FAYETTEVILLE — To fully appreciate Greg Childs' start to the 2009 season, including two touchdown catches against Georgia, you must go b a c k i n time.
Go back to the spring, when Childs, a sophomore receive r at Arkansas, was down and troubled.
He had a bout with pneumonia that shelved him for a while in spring drills, a beloved grandmother was fighting a battle with leukemia in south Arkansas that she would eventually lose, and Childs was seemingly having doubts about being at Arkansas.
"He had things not going real well for him in the classroom, not going real well for him on the practice field," Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said, recalling the situation.
So Gregory and Carla Childs made the drive up from Warren to check on their son.
"I had pneumonia, so I didn't have the chance to really practice spring ball," Childs said. "I practiced maybe one full week. My parents came up, and we talked to the head coach and talked about me."
Said Petrino: "Greg found out how much we really care for him and love him and really want him on our team."
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said nearly every player has times when life is hard.
"Some guys go through it the summer before camp, some guys go through it the second semester," he said. "The guys that can fight through those hard times are the ones who end up being real successful.
"He had a hard time at one time in spring ball, but he fought through it. He stuck with it. I thought his parents were real strong. They came down here and gave him a little hard love and made him fight through it."
It didn't hurt that Jarius Wright, Childs' high school teammate at Warren, also had a heart-to-heart talk with Childs.
"Since we are so close, I put it straight to him," said Wright, who is No. 1 in the SEC in receiving yards per game with 123.5. Childs is No. 2 at 95. "I basically told him, 'Quit being a baby, man, and just toughen up and come on. It's hard for us all. We've just got to go out and do it every day. It's not going to get any easier. You're going to do the same thing anywhere else.You might as well stay and work hard here.'
"I think it paid off."
Childs recovered from the pneumonia well enough to catch two touchdown passes in the Red-White game last spring.
"He's grown," senior receiver Lucas Miller said. "It's nice to see him grow up in a year."
His work over the summer even drew praise from strength and conditioning coach Jason Veltkamp, who described him as "almost freakishly explosive" while extolling Childs' strength and a vertical jump that was measured at 40-plus inches.
Childs played like a man-possessed in the opener against Missouri State, dragging several defenders a few extra yards on a 12-yard catch and run down to the 1 in the fourth quarter.
Against Georgia, Childs made a full-speed diving catch for a 30-yard touchdown that put Arkansas ahead 21-10 in the first quarter. Later, he caught a deep fade from Ryan Mallett, cut inside a defender, then stiff-armed Brandon Boykin the final 10 yards for a 40-yard touchdown catch midway in the third quarter.
Childs finished the game with a career-best 140 yards on five receptions.
"You could see what Greg can do in a big-time game,"Mallett said. "He can go up high and get the ball, and he's strong and athletic. You can see what he can do against the best teams in the SEC."
Childs was reluctant to talk about his doubts in the spring, choosing instead to look forward.
"I came out this summer, had a good camp and was ready to play, ready to make plays for the team so we could go win," Childs said.
Overcoming his struggles has paid off handsomely for the Hogs' offense.
"Definitely, that's been a great blessing for all of us," Paul Petrino said, "because he's playing real well right now."
Sports, Pages 23, 28 on 09/25/2009