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Inexperienced receivers listed atop Arkansas depth chart

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - No matter who is on the field, Arkansas will rely on some inexperienced players next season.

That seems especially true at wide receiver.

Marques Wade and Carlton Salters were listed among the Razorbacks' top receivers on Wednesday's post-spring depth chart. Wade will be a redshirt sophomore next season and has yet to earn a letter. Salters caught four passes last season as a redshirt freshman.

"Salters came out of spring with confidence that he can work inside against the linebackers and catch the ball over the middle. He has very good hands. He can catch the ball in traffic because of his hands," new coach Bobby Petrino said. "I think Marques Wade showed some signs that he can be a factor for us. He did catch some deep balls and he got better each week in his route running."

Arkansas must replace a lot of offensive talent this year, including NFL first-round draft picks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones at running back. Michael Smith was listed atop the depth chart at that position, which was no surprise after he averaged 6.6 yards per carry in limited duty last season.

The situation at receiver is more muddled. Marcus Monk and Robert Johnson are gone, so there will be plenty of playing time up for grabs — especially with Petrino hoping to emphasize the pass more than predecessor Houston Nutt. Petrino listed three wide receiver spots on the depth chart. They are topped by Wade, Salters and London Crawford. Crawford caught 8 passes last season, one for a touchdown.

Lucas Miller, who caught three touchdown passes last season, is below Salters at one receiver spot. Crosby Tuck, who showed promise in 2007 before breaking his arm, was not on the depth chart at all.

Casey Dick is still the No. 1 quarterback after spring practice, ahead of his brother Nathan.

"I thought Casey did a real nice job improving each week," Petrino said. "We kind of go by week and set three goals for each week — what we need to do, what we need to work on. I thought he did show a lot of improvement."

Lance Thompson is listed as the top fullback, a spot previously held by NFL draft pick Peyton Hillis.

On defense, linebacker Freddie Fairchild was not on the depth chart. He was suspended after being arrested in March by Fayetteville police when a woman said he attacked her.

The top linebackers on the depth chart are Elston Forte, Jerry Franklin and Ryan Powers. Franklin will be a redshirt freshman.

Jake Bequette, who will also be a redshirt freshman next season, was listed as the No. 1 defensive end on the left side.

"He's a young man that plays with a great motor. He goes as hard as he can for as long as he can. He's starting to learn and understand the position better," Petrino said. "He earned the move up there to go with the first group."

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

       9 Comments

Posted by UTfan4life on May 8, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

yea arkansas, wont be a great team next year maybe 6-7 wins?

Posted by volboy81 on May 8, 2008 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

of course Arkansas wont be any good in the next few years...we dont play them!!!!

Posted by marc_ash on May 8, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I could understand posting this article if we played AK this season, but we don't. Surely you can find a better article than one about AK.

I also remember a Vols team last year that was pretty "inexperienced" at WR.

Posted by UTfan4life on May 8, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

march_ash

I agree, but they performed better than expected. Lucas Rogers 1,000 yards and Austin Rogers, our possesion receiver did nice as well.

Posted by GreerVol22 on May 8, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

With Dick at QB they should be standing tall, but without recievers they may limp to the bottom of the west.

marc_ash, KNs has to have writers and a editor to lead them, otherwise we get this plug and play stuff.

Adams....Future Hall of Famer.

Posted by knoxsingle on May 8, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Isn't everyone from Arkansas an experienced receiver?

Posted by sjt18 on May 9, 2008 at 4:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Nutt's departure from Arkansas was genius on his part. He got them to pay him a severence so he could leave the cupboard empty. They required no restrictions so he landed at Ole Miss... inheriting a much more talented team from Orgeron.

He couldn't have scripted it any better.

Posted by pdhuff on May 9, 2008 at 8:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Does anyone have any doubt we're in the doldrums now? An article on inexperienced Arkie WRs......

And we read it.....

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