Recovered, Luigs Returns To Practice

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs returned to practice Thursday after missing the past two days because of a stomach virus that left him feeling weak.

"It's good to be back out here. The last two days I wasn't where I really wanted to be," Luigs said. "I wanted to be out here, grinding with my teammates and (being) a leader on the offense for them.

"But everybody gets sick."

Luigs participated in the entire practice Thursday afternoon, though he said he sat out around 3-5 plays. But he admitted he felt much better than he had earlier this week.

The junior missed practice Tuesday and Wednesday because of the stomach virus, and Arkansas' coaches didn't want to rush him back out of fear that he could get other players sick.

"It was just one of those deals where you're weak," Luigs said. "You didn't really want to be out here practicing."

In Luigs' absence, senior Robert Felton moved over from his usual offensive guard position to fill in for Luigs at center.

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt commended Felton on his ability to play both offensive line positions, but he admitted it was good getting his starting center back.

"You could tell he'd been gone a couple of days," Nutt said of Luigs. "But he did a really nice job."



Charting

Nutt said he intends to release the depth chart today for next Saturday's season opener against Troy University in Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Most positions have been sorted out, but there are a still a few spots -- like deep snapper -- that are still up in the air after nearly three weeks of practice.

Nutt said he hasn't decided yet on whether freshman Rhett Richardson or redshirt freshman Barrett Reynolds will open the season as the deep snapper.

"We're going to talk about that again tonight and tomorrow, and look at film one more day," Nutt said. "But it's real close between those two guys."



Going Indoors

The Razorbacks opened Thursday's practice outside, but they went in the team's indoor facility for the second half of the practice.

Nutt said he brought the players indoors, in part because they had looked good over the past few days. Players practiced in shoulder and thigh pads during the approximately 90-minute practice.