Finding a healthy quarterback falls on freshman Clark's ankle

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas began preseason practice with four scholarship quarterbacks.
Now the Razorbacks are hoping to have at least one, Zak Clark, healthy and ready for Saturday's game against Ole Miss.
Clark, a freshman from Fayetteville, appears in line to get his first start because redshirt sophomore Robby Hampton -- the 24-year-old former minor league baseball player who has started Arkansas' first seven games -- is considered doubtful for the game.
Hampton, who throws right-handed, suffered a sprained right shoulder in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 21-19 loss at Auburn.
"I couldn't believe it," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said of Hampton's injury, which added further misery to an injury-plagued season for the Razorbacks. "When he told me he couldn't go, I said, 'You've got to be kidding. Not now.'
"That was a tough one."
Hampton wasn't able to lift his right arm above his head on Sunday.
"I guess we'll see how Robby's rehab comes along, but I imagine I'll get most of the snaps [in practice] this week," Clark said. "If Robby comes back, that's great, but I'm going to prepare like I'll be the starter."
Clark was limited in practice the last two weeks because of a sprained ankle, and Nutt had hoped he wouldn't have to play Clark at Auburn. But when Hampton went down with the Razorbacks trailing 21-14, Clark was forced into action.
Clark is the Razorbacks' only other available scholarship quarterback because junior Jared McBride suffered a season-ending knee injury at South Carolina and Gary Brashears, who would been a sophomore this season, quit after the first practice in August and transferred to Tulsa.
The quarterbacks behind Clark are sophomore walk-on Chris Link and redshirt freshman walk-on Dowell Loggains.
"I've never seen anything like it, but it's just one of those years," Clark said of the Razorbacks' injury woes at quarterback. "I think we've shown people we can play with the good teams.
"We should have beaten Auburn. We've still got life. We've just got to fight through it."
Clark played a combined 11 snaps on four series against Auburn. His only completion in seven attempts was a screen pass to tailback Fred Talley that went for 41 yards and set up a field goal. Clark's last two passes, after Arkansas had forced a punt and recovered a fumble, were intercepted.
"I felt like I threw the ball well, I just didn't throw it to the right places," Clark said. "I went in there and I made some bad reads, but that's something you can fix.
"I wish it would have been different, I wish I would have made the right reads. But I didn't, and I can learn from those mistakes."
Nutt said the first play he wanted to call with Clark was a sprint out, but Clark said he couldn't run it because of his ankle.
"The problem was, he was pretty good in warm-ups, but then you sit for almost a whole game, that's hard now," Nutt said. "Your ankle gets stiff ... you could tell he couldn't put any weight on it."
Nutt said he talked to Clark after the game about not blaming himself for the loss.
"He's such a competitor, I wanted to make sure he understood there's no way that was his fault, absolutely no way," Nutt said. "You're [coming in] cold, it's the last few plays, you're out there trying to make a good decision.
"I understand. I've been there," added Nutt, who played quarterback at Arkansas and Oklahoma State.
Clark has played in three games and completed 10 of 24 passes for 137 yards with 3 interceptions. His most extensive playing time was at South Carolina, where he completed 7 of 12 passes for 79 yards before spraining his right ankle.
Nutt said Clark will "learn miles and miles" from the Auburn game and that he's not concerned Clark, whose father is longtime Arkansas baseball assistant Doug Clark, will lose confidence after he struggled against the Tigers.
"I would worry, except he's a coach's son, and I know that he won't lose confidence," Nutt said. "He's got a lot of backbone in him."
Clark agreed the Auburn game won't affect his confidence.
"It's not like I don't understand things," he said, "because I understand what we have to do."
Clark estimated Sunday that his ankle is about 75 percent healthy. Nutt said he hopes that by Tuesday when Arkansas resumes practice, Clark will be "around 90 percent, getting close to 100. ... If we can just get him back close to 100 percent, he'll be fine."

This article was published on Monday, October 30, 2000

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