Hogs O-line prepares to battle Tide's 'Big guy'

— It's not bulletin board material to say Arkansas' interior offensive line wants a piece of Terrence Cody.

That's because Arkansas center Seth Oxner and guards Grant Cook and Mitch Petrus will get a load of Cody whether they want a piece of him or not.

As the listed 6-5, 354-pound Preseason All-American nose tackle in Alabama's 3-4 defense, Cody posesan overlapping challenge. It's a challenge bound to overlap the efforts Oxner, Cook and Petrus and their backups when the Razorbacks (1-1, 0-1 in the SEC West) visit the nationally third-ranked defending SEC West champion Crimson Tide, 3-0, 0-0, in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. CBS televised game in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

"He obviously is a massive guy and eats up blockers," Arkansas offensive line coach Mike Summers said. "He forces you to put two blockers on him."

At 6-4, 315, fifth-year senior Petrus of Carlisle isn't accustomed to being the little man in a football fight.

"We don't have anybody on the offensive line that's 360," Petrus said, "so we are going to have to make sure we use good technique and come off the ball. You can't go in there and be scared and freaked out. You can't let him dictate where you go."

But you can't bank on out-quicking him to get there first.

"He's 6-5, 360 or something like that," Cook, a 6-4, 322 third-year sophomore from Jonesboro said. "But he can really move."

But the Hogs must move him, Oxner, the 6-4, 315 third-year sophomore from Monticello said, and sometimes without help. The Tide has too many top defenders not to account for them while tied up with Cody.

"He's a big guy but we're big guys, too," Oxner said. "It will be a battle. I have confidence in every single one of us by ourselves to move him. You just have to hunker down and block him."

Cody's presence makes all the bigger Arkansas' main offensive problem to date. It's hard to complain about an offense scoring 89 points in two games as the Hogs have in a 44-10 rout of Missouri State and 52-41 SEC loss to Georgia, but the Hogs have really struggled on the goal-line.

"Always a struggle under any conditions," Petrus said. "It's just a big cluster," he said of everybody's typical fourth and one. "I'm telling you, man. It's just abig, blobby mess."

While getting the best of Arkansas, 49-14 last year in Fayetteville, the Tide also got the best of Arkansas on a goal-line stand.

"It ain't a good feeling," Petrus said of getting denied on the goal-line. "Whoever wins that feels like the more dominant force because it's man among men down there. We have got to go get it done. We have a lot of things going good for us, but we have got to hone in on that."

Michael Smith, the Hogs' senior 5-7, 172 Preseason All-SEC tailback, was asked if he got hit by Cody during his 19 totes for 91 yards against the Tide last year.

"I got hit so many times," Smith said, "I'm sure everybody got a piece of me. We just have got to do what we've got to do to keep him blocked and get around him."

Offensively, coming off quarterback Ryan Mallett's Razorback recordsetting 408 passing yards and five touchdown passes against Georgia, the Hogs wax considerably more confident going into this Alabama game than last year's Alabama game.

Especially knowing they haven't begun to scratch the surface in the running game. The running game wasn't needed when the Hogs jumped Missouri State early, and then Smith missed nearly the whole first quarterafter injuring a shoulder catching an 18-yard Mallett pass the first play against Georgia. Smith only has 12 carries for two games.

Last year he consecutively carried 35 times against Auburn and Kentucky.

"I am not going to sit back and cry about it," Smith said. "Those are just the cards that I have been dealt. I know things will turn around and there will be games I have a heavy workload and there may be games I won't have such a heavy workload. As long as we get the win, then it will be worth it."

Arkansas backup defensive end Damario Ambrose practiced Tuesday afternoon afterposting a $464 bond on a misdemeanor charge of failure to appear.

A bench warrant was issued in February for Ambrose after he failed to appear in city court in Johnson to tend to a speeding ticket issued Jan. 7.

Ambrose was arrested Tuesday morning by Fayetteville police. He awaits an Oct. 5 court date.

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino was not available to media after Tuesday's practice, but given cornerback Ramon Broadway played against Missouri State after a misdemeanor failure to appear charge, presumably Ambrose will play against Alabama.

Sports, Pages 7, 8 on 09/23/2009

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