Freshman Childs looks to take next step for home crowd
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Sports
When it comes to playing at War Memorial Stadium, Arkansas freshman receiver Greg Childs has good and bad memories.
It's the same stadium in which his Warren High School team won state playoff games, but it also was the host to a conference championship game defeat, a 21-20 loss to Nashville that was determined by just one play.
But Childs said now that he is in college those things are in the past.
And that was evident Saturday against Western Illinois when Childs shed his high school image and emerged as a colligate athlete in the Southeastern Conference. Childs led the team in catches and receiving yards, hauling in six passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Childs said he knew that he was capable of producing in his first year, but he just had to go out there and make the changes needed to improve coming from high school.
"I knew what I could do," Childs said. "But it was just going out there and showing I can play hard, catch the ball, run with it and make key blocks. And know the plays and things like that. Coming from high school, it is a big change. You got different things you do. You can't go out there and maybe loaf one play and not expected be yelled at.
"You can't do what you want here. In high school, you might be able to take a play off or something like that. But here it is 100 percent all the time, go as hard as you can."
However, his performance was not without flaws, as Childs dropped a pass when Arkansas was driving to erase a 17-7 third-quarter deficit.
But Childs said he wouldn't let it bother him. And it didn't. He bounced back in the fourth quarter when the team needed him most, catching four passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
"It was really tough once I dropped the pass," Childs said. "It fazed me, but I didn't let it go to the point where it would mess up my concentration for the rest of the game and not make plays. I just pushed it to the side and just tried to come back and make a play. And when I went for the next pass, I didn't think about the pass I dropped. I was just focused on catching that ball."
It's the same stadium in which his Warren High School team won state playoff games, but it also was the host to a conference championship game defeat, a 21-20 loss to Nashville that was determined by just one play.
But Childs said now that he is in college those things are in the past.
And that was evident Saturday against Western Illinois when Childs shed his high school image and emerged as a colligate athlete in the Southeastern Conference. Childs led the team in catches and receiving yards, hauling in six passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Childs said he knew that he was capable of producing in his first year, but he just had to go out there and make the changes needed to improve coming from high school.
"I knew what I could do," Childs said. "But it was just going out there and showing I can play hard, catch the ball, run with it and make key blocks. And know the plays and things like that. Coming from high school, it is a big change. You got different things you do. You can't go out there and maybe loaf one play and not expected be yelled at.
"You can't do what you want here. In high school, you might be able to take a play off or something like that. But here it is 100 percent all the time, go as hard as you can."
However, his performance was not without flaws, as Childs dropped a pass when Arkansas was driving to erase a 17-7 third-quarter deficit.
But Childs said he wouldn't let it bother him. And it didn't. He bounced back in the fourth quarter when the team needed him most, catching four passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
"It was really tough once I dropped the pass," Childs said. "It fazed me, but I didn't let it go to the point where it would mess up my concentration for the rest of the game and not make plays. I just pushed it to the side and just tried to come back and make a play. And when I went for the next pass, I didn't think about the pass I dropped. I was just focused on catching that ball."
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