TAT: Hines Set to Return Against Bulldogs

This article originally appeared on November 18, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

The Arkansas football team will have one of its starting corners back in the lineup Saturday morning when the Razorbacks square off against Mississippi State in Little Rock.

Sophomore Will Hines broke his arm during the Oct. 5 game at No. 18 Florida and has missed the last four games. Despite Hines tweeting that his season was over after the injury, head coach Bret Bielema said he would play against the Bulldogs.

“I don’t know if Hines will start, but he’ll definitely play,” Bielema said in his weekly Monday press conference. “He looked really good in practice last week.”

Hines’ return could not come soon enough, as Arkansas has struggled defending the pass during its seven-game losing streak.

In the Razorbacks’ last four games, without Hines, opponents have completed 71.7 percent of their passes for 250.3 yards per game and 10 touchdowns.

Mississippi State has played three different quarterbacks in its last two games, so Arkansas is unsure who will be under center Saturday, Bielema said.

Senior Tyler Russell and sophomore Dak Prescott have started four and six games for the Bulldogs, respectively. Russell has completed 65.4 percent of his passes, compared to Prescott’s 58.4 completion percentage.

However, Prescott has 1,542 passing yards and seven passing touchdowns, both of which are twice as many as Russell. Prescott also leads the Bulldogs with 722 rushing yards.

Prescott suffered an injury Nov. 9 against Texas A&M, so Russell started at quarterback against No. 1 Alabama Saturday. Prescott’s status is considered “day-to-day.”

Freshman Damian Williams has appeared in three games this season, including finishing the game against the Crimson Tide, when Russell was injured in the fourth quarter.

“Whoever plays, they’re going to be good,” Bielema said. “The game plan doesn’t change too much.”

Offensively, Arkansas needs to “eradicate the things that have caused us to lose,” Bielema said. This includes eliminating turnovers and becoming more efficient on third downs and in the red zone.

The Razorbacks have struggled in one or more of these areas in each of their seven losses, including converting only three out of 12 third downs against Ole Miss.

Off the field, Bielema hasn’t had negative experiences with any of his players, but he said that some of them would not be back next season. Redshirt freshman cornerback Ray Buchanan, Jr. is one of these players and has been granted a release, Bielema said.

Several other players will also be granted transfers in the next couple of weeks because they are not “where they want to be depth-wise or they can’t meet the standard” set for them by the coaching staff, Bielema said.

Kickoff is set for 11:21 a.m. Saturday and the game will air nationally on SEC TV.