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FAYETTEVILLE -- Redshirt freshman Wyatt Simmons might be in line for more playing time in the Arkansas Razorbacks' linebacker rotation following a jump in his snap count in recent games.
Simmons accounted for a season-high three tackles and blocked a punt against LSU, which teammate Caleb Wooden returned for a touchdown to open the scoring in Arkansas' 23-22 loss last week.
Arkansas interim defensive coordinator Chris Wilson was asked Tuesday if more snaps were on the horizon for Simmons.
"That's the plan," Wilson said. "He took a little and turned it into a lot. He had about 16 opportunities, and the progression for him was, every week was a level of improvement in practice and he would get a few more reps in the game.
"He just kept developing and kept working, so now he's at a point where he has a lot of trust from his teammates and his coaches."
The 6-1, 225-pounder from Searcy is the son of Harding Coach Paul Simmons, who led the Bisons to the Division II national championship in 2023.
Wyatt Simmons' Harding Academy team won the Class 4A state championship in 2023 the week before the Bisons claimed their championship in McKinney, Texas.
"Those are some of the best times of my life," Simmons said on the "Razorback Football Live" show on Wednesday. "Both of us being able to play at the same time. We won the state championship that year. So, that's my dog. My dad, I love him, man. He's been like everything to me."
Arkansas interim Coach Bobby Petrino predicted Simmons and freshman center Kash Courtney would have productive college and professional careers on the broadcast.
"Wyatt's opportunity to block that punt, no hesitation whatsoever and he did everything exactly like you would ask someone to do," Petrino said. "Wyatt's dad is a very, very good head football coach here in the state and I think he taught him to do that when he was 2."
New law?
Arkansas is 0-5 since Bobby Petrino took over as interim coach Sept. 28. Despite a honeymoon phase possibly wearing off after three-point losses to now-No. 20 Tennessee and No. 3 Texas A&M, the Razorbacks played close games in three straight losses to Auburn (33-24), Mississippi State (38-35) and LSU (23-22). They held fourth-quarter leads in all three.
"It's a hard situation to jump into and have to take over like that," Petrino said. "My first thing is to say that they need to make a new law that you can't do that in the middle of the year. That would be a great thing for everybody.
"Probably not going to happen, especially now that there will be nine conference games. Can you imagine that now? Nine conference games in this conference? They're going to have to keep building a pot to pay off guys. That's going to be incredible. So I feel like, boy, this has been a hard experience."
Petrino said it has been harder to stay positive as a losing streak of close defeats drags on, but there have been bright spots in moving from offensive coordinator to an interim coaching role.
"I feel like, you know what? This has been pretty cool," he said. "I get to really get to know the defensive players. Get to relax a little bit, make sure they get to know me. I think it's been all about trying to get them to continue to improve themselves. Continue to put a better resume on video."
Penalty problems
Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian clearly did not want to delve into his team's penalty problems during his Monday news conference.
The Longhorns were flagged nine times for 58 yards in last Saturday's 35-10 loss at Georgia, while the Bulldogs drew only one penalty for 15 yards. Texas is second-to-last in the SEC with 65.3 penalty yards per game, ahead of only Texas A&M (66.2). Arkansas, which had a school-record 18 penalties for 193 yards in a 38-35 loss to Mississippi State, is 13th with 61.8 yards per game.
Texas drew three offensive holding calls and two false starts at Georgia, as well as two defensive holding flags.
When a reporter asked why penalties continued to be a theme, Sarkisian replied, "We're getting called for penalties."
When the reporter then asked if there was a particular reason for it, he said, "There's a variety of them," without expanding further.
Another reporter followed up with a question about what could be done if particular players continued to draw flags.
"That's when you've got to make some of the tough decisions, right?" Sarkisian replied. "What types of penalties are we getting and can they be rectified? If they don't get rectified then you've got to make some of those tough decisions."
Weather check
The weather forecast for Saturday in Austin, Texas, is calling for a high of 79 degrees with partly cloudy skies and almost no chance for rain.
The forecast for Thursday and Friday, and again for Sunday and Monday, include chances for rain and thunderstorms. The daily high temperatures are for the high 70s all weekend, with lows in the mid-to-low 60s.
Series update
Texas improved its lead to 54-23 in the series against Arkansas with last year's 20-10 victory at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The teams will move forward as permanent rivals the next four seasons, with the 2026 game also being played in Austin, Texas, due to scheduling quirks. Arkansas will host Missouri in both 2025 and 2026.
The Razorbacks hold a 4-3 lead in the series since leaving the Southwest Conference for the 1992 season, including a 27-6 Cotton Bowl win after the 1999 season and a 31-7 Texas Bowl win after the 2014 season.
Texas won the first 11 games in the series between 1906 and 1932, with only three of those games being played in Fayetteville. Arkansas finally broke through with a 20-6 win Nov. 24, 1933, in Austin, Texas.
The series was hotly competitive in the 1960s as legendary coaches Frank Broyles and Darrell Royal did battle. The Razorbacks prevailed 14-13 over the No. 1 Longhorns in Austin in 1964 amid their national championship to touch off a three-game winning streak.
Texas got payback with four consecutive wins from 1967-70. That stretch included a 15-14 victory in the classic 1969 game known as "The Big Shootout" with ABC moving the game to Dec. 6. President Richard Nixon attended the game between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas at Razorback Stadium along with many other dignitaries and declared the Longhorns the national champions in the winning locker room.
Ex-Hog
Former Arkansas linebacker Brad Spence is tied for third on the Longhorns' roster with three sacks in his first season at Texas.
Spence, a product of Klein Forest High School in Houston, is wearing No. 14 as a junior with Texas after sporting No. 22 as a Razorback. Spence had 16 tackles as a true freshman in 2024, then added 54 tackles with 3.5 sacks last season before entering the transfer portal.
Spence ranks 15th on the team with 15 tackles, including 5 tackles for loss and 2 quarterback hurries, while playing in 9 of 10 games. Spence's snap count could go up against the Razorbacks, depending on the health of starting linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.