Bad news just got worse for a team that didn’t need anymore of it.
That’s because the Arkansas Razorbacks- one of the most injury plagued teams in college football this year, and fresh off a 38-14 beat down in Tuscaloosa- have just announced that star defensive end Tenarius Wright will miss four to six weeks with a broken arm.
This from Arkansas star beat writer Robbie Neiswanger’s Twitter account:
Petrino says DE Tenarius Wright is out with a broken arm. Underwent surgery yesterday — he’s out 4 to 6 weeks.
For anyone who did themselves the disservice of watching the Arkansas-Alabama game, this news isn’t totally surprising, as Wright went out, gripping his arm early in the first quarter on Saturday and did not return. His presence was sorely missed though, as Alabama had no problem running the ball on Arkansas, finishing Saturday’s game with 196 yards on the ground, including 126 from Trent Richardson. While Wright obviously wouldn’t have stopped Richardson alone, had he stayed in the game least he would’ve helped. Wright finished 2010 with eight tackles for loss and six sacks, and was having another excellent year as a junior in 2011.
But while the news isn’t surprising, it is crushing for a team who is watching their SEC West hopes go up in smoke with one damning injury after another.
This whole ball of wax got rolling in the preseason when All-SEC caliber running back Knile Davis was lost for the year due to an ankle injury in practice. The junior had rushed for over 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, proving to be a surprisingly effective compliment to a pass-heavy attack led by Ryan Mallett (and that was subsequently taken over by Tyler Wilson this year). Another All-SEC caliber player (and the guy who lined up on the opposite side of Wright at defensive end), Jake Bequette, also missed Saturday’s game with an injury as well. His status for Saturday’s game with Texas A&M is unknown.
And speaking of Texas A&M, this news on Wright couldn’t have come at a worse possible time. The Razorbacks get their old-time SWC rival in Dallas on Saturday, before jumping full-bore into SEC play. However if they can survive the A&M game, Arkansas should actually be ok without Wright. Following their trip to Dallas, they get Auburn at home, a bye and back-to-back trips to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks will likely be favored in all three of those games, and the hope is that by the end of that stretch, Wright will be back. Still, if we’ve learned anything over the years, there are no guarantees at all in the SEC. Especially on the road, where the Razorbacks will play two of those three games.
But really this injury just speaks to how tough of a season it has been for Bobby Petrino’s bunch. This was a group which entered the season with so many expectations (here at Crystal Ball Run, we had them ranked No. 8), but just can’t seem to avoid the injury bug. Maybe more importantly it shows that while strides have been and the talent has been upgraded in Petrino’s tenure, the Hogs still aren’t anywhere near as deep as their SEC West rivals Alabama and LSU. While their front line starters may have been able to go toe to toe with the Crimson Tide and others, so far, their backups haven’t proven nearly as effective. With Bequette out and Wright injured on Saturday, the Hogs got next to no pass rush on the Crimson Tide.
Still, all is not lost for Arkansas. They’ll get a chance to redeem themselves against Texas A&M on Saturday.
Follow Aaron Torres on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.
