Jonathan Williams to miss ‘extended’ time

– Half of Arkansas’ heralded rushing duo may miss the 2015 season. Who knows. It’s all just guessing at this point without knowing the severity of the injury and the surgery required.

Trainer Matt Summers walked with Williams as he gingerly made his way to the sideline after his 11th carry, a run up the middle for no gain during a move-the-ball segment in the second half of the scrimmage.

“J. Will, I don’t exactly know what happened there at the end, but he had a tender ankle”, Bielema said. He was seen sitting with the team’s medical personnel on the field several yards behind the line of scrimmage about three-quarters of the way through the scrimmage. No Razorback ran over defenses for more yards last season than Williams, as he finished 2014 with 1,190 yards and 12 touchdowns.

He also hurt his shoulder in the 2014 season opener, but played every game last season.

“This is no doubt a tough moment, but I know through my faith and hard work that I will make a full recovery”, Williams said in a statement Sunday.

Bielema said Arkansas was gathering information about how to proceed with treatment of Williams’ injury.

With Williams out, the Razorbacks will lean on Collins, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound junior. “There are short and long term impacts of how he proceeds and we want to make sure he does what’s best for him and his family, and his career beyond Arkansas”. On the surface, it would appear that Collins’ touches will increase while freshman Rawleigh Williams and senior Kody Walker could take up some of the slack.

A return date isn’t known but Collins has shown he can be very good in a tandem role after rushing for 1,100 yards in addition to his 12 touchdowns last year in a time share situation with Williams.