line up in a 3 by 1 out of the same personnel grouping.
"And then he brought shifts and motions back to us. Coach Tui spent a lot of time with Coach [Steve] Sarkisian when they coached together at Washington. They got together this offseason and that was great."
Bloomgren said the Owls have combined some of Tuiasosopo's ideas into his West Coast offense roots and things he did while at Stanford.
"So we pulled those things out and the ability to be in one personnel [group] with Jordan, and then move him or shift him has just been really good, and we hope it's going to be problematic for defensive coordinators," he said. "We hope it's going to keep them up a little at night."
11-game skids
Rice will come to Fayetteville riding a pair of unsightly skids against SEC competition.
The Owls have lost their last 11 games against SEC teams dating to a 17-7 win over LSU at Rice Stadium in 1980.
Additionally, Rice has lost its last 11 games away from home against SEC clubs dating to a 10-0 win over Florida in the 1960 Orange Bowl.
Looking back
The Razorbacks' game notes always feature a few pages from the team's last game against the upcoming opponent, typically the scoring summary, plus team and individual statistics.
In the case of Rice, those pages from the last game, a 20-0 Razorback victory at War Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23, 1991, have an old-school feel to them.
The two pages are blue and they contain what appears to be a coffee stain or some other dark mark on them.
The game kicked off at 1 p.m., as Saturday's season opener will, and it lasted a swift 2 hours and 44 minutes with a game-time temperature of 42 degrees.
Arkansas outgained the Owls 437-168 in total offense, sacked them five times and held them to 0 of 12 on third-down conversions.
The Razorbacks opened the scoring with a pair of Todd Wright field goals from 30 and 37 yards to hold a 6-0 halftime lead. Arkansas started the second half with an 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by Tony Jeffery's 1-yard run. Midway through the fourth quarter, tight end Kirk Botkin, who later became an assistant coach for the Razorbacks, grabbed a 28 yards scoring pass from Wade Hill.
The shutout was the last victory for coach Jack Crowe at Arkansas. The Razorbacks fell to Georgia 24-15 in the Independence Bowl to close the season at 6-6. After Arkansas lost to The Citadel 10-3 in the 1992 season opener, Crowe was fired by Frank Broyles and Joe Kines took over as interim coach.
