FAYETTEVILLE — This isn’t the way Knile Davis expected things to be for himself and the Arkansas football team going into tonight’s game against Rutgers.
After missing last season with a broken ankle, Davis anticipated a return to his 2010 form, when he rushed for 1,322 yards and helped lead the Razorbacks to the Sugar Bowl. Davis was a preseason All-SEC first team pick in July, when he traveled to New York and Bristol, Conn., along with quarterback Tyler Wilson, to do a round of interviews with national media outlets.
But instead of launching a Heisman Trophy campaign, Davis is tied for 13th in the SEC in rushing with Alabama freshman T.J. Yeldon with an average of 63.7 yards per game. Both have gained 191 yards in three games, but Yeldon is averaging 6.4 yards on 30 carries compared to Davis’ 3.5 on 54.
Davis had four fumbles, and lost two, in No. 1 Alabama’s 52-0 victory over the Razorbacks last week, when he was held to 59 yards on 20 rushing attempts as Arkansas fell to 1-2 with Wilson sidelined as he continued to recover from a concussion.
“Feels like we’re in hell right now,” Davis tweeted Monday. “We just have to find a way out ... and we will ... gotta take the good and the bad that’s part of life!!!”
Davis, a redshirt junior and team captain, was asked Tuesday about the tweet.
“Just down right now, but we’ve got to find a way to get back up,” he said. “The only way to me is to win, so we’ve got to get a win.”
Having Wilson back in the starting lineup tonight after he was medically cleared should help, but the Razorbacks could use a strong performance from Davis, too.
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino called out Davis this week and issued a challenge.
“He needs to make a big play for us early in the game,” Petrino said. “Our best players, those are the guys that have got to take the team and put them on their back and go make a big play and win.That’s their job.”
Petrino pounded his fist on a podium for emphasis.
“That’s what I do as a great player,” Petrino said. “I go make great plays and will my team to victory.”
Davis said he’s in total agreement with Petrino.
“I need to do something,” he said. “I just need to lead this team to the promised land, that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Davis said he can do a better job of doing “the little things” the right way. He called his fumbles against Alabama last week in the rain disappointing mental mistakes that he needs to avoid repeating. Davis didn’t have any contact last spring and in preseason practices he wasn’t tackled until a week before the opener, and then only for a handful of plays.Maybe it’s just taking Davis time to feel like his old self again, but Petrino said Davis doesn’t have any physical limitations holding him back.
“I think it’s just time to go out and do it,” Petrino said.
Arkansas Coach John L. Smith said a player who missed a season because of injury needs time to get back in a comfort zone and that the Razorbacks also must do a better job blocking for Davis.
“I think he’s starting to get confidence in the fact that not only can I take a hit, I can deliver a hit,” Smith said. “He’s starting to deliver some blows and be the Knile that you saw a couple of years back. I think he’s getting better each week.”
Davis rushed 14 times for 80 yards in the first half of the opener against Jacksonville State, but since then he has 43 carries for 111 yards - a 2.6-yard average. That includes being tackled for an 11-yard loss by Jacksonville State defensive tackle Dimetrio Tyson on his first carry of the second half.
“I think he’s a dangerous back,” Rutgers Coach Kyle Flood said. “I don’t know that he’s gotten the at-bats that he wants to carry the ball. If you talk to a tailback, every one of them wants to run the ball a significant amount of times every game.”
Davis’ longest run this season was a 19-yard gain against Louisiana-Monroe in Week 2. He said breaking longer runs and gaining plus yards consistently will take better all-around play from the offense.
“We need to execute,” he said.
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/22/2012