FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan is racking up the awards after a career game in Saturday's 33-21 win over Ole Miss.
Morgan was named the Bronco Nagurski Award's defensive player of the week Tuesday by the Football Writers Association of America, as well as the national player of the week for the Bednarik Award.
Those achievements add to his co-SEC defensive player of the week recognition announced by the league office Monday.
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The senior from Greenwood racked up a career-high 19 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups, 1 sack, and he returned an interception 23 yards for a game-clinching touchdown with 3:07 remaining.
"Oh gosh, Grant's got a lot of praise this weekend," fellow linebacker Hayden Henry said Tuesday. "He's got a lot of praise, and he's deserving of it. I didn't know how well he played because I was out there with him. You know, you lose track of the plays.
"And then I go on ESPN after the game and he's got 19 tackles and a sack and a pick-6, and I'm just like, 'Good Lord, I mean this is unbelievable.' "
Aggie prep
The Razorbacks (2-2) have their first open date Saturday, but they aren't just focusing on themselves as they've already begun preparations for No. 7 Texas A&M (3-1) in College Station, Texas, on Oct. 31.
"We're prepping now," freshman safety Jalen Catalon said. "We're not going to wait. We're going to get on it now. I know Coach [Sam Pittman] preaches that, 'Why wait when you can get on them now?' Make sure we get our film work. Why not make sure we get a head start, so that's what we're doing now."
Added senior offensive guard Ty Clary, "We started A&M. We're not going to throw everything in. Bye week is a time to get healthy, a time to rest your body a little bit. But also to work on a lot of fundamental, a lot of mental errors that we have."
Pittman said the Razorbacks also were using the bye week to heal up after going through a large crop of injuries through the first four games.
"We definitely have to get healthy," he said Saturday. "So we won't do as much hitting as maybe teams in my past that I've been associated with have.
"You'd say we need to develop young kids. Well the young kids are being developed right out there in the stadium on Saturday, you know, so I don't think that's needed to be done next week."
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'Cat' quick
Jalen Catalon gave the Razorbacks a 17-0 lead in the second quarter against Ole Miss with his 35-yard interception return.
ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore described the play like this: "He is reading the quarterback's eyes all the way, and he feels the attack by [receiver Jonathan] Mingo coming across the field, sees the quarterback release the ball ... and just drives on it. He looks like he's the receiver there. You can't play that any better. Impossible."
Said Catalon, "Just reading the quarterback, and he rolled out and I read his eyes. I just broke on the ball and made the play and had my eyes on the end zone. Took it home from there.
"It was a great feeling. I credit my D-line because without them all the interceptions that happened that day wouldn't have happened."
Brag on Burks
Sophomore Treylon Burks played off his 7-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter against Ole Miss as the type of play he makes in practice.
The catch, in the far back-left corner of the end zone, was a little more than routine. He jumped high, palmed the ball with his right hand, brought it down to his midsection while tapping his right toe, then cradled the ball as he fell to the ground. The play was chosen as the No. 1 play of the day on ESPN's SportsCenter.
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"It was a great catch," junior wideout Mike Woods said. "We all knew he was going to come down with it. He does that in practice.
"I don't know why they reviewed it. To me, it didn't even look close on the field. His foot was down. It was a great toe-tap, and it was a great catch."
Return of Clary
Senior Ty Clary, who didn't play the first two weeks as he was fully recovering from summer health issues and a spell in quarantine, got back in the lineup and performed well at Auburn, then made his first start of the season and the 28th of his career last week.
"So, I got quarantined due to close contact," said Clary, referencing preseason practices. "It was hard because it was in the middle of fall camp. It was kind of during the heat of trying to win spots and everyone's working really hard on their craft. It was upsetting, but it is what it is.
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"The guys on the O-line, with or without me, I love the way they work, love the way they attack everything. It's just kind of how it went and how it is."
Not 'easy'
Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral, like his coach, was brutally honest about the Rebels' performance in a 33-21 loss at Arkansas.
Corral threw six interceptions, two of them returned for touchdowns, and completed 20 of 38 passes for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Corral entered the game as the NCAA leader with 407 total yards per game.
"It is humbling, what happened," Corral said Saturday. "We've just got to be back to work and go harder than ever. What I did today was unacceptable."
Corral spoke to the team at halftime, and said, "We're hurting ourselves, pretty much. We're not finishing blocks. I'm not getting to my full progression. We just weren't playing our football. We weren't playing our football. We came in thinking that this was going to be easy."
MoMo a go-go
Ole Miss linebacker MoMo Sanogo, playing as the middle blocker in the punt protect shield, took a direct snap and turned it into a 47-yard gain in the fourth quarter, keying a touchdown drive that cut Arkansas' lead to 26-21.
Facing a fourth and 10 from the Ole Miss 27, Rebels Coach Lane Kiffin went with the trick play with 6:35 left in the game. Sanogo caught the snap on the 20 while needing 17 yards to reach the line to gain. Arkansas linebacker Jake Yurachek got a hand on Sanogo while being blocked on the right edge by Chase Rogers at the same time.
Sanogo fought off the Yurachek arm tackle and had clear sailing down the edge because Arkansas' Jashaud Stewart couldn't get free of a block from Ashanti Cistrunk. Sanogo ran all the way to the Arkansas 26 before De'Vion Warren shouldered him out of bounds. The Rebels scored on Jerrion Ealy's 1-yard touchdown run three plays later to pull within five points with 5:30 left.