Saturday night brought more NFL Preseason debuts for former Arkansas Razorbacks. Here’s how they panned out.
The 2016 NFL Preseason is bringing us lots of former Arkansas Razorbacks to watch. On Thursday, we were able to see rookies like Brandon Allen and “vets” like Ryan Mallett give it a go. Saturday night brought us more of the same, with a slight emphasis on the more.
In total, SIX former Hogs made the stat sheets in their respective games. I’ll give you the tallies for those players and then give more of an in-depth look at some their performances.
SATURDAY STATS
- Alex Collins (SEA)- 3 CAR, 5 YDs
- Hunter Henry (SD)- 3 REC, 43 YDs
- Jonathan Williams (BUF)- 8 CAR, 44 YDs
- Chris Gragg (BUF)- 2 REC, 26 YDs, 1 TD
- Knile Davis (KC)- 7 CAR, 30 YDs
- Darius Philon (SD)- 2 Total Tackles
Let’s start with the running backs. More specifically the rookie running backs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams. While Collins is coming off of a historic season at Arkansas where he capped off three straight 1,000 yard seasons, Williams hasn’t played in a game since 2014. His return tonight could have been considered more anticipated. Lucky for us, it was more entertaining as well. Williams finished out his first game back with 8 carries for 44 yards. That was good enough to lead the Bills in rushing in their 19-18 loss to the Colts.
For those who were waiting to see Alex Collins get plenty of carries tonight (which included me), I’m sure you were highly disappointed. If you saw the stat sheet up top, you know that Collins only carried the ball three times for a measly five yards. We can sit here and shake our heads at that fact, there is reasoning behind it. Seattle’s injury list features other running backs C.J. Prosise and Thomas Rawls. Sitting Collins for the majority of the game was (hopefully) a safety move only. But we can hope to see more snaps from Budda soon.
J-Will wasn’t the only guy to suit up for the Bills tonight. Former Hogs TE Chris Gragg took the field for Buffalo. If you kept up with the game you would know that Gragg had one heck of a first quarter. Because he single handedly put the Bills up 9-0 within a 4:20 timespan. He started his rally by blocking an Indianapolis punt which resulted in a safety. Once Buffalo got the ball back, QB Tyrod Taylor hit Gragg for a 19 yard TD. Unfortunately Gragg was pretty much sidelined after the first quarter, but hopefully this a sign of fortune.
Since we’re talking about Tight Ends, let’s turn the focus to one we know well: Hunter Henry. The Mackey Award winning second round pick made his debut for the San Diego Chargers on Saturday. Thirty-Six year old starter Antonio Gates sat the sidelines for this matchup, so Henry got thrown into the game immediately. While watching the Charger offense work, Henry seemed to be one of the brighter spots. His talents with Arkansas transferred well, and he finished the game 43 receiving yards, just two yards away from leading the team.
"Deep ball.Touchdown.Crowd leap!#INDvsBUFhttps://t.co/etHLgLTIMo— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) August 14, 2016"
Biggest 1st half takeaway is Hunter Henry & his blocking. He's moved dudes. Not just LBs but DL, too. Feels weird to see a good blocking TE
— KP (@KP_Show) August 14, 2016
Blessed to be able to play this game again. Thank you Lord
— Jonathan Williams (@Jwillpart2) August 14, 2016
must read: Could Arkansas vs Arkansas State Happen?
The Thursday and Saturday preseason games highlighted a lot of players we’ve been looking forward to seeing. Now that week 1 is in the books we can look forward to week 2 starting next Thursday.
Woo Pig.