Ryan Mallett is ready to stop scooting and start walking in the next few weeks.

Mallett, who broke the small toe in his left foot Feb. 17 during a change-of-direction drill, can be seen slowly traversing the Arkansas campus these days with his left leg supported by a small scooter. The scooter was made famous after a video by local television station KFSM videoed the junior pushing himself along on campus last month. An LSU fan even edited the video with Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty” playing in the background. The video spread fast across the Internet, and even to Mallett’s e-mail inbox.

“A million people sent it to me on my e-mail. I just laugh every time and it doesn’t get to me or anything,” he said Wednesday, speaking to the media for the first time since suffering the injury.

The injury required surgery and a screw was inserted in the bone on Feb. 18. Mallett is expected to be fully recovered and cleared to return to drills in three to four months, the time frame presumably ending in July.

Mallett is on his second scooter this month — this one with a turquoise finish — and is ready to ditch the wheels for a walking boot.  He expects to be cleared to put some weight on the foot in two to three weeks, but of course will not be available for spring practices on March 30.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, you know?” Mallett said. “You have to ride around and everybody else looks at you funny. Some news cameras creep on you on campus and put it on your news show and it gets on the Internet.”

Cornerback Isaac Madison joked that Mallett has learned to do a “couple tricks” on the scooter.

Kidding aside, it’s been easy to forget Mallett is recovering from two surgeries. The record-setting quarterback had surgery on a slightly torn labrum in his left shoulder in January as well. His left side, or “the torn up side,” as Mallett calls it, is healing nicely though and he’s still working out with weights on single arm and single leg workouts. As Coach Bobby Petrino told us last week, Mallett is also throwing the football from a seated position.

Mallett has been an injury magnet in his offseasons at Arkansas. He injured the ring finger on his throwing hand in June after a mishap in the weight room and was sidelined for several weeks. Mallett also dislocated the thumb on his throwing hand during spring drills in 2008, when he sat out a season after transferring from Michigan.

And he’s lucky he didn’t break the bone in his left foot during last season. Petrino believes the broken bone was a result of stress-related tweaks to the foot suffered in August and during preparations for the Liberty Bowl in December. Neither resulted in sidelining Mallett, who only hobbled after a couple of bootleg plays in practices as a result of the injury.

“You know, I’m pretty good timing my injuries,” Mallett laughed.

Mallett set or tied 16 school records in his first year as Arkansas’ starting quarterback last fall. He threw for 3,624 yards and 30 touchdowns with 7 interceptions in leading Arkansas to an 8-5 record and a victory in the Liberty Bowl. He was a second-team selection on the All-SEC teams picked by the media and league’s coaches, and has already prompted Heisman Trophy talk among the national media this pre-season.

Simply put, it’s tough to replace a player with those kind of numbers.

For now, as he rehabs, Mallett will maintain a leadership role on the sidelines during spring practices. After all, he’s no stranger to being sidelined during the offseason, and said he’s looking forward to watching the development of fresh faces Brandon Mitchell and newcomer Jacoby Walker at quarterback. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Tyler Wilson will lead the team in spring drills. It’s an important job for Wilson, a veteran at this point in his career.

We all know about Wilson’s struggles with the snap exchange when lining up under center. Wilson, who played most of his career in the shotgun formation during high school, fumbled plenty last spring and fall. He says that’s been corrected in the offseason, and he doesn’t expect many hiccups.

“I know Ryan is doing the things he needs to do to get back on the field. He’s in the training room every day,” Wilson said. “But for the spring, this is my time to get better as a player, as a quarterback, as a person. I’m going to come in every day and take it like it’s my time and take responsibility. It’s my responsibility the way the team reacts during the spring, because it’s probably going to be similar to the way it plays during the season. So I take it as my responsibility to lead the team during the spring.”

Mallett was very appreciative of Wilson’s words, propping his teammate up with a few superlatives in private as Wilson left the podium Wednesday.

“The way he answered the question about this spring and being a caretaker, I kind of looked like, ‘Nah, it’s his team this spring because he’s playing,’” Mallett said. “I was proud of him for that.”

There’s also a positive way to look at Mallett’s injury. Backups Wilson, Mitchell, Walker and even Petrino’s son, Nick Petrino, will get some valuable practice time with the team during the spring.

VIDEO: Life without Mallett

Arkansas will go without Ryan Mallett, who is sidelined with a broken foot, this spring. Coach Bobby Petrino previews the quarterback position, which will feature backups Tyler Wilson, Brandon Mitchell and newcomer Jacoby Walker during spring practices.

Mitchell has the speed and has been described as one of the smartest players on the team. Petrino told us last week Mitchell thrives on first downs, but needs to work hard on converting third down situations.

“He’s got to show us that he can be consistent throwing the ball, that he can convert third downs versus tight coverage and be accurate throwing the football,” Petrino said Wednesday. “I know he’s worked hard in the offseason, and now we’ll see how it goes in spring ball.”

Walker joined the team as a spring enrollee, and was recruited by the Razorbacks during an uncertain time period when Mallett was weighing a decision on whether to declare for the NFL Draft in December.

As for Mallett, he’ll continue receiving treatment from trainers every day and take on the cheerleader role for the second spring in three years. He’ll stick to a strict diet drawn up by team nutritionist Kurt Schmidt. He’ll maintain a weight of 228 before adding 7 pounds to bounce back to his playing weight of 235 pounds. Petrino would also like to see Mallett concentrate in the film room, where he spent a lot of time during his redshirt season as a transfer from Michigan in 2008.

“I’m ready to get back out there with the guys and be able to go full speed,” Mallett said. “What I’ve really got to do is take my time and not rush it.”

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I’ll have much more as we approach Arkansas’ spring practices. Why is De’Anthony Curtis now a wide receiver? Who is standing out on the defense? Is this Arkansas’ strongest and fastest team to date?

And, most importantly, how are these Razorbacks handling expectations and the talk of, yes, a national championship?

Stay tuned to the Slophouse.

Make sure to check out WholeHogSports.com and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more coverage. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates with @bmarcello and @wholehogsports.

— Brandon Marcello