Arkansas’ decision to suspend five basketball players yesterday means one thing for quarterback Brandon Mitchell.

He’s going to get a chance to play A LOT for the Razorbacks this season.

Mitchell will be one of eight players suiting up for the season opener on Friday night, on loan to Arkansas basketball coach John Pelphrey, so to speak, for the 2009-10 season. Mitchell hasn’t been at football practice since the end of last week, but I was curious about what quarterback Ryan Mallett thought of his teammate’s abilities on the basketball court. So I asked Mallett after Tuesday’s practice.

“I saw his dunk on the news,” Mallett said in reference to the steal and dunk Mitchell got against LeMoyne-Owen in his first minute of action last Thursday night. “It was pretty nice.”

However, Mallett isn’t that impressed with Mitchell, who scored eight points in eight minutes in his basketball debut. In fact, the 6-foot-7 sophomore indicated that he would beat the 6-foot-4 Mitchell in a one-on-one game.

“He can’t hold me,” Mallett said. “He knows that. When he’s done with his season we’ll have to see.”

Now that’s a pickup battle I’d like to see. Something tells me Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino wouldn’t, though.