Freshman Breeding earns starting spot

Posted: September 4, 2009 at 6:19 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Junior college transfer/former University of Hawaii punter Briton Forester has more experience, but it was true freshman Dylan Breeding who punted better during the Razorbacks' preseason practices that media could attend from Aug. 6 to Aug. 22.

Apparently that didn't change during the closed-to-media practices that followed, and Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino took note.

Breeding, the walk-on who kicked at Hoover (Ala.) High will bethe Razorbacks' punter starting in Saturday's 6 p.m. pay-per-view televised season opener against the Missouri State Bears in Little Rock.

"We're going to start Breeding," Petrino said after the Hogs practiced Thursday. "He'll be our first guy out there to punt. I like them both, [Breeding] had a little bit better last two weeks, more consistent and got more hang time. We're going throw him out there in the fire and see how he does."

Sophomore punt returner/wide receiver Joe Adams returned to practice after a couple of days' setback last week with a sore hamstring.

"He did real well today," Petrino said. " He was full speed, ran down the field, made a lot of good catches. He will be ready to go. He is ready to return punts." Secret plan

Petrino was asked about the final pregame practice of Ryan Mallett, the Arkansas-born, third-year sophomore transfer quarterback from the University of Michigan debut starting Saturday as a Razorback.

"He's had a good week. He's done a nice job. He's ready to play. It's time to go play and show it in a game. I couldn't be more happy with his preparation. He understands exactly what we want to do."

Petrino said he has a plan when to insert second-year freshman backup quarterback Tyler Wilson.

"I've got a plan, yeah," Petrino said, "but I'm not telling you." Tricky reactions

Since Missouri State, a division below Arkansas, is a heavy underdog, does Petrino anticipate the Bears to gamble with some trick plays?

"Yeah, you do. And we spent some time yesterday in practice," Petrino said. "We had a period of special plays where the defense defended, tried to give them all the different special plays, reverse, reverse pass, throwback to the quarterback, throw back to the running back, all the things you have to be concerned about.

"The main thing is you have to react to them. We don't want to sit around and look for them. We want to play fast and then just react and go full speed. The biggest thing on defense is to see the ball and play fast and go get it."

Petrino said the offense also needs to be ready for some surprises from the Bears' defense.

"I told the coaches they're going to give us something that we have not practiced," Petrino said. "What that is, I'm not sure. But they're definitely going to give us something that we haven't spent a lot of time practicing. We've got to do a great job of seeing it, making the adjustments and going from there."

Missouri State coach Terry Allen, formerly the head coach at Kansas,and Petrino have crossed paths before when Petrino assisted at Idaho and Allen coached Northern Iowa.

However, their respective staffs apparently couldn't connect on a nationwide sportsmanship initiative by American Football Coaches Association executivedirector Grant Teaff. The retired Baylor coach has pushes for all teams to have a ceremonial preg a m e h a n d s h a k e f o r their season openers.

" We have not been able to make contact with them," Petrino said. "So I'm not sure if we're doing it or not. I didn't know we had a problem with sportsmanship. I feel like there's been great sportsmanship in college football. I'm not sure what the point is."

Sports, Pages 7, 8 on 09/04/2009

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