FAYETTEVILLE — Joe Adams wasn’t discouraged when his 62-yard punt return for a touchdown at Georgia earlier season this was called back by a blocking-in-the back penalty.
“I’ll get another one,” Adams said.
Adams made good on that prediction Saturday, when he had a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown to help Arkansas beat Ole Miss 38-24 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“Joe’s the human highlight reel,” Arkansas defensive end Jake Bequette said. “He’s pretty incredible.”
Adams said he was expressing confidence in himself and the punt return squad, not being boastful with his prediction after the Georgia game.
“I knew I was going to get me another [touchdown] this year before it was all said and done,” Adams said. “We worked on it hard this week, and the guys blocked it up well.
“The rest, I was just running.”
Adams ran into the Arkansas record book, breaking a 47-year-old school mark set by Ken Hatfield, who had a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown in the Razorbacks’ 56-7 victory over Tulsa on Oct. 28, 1963.
Adams’ return also tied for the fifth-longest in SEC history, equaling the returns of Florida’s Hal Griffin in 1946 against Miami and Kentucky’s Dicky Lyon against Houston in 1966.
The SEC record is 100 yards, held by three players, the last being LSU’s Eddie Kennison against Mississippi State in 1994.
Adams, a junior receiver from Little Rock, ranks sixth nationally in punt returning with a 19.2-yard average.
Hatfield, who coached Arkansas to a 55-17-1 record from 1984-1989, was among the fans at Razorback Stadium on Saturday and he spoke excitedly about Adams’ return when contacted after the game.
“That was a thing of beauty to watch,” Hatfield said. “I think what you saw is that if Joe gets some help from his teammates, he’s got the speed and ability to go all the way.”
Hatfield said he didn’t realize until someone told him later that Adams had broken his school record.
“Hey, that’s great,” Hatfield said. “I’m tickled to death for Joe and the team.”
Before this season during a Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club luncheon, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino promised Hatfield - who was in the audience - the Razorbacks would score a touchdown on a punt return for him.
“I remember that well, and I appreciated Bobby saying it,” Hatfield said. “I’m just really happy for all of the Razorbacks with how it happened, because that was a big part of a great win over Ole Miss.”
Tyler Campbell, the Rebels’ sophomore punter from Little Rock Catholic, boomed a 62-yard punt that had Adams backing up to the Arkansas 3 to field over his shoulder.
“It’s like when a guy takes a three-pointer 5 feet behind the line,” Petrino said, using a basketball analogy. “You go ‘No,no, no, nice shot.’ That’s kind of what you’re doing there.
“You go, ‘Joe, no, no, no’ and then he made a great play and a great run.”
Adams, whose touchdown in the second quarter put Arkansas ahead 21-0, said he had no idea he had drifted back so close to the Razorbacks’ end zone to field the punt.
“I was still watching the ball,” he said. “It was a pretty good kick.
“Usually when the ball passes the 10, you’re supposed to let it go. But I didn’t know I was that far down the field and I just caught it.”
What Hatfield noticed was that Campbell’s kick was so deep there were no Rebels within 20 yards of Adams.
“You could see Joe had a lot of running room,” Hatfield said. “The main thing was to concentrate on catching the ball cleanly, which he did, and then go from there.”
Adams became the first Razorback to return a punt for a touchdown since 2003, when Marvin Jackson had a 73-yarder against New Mexico State.
Along the way Adams picked up several key blocks, most notably a crushing hit by Jarius Wright on Campbell.
“It feels good to score,” Adams said. “But I wouldn’t have gotten that feeling without the other 10 guys on the team.”
It’s a feeling Hatfield understands well. He scored five touchdowns on punt returns for the Razorbacks from 1962-1964, most famously on an 81-yard return in Arkansas’ 14-13 victory at Texas in 1964.
“Now that Joe has scored a touchdown, it’s going to give him and everyone else on the punt return team that much more confidence,” Hatfield said. “And it’s going to give them even more motivation to keep working hard in practice so they can do it again.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 10/25/2010