Hogwired.com: Monk Undergoes Arthroscopy; Sidelined for 4-6 Weeks
Arkansas wide receiver Marcus Monk underwent an arthroscopy of his right knee on Monday and will be sidelined for approximately four to six weeks.
Also:
- Alex Abrams: Monk Sidelined 4-6 Weeks After Surgery
- Tom Murphy: Monk has surgery, out up to 6 weeks
- Nate Allen: Monk has knee surgery, will miss season opener
Updated 8/14/07 8:25 a.m.
That's tough for Alabama and Kentucky. We can't take a chance with the kids pro career after he came back for his senior year.
What an interesting development for the passing game. This could make us or break us. Either the other kids will step up or we are down to Hillis and Felix Jones out of the backfield.
The Alabama game is 4 1/2 weeks from today, so let's hope he's a quick healer. I'd hate to go to Tuscaloosa without one of our bullets.
The dark side part of me says this will be closer to 6 weeks. We've now gone from 2-4 weeks down to a few days up to 4-6 weeks. At least they did the exploratory surgery, found and fixed the problem. I'd hate for Monk to think everthing is fine for a couple of weeks and then they find this.
I agree with BlindHog. This will either make or break the passing game. I think we'll also see how committed we are to having a passing game.
I find it very interesting that we have a receiver go down and now we start changing our predictions on the season and start wondering what we are going to do for a passing game. I have to ask, Is he the only receiver we have on the team? I understand that he is an All-American but come on. We are a major college program we should have backups that are ready to take up the slack and have the ability to do so.
I will say this, if this one injury shuts down our hopes for a passing game then we were actually never going to have a passing game anyway.
Hank, you make a good point. We have a lot of questions about the passing game and the one thing we could count on was Monk. Now instead of finding one receiver we have to find two. Considering that we never found a second last year this conerans people. I am more worried about the D-line right now than I am the passing game. Less than three weeks. Go Hogs!
From Weber :"Finally, let me stress there is no ligament damage.”
This from the pill pusher that calls a broken foot, the gout?
What to believe?
RR
So much of reciever is just desire, feeling like that ball is yours and you are going to get it. Sure, you have to have good hands and hand/eye coord. but then it is just focus and concentration. That is the other thing that we have not had under Houston is good recievers. We have had three good possession recievers and that is it. He lived off of the punch left by Fitz Hill and then nothing. You would have thought that Shibest would be able to coach recievers. Where do other colleges get their recievers? Do they just not want to come here?
Shibest shouldn't be coaching anybody…when we lost Fitz we lost LA where some of the best receivers in the nation come from. You have to have a coach who believes in and can sale the UA receiver position. Fitz was able to do it and Malzahn was able to do it. Hopefully teams stack 9-10 in the box and we burn them game after game. Doing that and having Monk go 1st round could bring some sparkle to the position and Lee could probably get some big timers for 2009.
Can't wait for the season….GO HOGS!
Why does this concern anyone? Did anyone really believe we were going to throw the ball? This shouldn't change anyone's predictions. When I heard predictions did I hear "If Monk has a great season we'll win 11 games"? No… I heard "If McFadden and that O-line gel and the defense can halfway stop someone then we'll win"… McFadden is 100% and the O-line is "coming together" according to Dale… so, this should not change anything.
My prognostications (10-2 worst/11-1 best case) were also based on the Hogs getting a viable threat going in the passing game. Did this need to be stated unequivically? If so, consider it done. My predictions remain unchanged mainly because the defense seems to be progressing well and I have faith the passing attack will develop and be well-manned despite the temporary loss of Monk. Of course, all could be as the 'Doom/Gloomers' predict but I prefer to wait until events during the season prove them right. ;^)
Razoree, Lee has done a suprisingly good job at landing receivers if you look at some of the committments coming in. I am a big time sunshiner, but even I have been a little shocked at some of the receivers who have made verbal committments. Lee has surpassed my expectations as a recruiter.
Hawgfan100 – I used to say those exact same words. I'm learning that history tends to be a better indication of the future than my optimistic views.
I still don't think that it is doom and gloom to point out that we are one year removed from 4-7, 5-6, that we had a very favorable schedule last year, had some hugh breaks both early and late, and for all of that we mostly just beat the lower and middle tier teams. History, reality, optimism, whatever, its just facts.
This was written for a local paper
The Rodney Dangerfield Razorbacks
The University of Arkansas football team has two legitimate Heisman candidates in McFadden and Jones, an All-American center in Luigs, an all SEC fullback in Hillis, and an all SEC Receiver in Monk, and a returning QB with two years of experience. With all that firepower and the Hogs still only get ranked at 20th in the USA today poll and 21st in the AP. The 2007 team is setting an NCAA record for the number of first round NFL draft picks and the lowness of the preseason ratings. They are ranked lower than 5 other SEC teams and one prognosticator put Alabama ahead of them and predicted the Hogs to be in the Liberty bowl. How come no respect? Is the rest of the team that bad? Well, consider this: last year with the same stars and several first-rounders in the draft and other players who are now on NFL rosters, how did they do? They got plastered by USC, scored only 20 points on one of the worst NCAA I teams (Utah State), beat Vanderbilt by a missed field goal, beat an Alabama team that couldn’t kick a field goal in overtime, almost let South Carolina beat them in a comeback that ended with an under thrown ball, and lost their last three games by what Frank Broyles called “bad Luck”. The bowl game was a special embarrassment whereas it left Wisconsin fans asking themselves, “How on earth did we win that one?” The only impressive point spread was against a division 2 team. Doesn’t inspire much confidence does it? There are weaknesses on the present Hogs, but there are on every team. But have they been addressed or have they gotten worse? The passing game has been criticized and the fault has not been with the QBs. Watching last year, I thought the receivers didn’t get separation, did not fight for the ball, and ran uncreative routes. And now it’s worse. Monk has gone down with a knee injury and the receiver corps is without, well, receivers. Offensive Coach David Lee remarked that Reggie Fish had the best separation, and would really be something if he could only catch the ball! The other receivers have almost no game experience thanks to the strategy of only throwing to Monk. (Monk’s separation is based on being 6 inches taller and having longer arms than defensive backs). The best “hands” receiver was Ben Cleveland who has been moved to tight end to whom a pass thrown to is an Arkansas trick play. The “best” receiver is an ex-QB whose abilities at that position have not been evident (I mean if they don’t throw the ball to you…). Add to that there is no experienced QB after Dick and if he goes down… Can Arkansas improve in the special teams category? Well, Arkansas didn’t have a long punter, a consistent FG kicker, and are now desperately thinking of using McFadden or Jones as punt returners, the most vulnerable position in football for injury. Last year’s injury to Hillis occurred on…a punt return. The offensive and defensive lines are a mystery, but that seems to be the least of Arkansas’ worries. Given all of this, I think that the low rating of the team is mainly due to the lack of respect that coaches in the SEC and elsewhere have for Nutt and his crew. In other words, Nutt can’t getter done, even if he has all-stars. Also, the 2007 scheduale is not designed for national recognition with all the cupcakes on it but is tailor made for saving a coach’s job by just getting to a bowl game. I hate to break this to Hog fans, but it’s possible that Arkansas could go undefeated, and unless they were dominant in the SEC championship game, that two other undefeated teams (say USC and Michigan) could end up in New Orleans. Another sobering thought; next year only Dick will be returning on offense. Let’s hope and pray that luck and God will be on our side this year. Will the wildcat, oops, wildhog offense save Nutt’s job?
Thought others might be interested