Petrino’s coaching staff beginning to take shape

While the University of Arkansas has set today officially to announce new head football coach Bobby Petrino's staff, some of the new assistants already were working Thursday in the Broyles Center.

One new face, Kirk Botkin, isn't new to veteran Razorback fans while newcomers Ellis Johnson, Garrick McGee, Dean Campbell and Mike Summers are involved at Arkansas for the first time.

Arkansas' first All-SEC player while lettering as a Razorback tight end from 1990-93, Botkin has been coaching linebackers for the Louisiana-Monroe team that upset Alabama this season. He is a Texas native (Baytown ) who has coached and recruited in Texas at Rice University under former Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield and recruited Texas and the South as an assistant for Jacksonville (Ala. ) State for former Razorback coach Jack Crowe.

Botkin moved on to Louisiana-Monroe under former Razorback assistant coach Charlie Weatherbie. Botkin is expected to be on Petrino's defensive staff which will be headed by former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson.

Johnson, resigning from MSU earlier this week after the Bulldogs finished their season beating the Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl, was announced by Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom as Arkansas-bound. He started work Thursday in Fayetteville.

Johnson, 55, has extensive background coaching and recruiting in the SEC not only at Mississippi State but with two tenures at Alabama, first as linebackers coach (1990-93 ) and then defensive coordinator (1997-2000 ). He also has coordinated defenses at Clemson, Southern Mississippi and Appalachian State and been a head coach at The Citadel, his alma mater, and Gardner-Webb.

Campbell, a former Texas Longhorn, has played and coached against Arkansas. Campbell has coached both sides of the ball, mainly running backs and the secondary, as a veteran assistant at Texas A & M, Texas Tech, Texas, North Carolina, Rice and the Air Force Academy.

McGee, the offensive coordinator at Northwestern, resigned last week with reported intentions of heading to Arkansas. Though Big Ten member Northwestern is based in Evanston, Ill., near Chicago, McGee has a background recruiting in the South for Northwestern and a familiarity with the general area as a former quarterback at the University of Oklahoma. He has mainly coached wide receivers.

Summers, who coached the offensive line for Petrino in 2007 for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, and from 2003-06 for Petrino's successful run at the University of Louisville, is the Razorbacks' new offensive line coach. Summers has been an offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois and Oregon State and also coached tight ends at Oklahoma State and coached in the SEC as a restricted earnings assistant at Kentucky before joining Petrino at Louisville. Three assistants have been recruiting for Arkansas from the get-go for the Bobby Petrino regime. They are offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, who coached receivers for his brother Bobby at Atlanta and also assisted him at Louisville, and two assistants retained from former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt's staff, running backs coach Tim Horton and cornerbacks coach Bobby Allen.

Bobby Petrino has not yet specified what positions Allen, who coached every defensive position at some point during his 10 Arkansas seasons under Nutt, and Horton, a former Razorback wide receiver / punt returner (1986-89 ), will coach in 2008.

Lorenzo Ward, most recently coaching for former Oakland Raiders coach Art Shell and a former assistant at Virginia Tech, has been reported as a possibility to be on Petrino's nine-man staff. Ward has SEC experience as a player and graduate assistant at Alabama.