Petrino: UA linebacker to play against Alabama

— Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said linebacker Jerry Franklin deserved to be ejected from last Saturday's loss to Georgia, but that the sophomore is expected to start in this week's game at No. 3 Alabama.

Franklin was thrown out of the Razorbacks' 52-41 loss to Georgia early in the second quarter. Following the return of an interception by Arkansas safety Tr a m a i n Thomas, Franklin received two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for - replays showed - pushing the face masks of two Georgia players who had gotten in his face.

Franklin then brushed into an official. The Razorbacks were assessed two 15-yard penalties, and Franklin was ejected, by rule, on the spot.

"He should have been ejected," Petrino said at his Monday news conference. "When you look at the video, he did bump into the official, and that is an ejection from the game.

"It doesn't carry over into the next game, so he will play against Alabama, and the discipline from that will be kept in-house."

SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said the conference office was well aware of the Franklin incident.

"We've reviewed tape and there will be no suspension," Bloom wrote in an e-mail exchange with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Franklin led Arkansas with 87 tackles as a redshirt freshman last season. He had one tackle against the Bulldogs before his ejection at the 14:28 mark of the second quarter, and ranks 11th on the team with six stops.

Georgia targeted Franklin's backup, true freshman Terrell Williams, after the ejection and pulled off some big plays. One of them was an 80-yard touchdown run to Williams' side of the field on the series following Franklin's departure.

"Jerry Franklin's situation certainly hurt our football team, when he got removed from the game," Petrino said. "That hurt us. He's a guy that makes a lot of the calls out there on the field, and that's something that really hurt us."

Asked if Franklin would regain his starting position, Petrino said, "Yes, I would imagine that he'll start.

"We have other situations that come up in games where we have discipline that goes on during the week of practice, but they still play in games."

Sports, Pages 13, 18 on 09/22/2009

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