Sam Pittman updates status for DT David Oke ahead of Ole Miss clash
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Sam Pittman hopes to have senior defensive tackle David Oke back in the lineup for Arkansas‘s showdown at No. 17 Ole Miss on Saturday night.
The 6-foot-2, 312-pound native of Nigeria missed the first 2 games of the season for the Razorbacks. Arkansas brought in Oke from the transfer portal for the 2025 season, but his debut for the Razorbacks has been put on hold because of a knee injury that he suffered in fall camp. When the Abilene Christian transfer suffered the injury, it was projected that he would miss at least 2 games, and that assessment was right on as Oke was forced to sit out the Hogs’ games against Alabama A&M and Arkansas State.
But Sam Pittman told reporters during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference that Oke might finally be ready to make that Arkansas debut in the primetime showdown in Oxford between 2-0 teams.
“We hope so,” Pittman said. “He did practice some (on Tuesday) and so we’re certainly going to try to get a few more reps out of him (on Wednesday) and we’ll make our decision probably after practice (on Wednesday) or on Thursday.”
The Razorbacks and Rebels will kick it off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Arkansas playing its SEC opener and Ole Miss trying to get to 2-0 in conference play.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
