FAYETTEVILLE -- Ten weeks after tearing his Achilles tendon, Arkansas Razorbacks senior receiver Jared Cornelius was contemplating his football future.

Bret Bielema had been fired along with most of his staff at the end of a 4-8 season, and Cornelius wasn't sure whether he would remain at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Then the Razorbacks hired offensive whiz Chad Morris away from SMU.

Cornelius posted his approval right away through social media.

"The thing was, I was thinking about transferring to SMU after the season, which is kind of funny," Cornelius said with a laugh during a recent interview. "I just wanted to be in an offense where the playmakers were going to make plays. It's as simple as that."

Enter Morris and his protege Joe Craddock, the Hogs' new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

Cornelius continued his rehab through the winter with the Razorbacks and entered spring drills last week at what he termed very close to 100 percent.

"I think this is the beginning of month six," said Cornelius, who is working in a green, no-contact jersey. "I think they said I'm a month ahead of schedule, so we're doing good on an eight-month rehab. We're getting close to the full-go standpoint, pretty soon."

Morris said he's fond of Cornelius' leadership style.

"I've been in and out of the wide receiver meeting rooms," Morris said. "He's very vocal. He's extremely intelligent. That's been impressive."

Cornelius, a fifth-year senior from Shreveport who will enter graduate school this summer after already earning a bachelor's degree in sports management, and a large crop of receivers know the history behind Morris' offenses.

"You see what kind of offenses Chad Morris has had, Coach Craddock has had, even at Clemson and SMU, it's explosive," Cornelius said.

Cornelius enters 2018 with the biggest career numbers among Arkansas wideouts with 79 receptions for 1,163 yards and 10 touchdowns, despite missing 15 games over the past three years due to a broken arm, a back issue and the Achilles injury.

The 5-11, 207-pounder is the elder statesman of the receivers, but he is fully on board with Morris' public statement that no position is guaranteed with the new regime.

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"I've got to prove that I can finish a season," Cornelius said.

After losing Cornelius, their lone veteran in Week 3 against Texas A&M last year, the Hogs' receivers evolved with lots of new or inexperienced players.

Junior-college transfer Jonathan Nance led the team with 37 receptions, 539 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. Sophomore Deon Stewart (33-404, 3) and redshirt freshman Jordan Jones (21-401, 3) were next, but after them, three tight ends and running back David Williams slotted before Brandon Martin (9-119) and La'Michael Pettway (6-92) and the rest of the group.

More wideouts are expected to pitch in this season on what should be an elevated number of catches.

"This group is powerful," Cornelius said. "We've kind of recruited for this style of offense since I've been here. We just never threw it like we thought we should have.

"This offense is going to open it up. I think you're going to see a lot more talent ... just based off what we're doing and the opportunities guys are getting. You look at how fast we're going to go, how many more plays. I mean, the opportunities are almost double, just based on the plays. And we're going to pass it 10 times more than we did before. The guys are excited."

Cornelius isn't likely to be involved in full-speed tackling for a while, but he's building back as quickly as possible.

"There's some stuff I can do, some stuff I won't be able to do, just based on the rehab," he said. "I fully intend to do everything I can as far as spring ball."

Cornelius said he's already running at 100 percent but has other areas to shape up before he can participate fully.

"Right now it's just stamina," he said. "My tendon isn't used to going hard for long periods of time. That's just something that's going to come over time. When I say we're close to the 100 percent mark, we're close."

Morris said Cornelius adds value even if he's not in the contact periods.

"He's been able to get out there and going green, which is big for him," he said. "He's learning and he's trying to teach the guys around him what he knows, and that's pretty special today."

Cornelius said his vantage point for the final nine games of the 2017 season, in which the Razorbacks went 3-6, was a rough one.

"It was tough, particularly just not being out there," he said. "The fact we were struggling just made it even worse."

Cornelius has high hopes, along with the teams' other seniors, that the 2018 season can result in a quick turnaround for the Hogs.

"We talked about it yesterday in a team meeting called Championship Monday," Cornelius said. "That's the goal.

"Everybody chose when they picked Arkansas, you know we weren't coming to a school like this to say, 'I just want to be 6-6 or 7-5.' Nobody wants to do that. You come here to win a championship.

"And our thing we talked about yesterday, why wait until next year? Why wait until two years down the road or five? Why does this year have to be a building year?

"My last year, a lot of these seniors' last year, why wait? We want to be a championship team right now. And that's kind of been the goal, the focus of this offseason. Why not us? Why not us right now?"

Sports on 03/04/2018