Razorbacks Report
Democrat-Gazette Staff

Collins eyes return to field by midseason

During the spring, linebacker Shane Collins said he might be able to come back from reconstructive knee surgery and play by midseason.

That timeline still holds, Collins said Wednesday.

Collins, who was projected to be Arkansas’ starting middle linebacker, had surgery on the same knee twice in six months. "The summer has been real good," Collins said. "I can’t put a date on [playing], but I think it will be sometime around the middle of the season. I’m not going to push it, but I’d like to play."

Coming back too quickly from the first knee surgery is probably what caused the repaired ligament to tear again, Collins has said. Collins tore the anterior cruciate ligament last Sept. 22 in the game at Alabama and had surgery Oct. 11. He said he felt his knee pop while doing light drills in December. The new tear was discovered Feb. 5, and surgery was performed March 28. — Scott Cain Broyles makes appearance Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, 77, continues to make a quick comeback after undergoing prostate cancer surgery last Friday at the Mayo Clinic. "My doctors said that for recovery, I’m an all-star," Broyles said. Broyles attended football practice Tuesday after flying home from Rochester, Minn. There was no practice Wednesday because Arkansas held its annual media day, but Broyles was on hand for lunch and to greet reporters. "Free meal," Broyles said with a smile. "I couldn’t miss a free meal."

— Bob Holt Senior reserves out Injury-plagued tailback Andre Ackee will forgo his senior season after hurting his knee again, Coach Houston Nutt said. Seniors Harold Harris and Correy Muldrew did not regain their academic eligibility, a problem that also kept them out of spring practice. Senior receiver Gerald Howard, who missed the spring to work on academics, has returned to the team. Ackee came to Arkansas in the 1998 recruiting class from Little Rock McClellan, where he starred in football and set two state sprint records in track. A torn left anterior cruciate ligament ended his first season before it began, and he played sparingly in 1999 when he rushed six times for 17 yards. He tore his right ACL in a 2000 preseason scrimmage and returned last season but did not play. Harris and Muldrew also signed in the 1998 class, Harris as a tailback from Malvern and Muldrew as a receiver from Hope. Harris went to cornerback when he reported because Arkansas was thin there and he wanted to play quickly. He contributed regularly early in his career, but fell behind younger players after breaking his arm and missing the 2000 season and after having arthroscopic knee surgery and then a pulled hamstring before the 2001 season. Muldrew hung in with the receivers for four years but did not crack the playing rotation and never made a reception. — Scott Cain Media routs buffet Combine a free lunch catered by Penguin Ed’s Bar-B-Que with the chance to interview as many Arkansas football players and coaches as possible, and a good turnout is guaranteed. That was the case Wednesday when roughly 90 members of the media showed up for Arkansas’ annual media day. "It’s probably the biggest one we’ve had since Houston Nutt’s first year," said Kevin Trainor, Arkansas’ sports information director. Besides helping reporters gather information for preseason programs and publications, Trainor said media day also serves a purpose for the athletes. "I think even though the players have reported for practice, when they walk out and see all the media gathered here, they know the excitement is here, that the season is just around the corner," Trainor said.

— Rob Keys Four on watch list Tailback Fred Talley, right tackle Shawn Andrews, free safety Ken Hamlin and cornerback Lawrence Richardson have been named to the watch list for the Football Writers Association of America All-American team.

— Scott Cain Sacha’s spirit Sacha Lancaster’s eligibility may have expired last season, but his spirit lives on in the form of former roommate Mark Pierce. Lancaster became well-known for his ability to add and lose weight, depending on the position he was asked to play, and Pierce did something similar over the summer. Listed at 215 pounds as a freshman running back last season, Pierce is listed as a 240-pound fullback this season. Pierce said he actually gained 30 pounds following shoulder surgery in May, all in an effort to make the move to full-time fullback. "All I want to do is put Fred [Talley] and those guys in the end zone," Pierce said. "I want to be able to put linebackers on their back instead of just locking up with them." — Rob Keys Lancaster back on campus Sacha Lancaster, who played defensive end and fullback for the Razorbacks the previous four seasons and spent this summer playing on an Arena Football League team in Los Angeles, is back at Arkansas this fall to complete his business degree. Lancaster also will be a volunteer assistant coach in the weight room.

— Bob Holt