Mallett’s conditioning steadily improved with the Razorbacks, but his body really morphed during his first year in the NFL. “He’s really down in weight,” Petrino said. “He looks in great shape. He looks like he’s keeping himself in great shape because he still comes around here quite a bit. Obviously, I think he’s matured a ton, and I think that happened a lot while he was here. I think his upside is going to be very, very high. He’s just got to hang in there and keep learning, keep learning from the best and some day when you get your shot, you’ve got to make it work.” By all accounts, Mallett had a productive rookie year with the Pats. He practiced hard, stayed late to work on his fundamentals and, obviously, took well to a professional training regimen.