Jimmy Dykes provides optimistic update for Nick Smith return timeline to Arkansas

During Tuesday’s matchup between Arkansas and Texas A&M on the court, ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes provided a possible return date for star Nick Smith. Smith has been away from the team while rehabbing a knee injury he suffered that led to rumors that he would not see action for the Razorbacks for the rest of the season. As one of the hottest NBA prospects available, the rumors claimed that he would not play again until moving on to the professional level.

However, ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes and Karl Ravech brought up the injury status of Smith during their game with the Aggies — explaining the current state of Smith’s return according to Dykes’ first-hand knowledge.

Nick Smith could return to Arkansas soon

“Nick Smith is on campus, he’s at the game, he’s with the team,” started Karl Ravech. “He doesn’t practice with them, he’s not going to shootarounds… but I’ve seen comments where Fran Fraschilla says ‘hey bad news SEC and Arkansas fans, I don’t think he’s coming back.’ You got a little different story there?”

“I just tell you the last two Tuesdays I’ve been in here, last week and this week, he said the same thing,” answered Dykes. “He said ‘I will prove them wrong. I’m on my way back, I’m probably 90 percent, I’m getting close.’ It can be a little bit of a distraction for Arkansas’ team, I get it. You got a teammate that’s not around all the time. Not involved in all the practices. But he continues to stand firm in his talk with me that he is coming back this year.

“Now does he come back, and how quickly does he fit in the rhythm that Arkansas is playing with right now? Does it get disrupted? I don’t know. I just know he’s a supreme talent that continues to tell me every time I talk to him ‘I will prove them wrong. I will be back.'”

Eric Musselman and Arkansas would love to get Nick Smith back, if at all possible. According to the On3 Consensus, Smith was a five-star recruit, the best shooting guard, and the third-best player overall in the Class of 2022. In five games this season, Smith is averaging 12.8 points per game.

Smith spoke earlier on his situation while replying to a fan on Twitter, claiming it was ridiculous to think he wouldn’t play when ready this season — and that people don’t know his character to make that judgement.

Lol you think I came back to school not to play…. Yall must not know my character🥷🏽 have a bless day bro

— Nick Smith Jr (@lif3nick) January 31, 2023

Dykes finished his praise during the broadcast with an extremely optimistic outlook on the situation — indicating that he could be playing for the Razorbacks by next week.

“Man, the next ten days he could be back on this floor for Arkansas.”