FAYETTEVILLE — They say you play like you practice.
That may explain Dominique Reed's flat performance in Arkansas' loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.
Reed lost a fumble in the first half and had a dropped pass in the second half of the game. He was seldom-used after halftime, even on kickoff returns where he has been the starter all season.
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema indicated the performance was the result of a bad week in practice.
“We gave him a shot on Saturday even though I didn’t feel great about his preparation week,” Bielema said. “He’s a kid that has very, very special talents, but I don’t care if you’re as fast as Usain Bolt, if you’re not going to do things the way we ask you to do it, if you’re not going to hang onto the football, you’re not going to be on the field.
“The ball’s in his hands and hopefully he responds the right way this week.”
Reed was one of Arkansas' best playmakers last season after transferring from junior college. He scored seven touchdowns over a six-game stretch and finished the season with 28 catches for 535 yards.
He had receptions of 50 yards or more in four games, including against Alabama and LSU when he caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and outran the defense.
But coaches were critical of Reed during the off-season and indicated he needed to work on other areas of the position, such as blocking and ball security. Then he was slowed by an ankle injury.
Through four games, he has 4 receptions for 53 yards and 4 runs for 27 yards. He is averaging 18.1 yards per kickoff return.
Reed was not listed on the Razorbacks' two-deep roster at receiver for this week's game against Alcorn State, but is still listed as the team's kickoff return man.
"He's had opportunities the last couple of weeks to make plays and hasn't stepped up," offensive coordinator Dan Enos said. "He needs to do that in practice during the week and hopefully that will carry over into games."