Injuries Slow Norton, Gregory and Tuck

FAYETTEVILLE — A few Arkansas football players continued to be slowed by spring injuries Tuesday.

Cornerback Jerell Norton (hamstring), running back Chip Gregory (ankle) and receiver Crosby Tuck (quadriceps muscle) missed practice time as the second week of Arkansas’ practice began.

Norton has been sidelined since injuring his hamstring the second day of practice. Gregory has been slowed by an ankle injury he suffered last Saturday. Tuck suffered his leg injury before Sunday’s scrimmage.

“It’s disappointing for them because they’re trying to get into the depth (chart) and get starting jobs and obviously we’d love to see them,” coach Bobby Petrino said. “But I’ve took the philosophy, get the next guy in there and move on. We’ve got to get them to step up.”

Petrino said Gregory’s injury — which occurred during run drills — looked like a prototypical high ankle sprain when coaches watched film of the practice.

Gregory, who moved from linebacker to running back this spring because of his size and athleticism, has tried to practice since the injury. But Petrino said Tuesday it could be “a little while” before his ankle heals.

“He’s not able to get any push off yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see how much work we can get him,” he said.

The Razorbacks might not see Norton the rest of the spring because of his hamstring injury.

The junior — who led the team in interceptions last season (five) — was competing for a starting job this spring. But Norton hasn’t been in uniform for the past three practices and position coach Lorenzo Ward said hamstring injuries can be difficult to return from.

“It really hurt us for depth purposes,” Ward said. “Jerell was getting better. The two or three days he practiced he was getting better and showing signs. I just hate that he’s missing all this time. It seems like right now he’ll be out the rest of spring practice with that hamstring.”

Tuck dressed out for Tuesday’s practice and Petrino was hoping he could participate. But the leg injury kept Tuck on the sideline for the entire workout.

“(He) wasn’t able to go after stretch,” Petrino said.

Aguirre With Ones

Offensive tackle Michael Aguirre has wrestled a first-team spot away from senior Jose Valdez — for now.

“I’ve been impressed with him,” Petrino said. “We were worried a little bit about his speed, but he’s really good on his technique. He’s probably way ahead of every other tackle in his technique in his pass sets and he’s learning how to come off the ball and run block.”

Aguirre, who played sparingly last season, said he’s not concerned with where he is on the depth chart.

“I come in here every day just thinking I’m going to compete,” Aguirre said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be second, ones, who knows. I just want to continue to learn from (offensive line) Coach (Mike) Summers.”

Stuck Indoors

Arkansas was forced to move Tuesday’s workout indoors because of inclement weather. It is the third time the Hogs have worked inside in five practices this spring.

Petrino wants to practice outside, but is more concerned with the timing between quarterbacks and receivers.

“I think if you’d had years in playing in this offense then we probably would have forced the issue and went outside (Tuesday),” Petrino said. “I really wanted to. We made the plans to and then, right after we had our staff meeting, we walked out and it was pouring rain.”

There’s more bad news: Wet weather is in the forecast for Arkansas’ next practice on Thursday afternoon.

Lot to Learn

Arkansas took Monday off and won’t hold its next practice until Thursday, so the staff put an emphasis on physical play Tuesday afternoon. But Petrino said the intensity wasn’t what he had hoped.

“We found out (Tuesday) we’ve got a lot to learn,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to come off of a good four hard days of practice, have a day off and then come back and learn to work at the same tempo, the same physical practice that we want.”