HOG CALLS : Size matters to Petrino, Hogs

Posted: August 11, 2009 at 6:14 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Since Bobby Petrino doesn't necessarily equate his team captains with seniors, maybe the Arkansas coach should go whole Hog.

For the Razorbacks, Sept.

5 opener with Missouri State in Little Rock, why not send out true freshmen Colton Nash, Alvin Bailey, Anthony Oden for the coin toss?

Maybe those rookies might be on the bench redshirting when the game kicks off. But their picture perfect 6-4 to 6-8 frames would have most any opposing group of captains muttering if taking an exit could become a coin flip option.

They are part of a tall freshman/JC transfer new-comers class that causes most to look up to them.

And that's no accident, says Petrino, the coach who asserts his growing up short only adds to him coveting players standing tall.

"I always like a good big guy," Petrino said. "If you want to get bigger and longer, recruit bigger and longer guys."

Size matters, Petrino said not only in football heft, but especially on defense in football length. Long arms often grasp what short arms can't when it comes to sacking quarterbacks, deflecting passes or reaching a fumble.

And you don't even necessarily have to be tall for the length that Petrino longs.

For instance coveted super fast freshman cornerback David Gordon stands up looking just average.

Until he spreads his wings.

"I think David Gordon is 5-11," said Garrick McGee, the assistant who recruited Gordon out of Tulsa's East Central High. "We measured him at a wingspan of 6-foot-5. He's one of the fastest people in the country so once he learns to play the position, we think he can beone of the best in the SEC."

Petrino believes the pool of tall football players swells deeper because basketball is getting too tall for some tall guys who otherwise choose it over football.

"Used to be 6-6 was a post guy," Petrino said.

"Now he's a point guard. So a lot of 6-6 guys now see maybe my best opportunity is to play football."

Petrino said he tells his coaches to look for length when they hit the recruiting trail and that he gives them "a hard time" when they come back coveting somebody that won't necessarily be eye-catching on a football eye chart.

He says he give them a hard time but not always a mandatory thumbs down.

A good thing, that. The tall, long, chiseled athlete would seem the way to go over the short, stubby one, but there's a reason why one of the oldest scouting reports in the books is "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane."

Besides, just take a look at this Arkansas team that second-year coach Petrino and his staff are lengthening and bulking.

Their only consensus first-team All-SEC player, stands 5-7 or maybe less.

But nobody says Michael Smith doesn't measure up.

Arkansas's mighty mite, and a team captain alongwith fellow seniors Adrian Davis, Wendel Davis and Malcolm Sheppard, junior offensive tackle DeMarcus Love and third-year sophomore first-team quarterback Ryan Mallett, netted 1,000 rushing yards last year in just 10 games. He was voted first-team All-SEC both by the league's media and 12 head football coaches.

Oh, regarding any of the incoming true scholarship freshmen redshirting, Petrino tells them all to report prepared to play and then they'll sort their readiness and team needs and sort what's best.

Generally, what's best is for the freshman offensive linemen to redshirt.

Alvin Bailey of Broken Arrow, Okla. may be an exception. The 6-4, 325-pound son of West Helena native and former Razorback basketball walkon Alvin Bailey Sr. has been operating at second-team guard since the second day of preseason.

"Young Alvin Bailey is going to be a great player," Petrino said. "The biggest decision on us for him is do we try and redshirt him or play him. Because he is going to be an exceptional player before it's over with."

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times

Sports, Pages 9, 10 on 08/11/2009

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