Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett spoke with us a little while ago after the Razorbacks’ practice.
It was the last chance we’ll get to talk to Arkansas players until Dec. 28. So it was a good thing he walked through the door.
Mallett told us a couple of interesting pieces of information as well:
• First, Mallett said he has submitted paperwork to the NFL Draft Advisory Committee to see what the league thinks about his draft prospects. It’s not an unusual move. Most juniors (or redshirt sophomore in his case) do ask the NFL for some feedback before making a decision on the NFL Draft. It’s something Washington’s Jake Locker did and apparently, according to some reports, the quarterback did not receive a first-round grade. Mallett said he hasn’t heard back from the committee about his grade to this point.
“I’ve sent the paperwork in,” Mallett said. “But just to see the grade. That’s it.”
Mallett was asked a little more about where he expected to be rated and said he had no idea. He also wouldn’t say whether there’s a grade that would push him into the 2010 NFL Draft or pull him back to Arkansas for his junior season.
“I’m not even worried about that right now,” Mallett said. “That’s just a preliminary thing that a lot of juniors do. and so I did it just to see what they had to say. But right now we’re just focused on East Carolina and the practices this week have been very good.”
• Second, Mallett followed up Bobby Petrino’s statement yesterday, saying he did show up late for a meeting last week.
“I was a little late for a meeting,” Mallett said. ” Just running behind. I respect his decision and I take that full responsibility of being late. It won’t happen again. It’s just a freak thing.”
Tyler Wilson and Brandon Mitchell got more snaps than usual last week in Mallett’s place. It has triggered a lot of intrigue around the state because of the fact Mallett is facing an NFL/College football decision. But Mallett said he hasn’t noticed any of it.
“I didn’t hear nothing about it until about two minutes ago,” Mallett said.
