There haven’t been many elite arms to choose from in the Southeastern Conference this season, but the argument can be made that Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen has been one of the league’s best signal-callers.
In eight appearances this season, Allen has completed 62.2% of his passes for 2,048 yards and 18 touchdowns against seven interceptions. The junior's passer rating of 149.58 is second-best in the conference, behind only Auburn’s Sean White. Allen’s passing touchdown total and passing percentage are both third-best in the SEC.
Although Arkansas has run the ball on 56.1% of its plays this season, Allen has the Razorbacks as the 45th best team in the country in passing offense. The Gators are preparing for Allen when they face Arkansas this Saturday on the road in Fayetteville at 3:30 p.m. ET.
“I really like the way this guy plays the game and plays within their system,” Florida head coach Jim McElwain said of Allen. “They do a great job of disguising and running alike plays, making the dots the same. He is very comfortable and knows timing-wise when to get it out of his hands. It's fun to watch.”
However, in Arkansas’ 56-3 road loss to Auburn on Oct. 22, Allen went 17-of-30 passing for 187 yards and no touchdowns against a pick. The Tigers defense racked up four sacks and 15 quarterback hurries against the Razorbacks.
This season, Arkansas has statistically been one of the worst teams in the conference in the pass protection department. The offensive line has allowed 45 quarterback hurries (worst in the SEC) and 21 sacks (second-worst in the league).
Still, McElwain had plenty of praise for Arkansas’ blockers Wednesday.
“It's our responsibility – and again, it isn't the sack numbers – it's making sure that when they do throw, maybe [knock them] off a little rhythm,” McElwain said. “Have them just adjust a little bit and take some of the accuracy off the ball. We've got to be able to do that. They can pass protect up front. They've got some really good O-linemen, some big guys.
“The (Dan) Skipper kid, the big left tackle, he's a Colorado guy that we've known about since we first got to Colorado State. He'll make a bunch of money as time bears out. We've got our work cut out for us up front. Here's the good thing: we've got some young guys who are hungry. With the hunger of those young guys, we've got some older guys playing at a pretty high level."
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MCELWAIN TALKS CRONKRITE
During his Wednesday afternoon press conference, McElwain commented for the first time on Jordan Cronkrite since the sophomore running back returned to practices Monday after not making the trip to Jacksonville for the Georgia game.
McElwain confirmed that Cronkrite will make the trip with the team to Arkansas this weekend.
“Well, I mean he had been dinged up and things weren’t going his way,” McElwain said. “You know like we said, we’re here for him and we’ll do anything for him.”
Cronkrite, who hasn’t been pleased with his role this season, has 112 rushing yards and a touchdown on 26 carries on the season to go along with 82 receiving yards and a touchdown on 12 grabs.
INJURY UPDATE
Junior wide receiver C.J. Worton went down in Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury, McElwain said. Worton, who has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his Florida career, hasn’t worked as much with the second-team offense in recent practices, as Ahmad Fulwood, Joshua Hammond and Freddie Swain have handled those duties.
Meanwhile, senior linebacker Jarrad Davis (ankle) practiced but is “still hobbled,” per McElwain. “I thought did some good things,” McElwain added on Davis. Jordan Sherit (knee) and Bryan Cox Jr. (hand) were among the other injured Gators who participated in Wednesday’s practice.
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