FAYETTEVILLE – A 33-point spread favors Arkansas in the Razorbacks’ season opener against Texas-El Paso on Saturday.

Whether you’re a betting fiend or not, 33 points, you can probably tell, is quite margin. If things go as planned, Arkansas should not have much trouble with the Miners.

That said, UTEP is a team coming off a 7-6 season – the exact record the Hogs carried last year. It’s also a team breaking in a completely inexperienced quarterback and lacking any positional battle wins.

Of the five players to watch Saturday, four are Hogs. These aren’t necessarily the best five players in the game, they’re simply five who should have a big impact.

1. Arkansas RB Alex Collins – The top running back job is Collins’. He isn’t sharing with Jonathan Williams anymore. He will split with Kody Walker and Rawleigh Williams III, but few doubt Collins gets the first, and most, cracks. It’s likely Collins won’t reach the 20-carry mark Saturday – he probably won’t even reach the 15-rush mark – but he will probably still go for more than 100 yards and at least a touchdown before being yanked in the second half because the game will no longer be in doubt.

2. Arkansas LB Brooks Ellis – Ellis spent the entire spring, summer and fall camp preparing for this. The junior from Fayetteville is moved to the weakside from the middle. It is the spot vacated by Martrell Spaight, the SEC’s leading tackler last year. Like Collins, Ellis probably won’t play the whole game and set all sorts tackling records, but we will see his capability against live opponents there for the first time.

3. UTEP RB Aaron Jones – Jones is the unquestioned best skill player the Miners have returning. Jones will be leaned on heavily after running for more than 1,300 yards last season in an offense that prefers the ground game. He is good enough to get 80-plus yards against the Razorbacks, but that would probably mean playing the whole game unless he breaks off a long one. He is capable of doing it.

4. Arkansas LT Denver Kirkland – Loath to call it an experiment, Denver Kirkland has completed his move from guard to protecting quarterback Brandon Allen’s blindside at left tackle. Some around campus think Kirkland is miscast there. I’m not one of them. If he’s half as good a tackle as he was guard, the transition will be plenty smooth. With Sebastian Tretola next to him, the left side of the Hogs’ line is a massive force.

5. Arkansas WR Dominique Reed – Arguably the one with the most eyes on him will be Reed. It’s the junior-college transfer’s first game as a Razorbacks player. He didn’t crack the top of the depth chart and, technically, was listed third (though with the “or” caveat along with Cody Hollister). But with incredible speed, solid height (6-foot-3) and jumping ability, the hope around Fayetteville would be a three-catch, 70-yard type game first game out. It’s not out of the range of possibility.