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Peavey gets fair treatment from Bielema

Rafe Peavey, a quarterback from Bolivar, Mo., answers questions during a National Signing Day ceremony Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, at the university's football complex.
Rafe Peavey, a quarterback from Bolivar, Mo., answers questions during a National Signing Day ceremony Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, at the university's football complex.

It was probably more the right thing to do than anything else.

Sunday, 13 days before the Arkansas Razorbacks opener with Louisiana Tech, Bret Bielema privately named redshirt freshman quarterback Ty Storey as the backup to Austin Allen.

Storey, a four-star recruit out of Charleston, had beat out redshirt sophomore Rafe Peavey, who was a four-star dual-threat recruit out of Bolivar, Mo.

Sunday night, Peavey informed Bielema he was going to transfer.

Since classes didn't start until Monday, Peavey could transfer immediately and sit only one year. Had he gone to a single class on the first day of the semester, he would have had to sit an extra year.

After meeting with Peavey, Bielema immediately got on the phone to help him find a place he could play, and Monday it was announced that landing spot would be SMU. Arkansas' head coach had tried Big 12 and Big Ten schools, but with the fall workouts past the midway spot, there was not much interest.

SMU is in the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs were 2-10 last season and 1-7 in league play.

Peavey had some issues with injuries but was the consummate team player. From the time he committed to the Razorbacks, he tried to talk other players into joining him in Fayetteville.

What he wanted was a new start at a school where he had a chance to play, and most athletes want to be on the field playing the game.

So what little quarterback controversy there was at the UA was mostly around who the backup quarterback would be, and now that has been lessened, although Storey will split snaps with true freshman Cole Kelley, a 6-7 man-child who Bielema said may have the livest arm of all the Arkansas quarterbacks.

In fact, Bielema was very complimentary of the freshman at the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting Monday, and he stopped short of saying whether Kelley would be redshirted. He will travel with the team.

Monday, Bielema did name a few freshmen who were going to be counted on this season, and as expected, none were on the offensive line.

Quarterbacks have been a big focus across the SEC since last season, as only five schools return a starter or part-time starter.

Bielema took controversy out of the equation for his starting quarterback when he named Allen the starter coming out of spring drills, and he never has wavered.

Allen has to fill the shoes of his older brother, Brandon, who developed into a very good quarterback as a Razorback, so good that little brother got very little playing time.

As a redshirt freshman, Austin Allen did complete 8 of 16 passes for 153 yards and rushed for a touchdown during mop-up time in four games and when Brandon was injured against Ole Miss.

Last season, he attempted only three passes, and the lone completion was a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Sprinkle.

Allen obviously worked hard in the offseason and was a counselor at the prestigious Manning camp.

This month, he has separated himself even more and looked sharp in scrimmages, leaving the only question as to who would be his backup.

Bielema and his staff made that decision after Saturday's scrimmage and informed Peavey he was not the backup Sunday.

Peavey did the right thing for himself and his future. He's a player who wants to play and waiting two more years while Allen is the starter and then hoping to win the job for just one year didn't appeal to him.

Bielema helped find him a new home and the end result was a seamless transfer that was handled with class by all involved.

Sports on 08/25/2016

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