Decision close on Quad three

Smith: Status of banned players will be decided before fall camp

Arkansas Coach John L. Smith says he will decide before fall camp begins whether suspended players Marquel Wade, Maudrecus Humphrey and Andrew Peterson will be reinstated to the team.
Smith discusses bankruptcy proceedings, Page 5C.
Arkansas Coach John L. Smith says he will decide before fall camp begins whether suspended players Marquel Wade, Maudrecus Humphrey and Andrew Peterson will be reinstated to the team. Smith discusses bankruptcy proceedings, Page 5C.

— Arkansas Coach John L. Smith sounded skeptical Friday about the possibility of reinstating suspended players Marquel Wade, Maudrecus Humphrey and Andrew Peterson.

Smith acknowledged there is still a chance the players could make it back, but it appeared as if he and the program are preparing to move ahead without them.

“The only thing I can sayin that regard is right now they are not in the press guide,” Smith said before the Razorback Celebrity Scramble held by the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Club at the Bella Vista Country Club.“To report on them as individuals, I don’t really want to do that, but that will be solved.

“It will be solved one way or the other, by them, prior to camp.”

The three players are awaiting an Aug. 27 trial in Washington County Circuit Court after pleading innocent to three counts of Class B felony residential burglary and one count of Class D felony theft. Humphrey, Peterson and Wade were arrested by UA police May 12, accused of walking into dorm rooms and taking DVDs, laptop computers and other items valued at $4,817.

In the preliminary arrest report, UA police claim the players were identified by security video in the Northwest Quad dorms and by eyewitnesses accounts, and that they were arrested following an investigation of more than a week. UA police also claimed in the report that some of the stolen property was recovered from a local bookstore and some of it was located in Peterson’s suite in the Northwest Quad.

Smith said his plan with the players was to “give a kid every opportunity to correct the problem.” However, multiple sources in the program said the players have not been fully adhering to the required steps placed before them to earn reinstatement to the team, apart from the legal obstacles they face.

Receivers coach Kris Cinkovich talked Friday as if there are players who can fill the void in the receiving corps if Wade and Humphrey don’t make it back.

“We would move forward, and the guys that are here, that are in the program in good standing, we’re going to coach the heck out of them when it’s our time to do so,” Cinkovich said. “Actually, because we signed five receivers, we don’t feel like we’re short.

“They may be a little light on experience, but we can get that to them. That’s what August is for, and we’ll be fine.”

Neither Humphrey nor Peterson had made an impact for the Razorbacks offense, Wade was the team’s leading receiver in the spring, and his open-field skills and good hands from the slot position made him seem primed for a breakout year in 2012.

“Marquel is working out very hard on his own,” said Chad Atwell, a Fayetteville attorney representing Wade. “He has a very strong desire to remain a Razorback.

“At this point with the legal case, I still have not had an opportunity to fully view all of the discovery.”

The three players have not been allowed access to the team’s voluntary summer workouts, leaving them on their own to stay in shape.

There is a chance the players could accept a plea arrangement with the Washington County prosecuting attorney’s office in advance of their Aug. 27 trial date, which is four days before Arkansas’ season opener against Jacksonville State.

Smith sounded confident their standing with the team would be settled in the next few weeks, possibly before the Razorbacks’ appearance at SEC media days Wednesday, and almost certainly before the first day of fall camp Aug. 2.

Sports, Pages 19 on 07/14/2012

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