Arkansas Football: Jason Peacock Arrest Leaves a Big Hole in Razorbacks' Plans

Late Friday news came across that Arkansas starting left tackle, Jason Peacock, had been arrested and charged with felony theft of property. News trickled out that Peacock had stolen a debit card from a female student and used said debit card to purchase some $35 of gas from a gas station near his house. Bobby Petrino, when alerted of the incident, went on to suspend the tackle indefinitely as the case sorts itself out.

After Georgia got their arrests coming down the shoot last week it seems Arkansas decided to take a spin on the wheel of offseason issues. Peacock's suspension now leaves a gaping hole in the Hogs' offensive line: left tackle, the most critical position in a pass-happy scheme like Petrino's. A year ago the Hogs had no clue what they were going to do at the position. Peacock emerged as a JUCO lineman, capable of handling the load, and the newcomer on the block started nine games a season ago.

Now, all of that work done to shore up the position is gone, at least for the time being, as Peacock forces Petrino to look further into his depth chart. Obviously going by the depth chart it looks like David Hurd and Grady Ollison would be next up on the list for the Hogs but, given the importance of the position don't be surprised if Petrino does some shuffling. That means moving guys to different sides and perhaps giving Brey Cook a shot at left while Hurd, Ollison and Chris Stringer vie for time at the right side.

That said there, is hope, given the structure of Arkansas' two handbooks. Neither the student handbook or the student-athlete handbook have set guidelines, like Georgia, which mandates that players miss 10% of the season for an arrest or for transgressions. Honestly, it is a brilliant move that leaves things open-ended for their players and we will see just how much of a hit Peacock happens to be for the 2012 season.

If the case is knocked down from a Class D felony to a misdemeanor then perhaps the spring suspension is all Peacock serves. Depending upon how the case itself shakes out, the Hogs could be looking at just giving new offensive linemen some experience with the first team, or they could be working on replacing yet another starter on the offensive line. Not exactly what Petrino expected this spring.