Mitchell Bailey walk-on "fullback"

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Arkansas sophomore walk-on "fullback" Mitchell Bailey takes it to the house.

Mitchell Bailey had the longest play of Saturday's scrimmage with an 80-yard touchdown run.


It came on Bailey's first snap and the ninth play of the 165-play scrimmage.


Bailey took a handoff from Tyler Wilson, burst through the line, ran through a tackle attempt by two safeties and kept going to the end zone.


Bailey, a sophomore walk-on from Broken Bow, Okla., said he was thinking touchdown as soon as he broke into the open.


"I was telling myself, 'I'm going to get this thing in,' " Bailey said. " 'I'm going to get it in for us.' "


Saturday was his first chance to scrimmage this spring, and Bailey finished with team highs of 13 carries for 109 yards. He got extra snaps with Dennis Johnson and Knile Davis sidelined by injuries and Brandon Barnett's absence because of his father's death.


"Mitchell Bailey is a good football player," running backs coach Tim Horton said. "His performance today did not surprise us at all."


Bailey, who played in four games at fullback last season and scored a touchdown at South Carolina on a 4-yard reception, was grateful for his workload Saturday.

Off went sophomore walk-on running back Mitchell Bailey. Bailey bowled over somebody through the defense's middle and split the safeties for an 80-yard first-play touchdown run.


Whoever Bailey bowled was struck so quickly that media couldn't identify him.


Neither could Bailey. The Oklahoman from Broken Bow was breaking tackles, not taking names.


"Sir, I have no idea," Bailey replied when asked. "There were so many plays, I really couldn't tell you."


No play stood out to head coach Bobby Petrino like that play.


"Mitchell Bailey's run was as good a run as there is," Petrino said. "He split both safeties and bounced off and took it to the end zone. Both safeties were right where they belonged, but he outhit them."


"First play from scrimmage he goes 80 yards," (freshman quarterback Tyler) Wilson said. "That's off on the right foot for sure."

it should be noted that Bailey runs a 4.5 40, and he was 6-0, 215-pounds as a senior, yet he didn't receive a scholarship offer out of high school. now, this ideal specimen for tailback is being forced to play fullback and getting some fill-in carries when the "real" tailbacks aren't available despite the fact he's bigger, faster, and better than the blacks ahead of him on the depth chart.


the Caste System is blatant and far-reaching.

Mitchell Bailey outruns the "affletic" secondary after running over another afflete en route to his 80-yard touchdown carry.

 

[celticdb15]

JC i just do not understand why kids like this insist on going to their home state programs?? Surely this kid could have gone to a lesser school and gotten a fairer shake and rake in a scholarship!

 

[green fire317]

does anyone know what this guy's 40 time is?

 

[StarWars]

The quote says he runs a 4.5 second 40. But if he's outrunning cornerbacks he could easily run in the low 4.4s on his pro day.

 

[white lightning]

Great picture. Maybe this kid will get some touches this year at running back. If there was any justice he would. The powers that be are just so afraid of letting a whitey touch the ball. Give him a chance Arkansas. What do they have to lose? Let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

[Riddlewire]

Everything I've seen out of Petrino in his 1.5 years at UA suggests that Bailey has no chance of getting any carries during the season. I won't say it's impossible. It just doesn't seem likely. Especially since Petrino wasted a bunch of scholarships loading up on (black)runningbacks when he should've been focusing more on getting more linemen.

 

[Don Wassall]

It'll probably take a situation like in Denver last year when six black RBs all had to go down with injuries before the white guy with all the potential but the wrong skin color has to be used as the emergency back.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

JC i just do not understand why kids like this insist on going to their home state programs?? Surely this kid could have gone to a lesser school and gotten a fairer shake and rake in a scholarship!

this kid is actually from Oklahoma. to my knowledge, he didn't get a scholarship offer from anywhere. this, despite being 6-0, 215-pounds and running a 4.5.

Riddlewire is probably correct about him not getting a chance under Petrino. Bobby has a huge love affair with the negro athlete, and his recruiting illustrates this.


furthermore, Don is actually more correct than even he knows. Bailey didn't even get the chance to carry the ball during these spring practices until nearly every other back on the team was either injured or suspended. we'll see how this plays out, because it's obvious this young white athlete has tremendous talent. otherwise, he'd not be able to make such an impressive performancein such limited opportunities.


best of luck to my new favorite Arkansas offensive player.

 

[StarWars]

How in the hell can a 215 lb. runningback with a 4.5 40 not get a scholarship to a D1 school, and a 200 lb. black runningback can go to the NFL with a 4.6? Apparently the NCAA and NFL isn't black enough yet.

 

[P-NutLane]

It wont be till its 100% black. I really think thats the gaol. The question is, "How long will dumb people spend money on it?"

 

[backrow]

as happy as i am seeing that, and discovering this player, he had 12 carries for 29 yards outside of his long run. was it from the fullback spot?

 

[Leonardfan]

He could be the big play type back, Steve Slaton was the same way backrow. He would have plenty of negative or minimal carries and break one. Maybe Bailey is the same kind of player.

 

[celticdb15]

Draftdaddy just ran this article


http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/75486/

 

[StarWars]

What a sincere and nice kid. He can pass block, run fast, and catch. Thank god they are moving him to tailback. If McGuffie can do well at Rice, maybe teams won't be afraid to put white kids at tailback. Draftdaddy is actually a very legit site with little to no bias. I think this kid will shine. And if I remember correctly he had 13 carries for 109 yards.

 

[Don Wassall]

Draftdaddy is actually a very legit site with little to no bias. QUOTE]


DraftDaddy callsBailey a walk-on "fullback" with the same sarcastic quotes as Jimmy Chitwood. Nice!

 

[celticdb15]

Draftdaddy is actually a very legit site with little to no bias. QUOTE]


DraftDaddy callsBailey a walk-on "fullback" with the same sarcastic quotes as Jimmy Chitwood. Nice!

We must have a caste football infiltrator

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Dinkdork style kudos to DraftDaddy for pointing out the hillarity associated with type-casting Mitchell in such a way. I hope Mitchell does well at Arkansas, no matter what role he occupies, but I'd love to see him (deep) in the backfield at some point. I won't hold my breath though. Thanks for the info on this awesome white athlete Jimmy!

 

[Freethinker]

This kid sounds like Peyton Hillis 2.0

Same school. Same "fullback" position. Similar height, weight, 40 time.

Good luck to him.

 

[PhillyBirds]

DraftDaddy is typically a pretty straight-shooting site, no bias. It seems they're one of the more "fair" scouting/draft sites.

 

[jaxvid]

What's with Arkansas getting all the good white athletes? Peyton Hillis, Matt Jones, I know there are a couple more. Does Arkansas get the first pick of white guys dumb enough to play in the SEC?

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

What's with Arkansas getting all the good white athletes? Peyton Hillis, Matt Jones, I know there are a couple more. Does Arkansas get the first pick of white guys dumb enough to play in the SEC?

seriously, though, i don't think Arkansas gets any more good white athletes than anyone else. it's probably just more likely that the Hogs rarely have sufficient "black talent" to provide quality depth compared to the other schools in the SEC. therefore, when the black Arkansas recruits get hurt or suspended, the coaches have no choice but to play a white kid.

after all, if you go to a Razorback practice and see all the white athletes running around the field, you'd think the Hogs would start a nearly all-white lineup. but, of course, they're all in-state white kids who were good enough to play D-I but didn't get recruited, so they walked on to their favorite school.

i'd venture to say that it's a regular occurence in practice for these "back-ups" to win head-to-head contests. it was always that way when i watched their practices, anyway.

it's sad. very, very sad.

 

[Riddlewire]

What's with Arkansas getting all the good white athletes? Peyton Hillis, Matt Jones, I know there are a couple more. Does Arkansas get the first pick of white guys dumb enough to play in the SEC?

seriously, though, i don't think Arkansas gets any more good white athletes than anyone else. it's probably just more likely that the Hogs rarely have sufficient "black talent" to provide quality depth compared to the other schools in the SEC. therefore, when the black Arkansas recruits get hurt or suspended, the coaches have no choice but to play a white kid.

after all, if you go to a Razorback practice and see all the white athletes running around the field, you'd think the Hogs would start a nearly all-white lineup. but, of course, they're all in-state white kids who were good enough to play D-I but didn't get recruited, so they walked on to their favorite school.

i'd venture to say that it's a regular occurence in practice for these "back-ups" to win head-to-head contests. it was always that way when i watched their practices, anyway.

it's sad. very, very sad.

A further perspective on this.
Arkansas is the least black state in the SEC (15.8%). Also, Arkansas's black population is tiny. I don't mean there aren't very many of them. I mean they're shrimps. Probably the smallest in the country. I'm not sure what accounts for this. Perhaps Arkansas just got the leftovers back during the african labor importation days. Or maybe all the most physically able ones moved to Memphis. Whatever the case, black high school football players in Arkansas are usually very short and lightweight. A typical "star" player for them would be 5'8" 175lbs.**Yes, there are enough exceptions to provide for a football team's standard needs. But that would be every one of the biggest blacks in the entire town. The state of Arkansas just doesn't have the (black) bodies necessary to produce much D1A talent.
As for the excellent white athletes that Arkansas gets, that can mostly be attributed to loyalty. Every kid in Arkansas grows up as a Razorbacks fan. They all dream of playing at Arkansas. So the best of the best of them will end up there (even if they're walkons). These are top notch athletes with excellent skill sets. But Arkansas is a small state that gets very little attention from recruiting services. So pretty much all our football players are highly underrated. Many of them could be stars at major programs, but nobody knows about them. Just look at JC's thread on this subject for further information.


**This is why so many of the teams from the black towns in Arkansas (and the white towns that feature black football teams) have gone to the West Virginia-style spread offense. They can't move the ball in more traditional offenses, unless they're playing against another mighty-mite team. That's why the black teams usually don't championships.

 

[Don Wassall]

It might also be that Jimmy Chitwood and Riddlewire are both from Arkansas and do a great job of keeping track of the white football players in that state. Kentucky for example has had some very good white WRs over the past decade or so, but CF doesn't have anyonefrom Kentuckygiving usthe "home state" perspective on them. Same with the three big Florida schools.

 

[Animalmuther0]

From Petrino:

"Probably the thing I was most impressed with today was his ability to protect the passer," Petrino said. "He stepped up and took the blitzer on probably three times and did a real nice job with it."

He's screwed. OG with a sub 50 number on his shirt.

I'm really trying not to be negative, but the article pretty much stated they are waiting for the two "athletes" to get over some ankle injuries.

 

[RBNY123]

not to change the subject to much, but right now i'm watching the georgia spring football game on espn and i'm really impressed with logan gray. Has anyone heard of this guy, 6 2 quarterback 4.45 forty and a 36 inch vert not to mention an extremely accurate arm.