Where to Recruit

[maggiesue]

As we all know (see Bama), you have to recruit well to contend for a playoff spot.  Clearly the state of Arkansas doesn't have enough SEC caliber high school talent to field a contender.  That said, if you were a new coach at Arkansas, where would you focus your recruiting efforts and what would be your key selling points to a high school kid to make him want to be a Hog?  I will hang up and listen.

[Al Boarland]

JUCO, JUCO, JUCO. I would become JUCO U.

[RebelW]

Bielema is finally doing it this year, well has someone that can. It is by far to successfully recruit Georgia.

[Inhogswetrust]

JUCO, JUCO, JUCO. I would become JUCO U.

Already taken by KSU.

[Inhogswetrust]

As we all know (see Bama), you have to recruit well to contend for a playoff spot.  Clearly the state of Arkansas doesn't have enough SEC caliber high school talent to field a contender.  That said, if you were a new coach at Arkansas, where would you focus your recruiting efforts and what would be your key selling points to a high school kid to make him want to be a Hog?  I will hang up and listen.

Schools in lower population states have to cast a wider net. Get all you can inside the state and other close states and then go as far as needed.

[LZH]

I have often wondered how Nebraska became what they were and won NC's in the 90's when I wouldn't think there's much talent within 500 miles of Lincoln.  I know Osbourne recruited nationally, Tommy Fraizer is from Bradenton, so what did he do that worked so well?

[Inhogswetrust]

I have often wondered how Nebraska became what they were and won NC's in the 90's when I wouldn't think there's much talent within 500 miles of Lincoln.  I know Osbourne recruited nationally, Tommy Fraizer is from Bradenton, so what did he do that worked so well?

Even before Osborn they had a big time redshirt program and recruited all over. They had quite a few players from Texas. They would get those big old farm boys in the area locally and then go after the "skill" positions" all over.

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

Bielema tried to broaden our recruiting base and create a pipeline to florida, but many of those kids were just as troubled as they were talented. Half of them couldn't even stay on the field. Jojo robinson comes to mind specifically

[Mike_e]

I have often wondered how Nebraska became what they were and won NC's in the 90's when I wouldn't think there's much talent within 500 miles of Lincoln.  I know Osbourne recruited nationally, Tommy Fraizer is from Bradenton, so what did he do that worked so well?

Back in the day every county in Nebraska gave a scholarship to the best football player in that county so that they could walk on there.  Imagine 93 walkons just to start out with each year.  Then be able to keep them around and work with them for a couple of years to see if they were going to be any good.  It's no wonder they were always good.

[OKHog]

I have often wondered how Nebraska became what they were and won NC's in the 90's when I wouldn't think there's much talent within 500 miles of Lincoln.  I know Osbourne recruited nationally, Tommy Fraizer is from Bradenton, so what did he do that worked so well?

They had a legion of Walk-ons and took many partial qualifiers. Basically they exploited the system to an extreme level and after those exploits were fixed they fell off.

[mizzouman]

When Mizzou entered the SEC, Pinkel made a huge recruiting error in my book.  He took basically all his resources out of Texas and put them in Georgia and Florida thinking that if we played in the SECE, then recruits from these areas would be interested.

Well, that backfired and we are seeing that now. 

However, Odom has put the resources back into Texas and 5 of our 10 commits this year are from Texas.  We are also hitting Alabama where we have 2 commits and maybe more coming soon.

Ironically, we don't have anyone from Missouri yet.  But, 9 of the 10 top recruits in Missouri have not committed.  I expect we will be maybe 4-5 of those kids.

[RazorWest]

Fence around Arkansas and then grab as many out of East Texas as possible.  There are more players there than UT and Texas A&M can take. 

[Hugo Bezdek]

I would draw a big circle around Arkansas and our neighboring states for the main focus. St. Louis to KC to OKC to DFW to Houston, New Orleans, Mississippi and Western Tennessee.

Then I would dedicate a guy to FL-GA and have the position coaches spot recruit nationally.

[younghog]

Fence around Arkansas and then grab as many out of East Texas as possible.  There are more players there than UT and Texas A&M can take. 

Not sure about East Texas.. DFW, Houston and South Texas are where the top 6A Powerhouses live..

GO HOGS

[Cinco de Hogo]

Not sure about East Texas.. DFW, Houston and South Texas are where the top 6A Powerhouses live..

GO HOGS

There have been a lot of good to great players come from the I-30 corridor between Texarkana and Dallas and the I-20 corridor between Shreveport and Dallas.  If it's not covered by a top Texas school I would put a lot of resources in nailing down those areas. I think you could probably field a very competitive team just from players in that area.  Might need a good RS program but...ha aren't we supposed to have that anyway.

[DoubleReedHawgCaller]

East texas, whatever you can get out of Louisiana and Memphis.

[colbs]

I would draw a big circle around Arkansas and our neighboring states for the main focus. St. Louis to KC to OKC to DFW to Houston, New Orleans, Mississippi and Western Tennessee.

Then I would dedicate a guy to FL-GA and have the position coaches spot recruit nationally.

I don't think St. Louis, KC, or OKC produces a ton of D1 talent.  At least enough IMO to dedicate a ton of resources to.  I would put more emphasis on East Texas, continue to focus on LA, and focus more on GA.

[Hugo Bezdek]

I don't think St. Louis, KC, or OKC produces a ton of D1 talent.  At least enough IMO to dedicate a ton of resources to.  I would put more emphasis on East Texas, continue to focus on LA, and focus more on GA.

I would definitely put more resources in TX-LA. Those are our primary sources of talent out of state. There's more talent in Missouri than you think though. I'd emphasize MO-OK as much as GA though because we'll have a higher success rate with kids closer to Fayetteville. We have more scholarship players from MO and OK than GA and AL and that probably shouldn't be surprising since we have more kids in general from those states enrolling at UA. Kids from GA have a lot of quality options closer to home than Arkansas.

[TX HOG]

I lived in east Texas my whole life, just moved to NWA. It's only a 5 hour drive.

[hogsanity]

I would continue to recruit Dallas. Try to pry some talent out of Tulsa and Memphis. After that I would specifically target kids in Ga/La/FL/ then start looking at places the Hogs, and no sec actually. routinely go like Iowa, Ill, and even Ohio and PA. Offer those kids a chance to play in the SEC. Sell them on the fact you think they are worth an SEC scholarship, you think they can help build a team that can beat Bama.

Want to know where I would NOT recruit? I'm going to tell you anyway. I would not spend my time in Bama or most of Texas. We still just get left overs out of Texas most of the time. Yea, if you have an in with a kid sure go after him, but to spend half your recruiting time in Texas is silly, imo, because EVERYONE is spending half their time in Texas.  Also, I would quit recruiting in AR except for the top 4 or 5 players. If other sec teams are recruiting a AR kid, then he is worth recruiting. If the kid is from AR and the only other offers he has are from A-state, Memphis, and La TEch, 95% of the time he is not going to help the Hogs build a SEC winner.

[Hogwild]

When Mizzou entered the SEC, Pinkel made a huge recruiting error in my book.  He took basically all his resources out of Texas and put them in Georgia and Florida thinking that if we played in the SECE, then recruits from these areas would be interested.

Well, that backfired and we are seeing that now. 

However, Odom has put the resources back into Texas and 5 of our 10 commits this year are from Texas.  We are also hitting Alabama where we have 2 commits and maybe more coming soon.

Ironically, we don't have anyone from Missouri yet.  But, 9 of the 10 top recruits in Missouri have not committed.  I expect we will be maybe 4-5 of those kids.

I think that is one of the main reasons that the two Tigers want to switch divisions.  Missouri historically have recruited Texas, while Auburn recruits East(GA/SC/FLA) not West (LA/TX)

[phadedhawg]

Back in the day every county in Nebraska gave a scholarship to the best football player in that county so that they could walk on there.  Imagine 93 walkons just to start out with each year.  Then be able to keep them around and work with them for a couple of years to see if they were going to be any good.  It's no wonder they were always good.

that's amazing

[hogsanity]

Back in the day every county in Nebraska gave a scholarship to the best football player in that county so that they could walk on there.  Imagine 93 walkons just to start out with each year.  Then be able to keep them around and work with them for a couple of years to see if they were going to be any good.  It's no wonder they were always good.

Somewhere I read, and I cant find it now of course, that for a stretch of like 10 years Nebraska never started a O-lineman that was not a jr or sr and none had come to Neb on a football scholarship. Their Ag program however had a bunch of kids on scholarship that just happened to walk on the football team.

[BigDrDon]

 I 20 between Miss. River and Texas state line. Mucho talent.

[tophawg19]

everyone did that. there was no limit on players . you stock piled them to keep them away from other teams . We need to look to the mid west for linemen and Lb's . Arkansas produces good skill position guys , It's the Beastie boys we have been short on. However that has changed this year and last year . For some reason the state of Pennsylvania tends to produce good big LB's every year . As for the logic that we get Texas leftovers , look at the list. I'll take those everyday . Bumper Poole , RW3 , his brother possibly , look at our roster these Texas kids were highly recruited . DFW has the largest booster club outside Arkansas . Are you starting to see a trend ?look at how many U OF A students come from texas as a whole

[tophawg19]

I 20 between Miss. River and Texas state line. Mucho talent.

You mean the real deep South Arkansas right lol

[hogsanity]

?look at how many U OF A students come from texas as a whole

yea, cause we give them in state tuition rates.

[Hogwild]

I have often wondered how Nebraska became what they were and won NC's in the 90's when I wouldn't think there's much talent within 500 miles of Lincoln.  I know Osbourne recruited nationally, Tommy Fraizer is from Bradenton, so what did he do that worked so well?

The 1994 Nebraska team that won the National Title, had 82 players from the state of Nebraska on the team.  Plus ten from California (skill positions).

[Tusks]

Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas and on and on.

Look at what Okie lite has done and that's all you need to know.  The hogs are 30-15 vs okie lite and there's no way that program should ever be ahead of the hogs.  They have camped and lived in Texas, no reason the hogs can't out recruit them.  Texas and T$M can only sign 50, after that the Hogs along with OU should have the highest hit rate there.

Try and sign 1-2 from FL, 1-2 from GA, 2-3 from LA and split the rest between AR and TX.

[hogsanity]

Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas and on and on.

Look at what Okie lite has done and that's all you need to know.  The hogs are 30-15 vs okie lite and there's no way that program should ever be ahead of the hogs.  They have camped and lived in Texas, no reason the hogs can't out recruit them.  Texas and T$M can only sign 50, after that the Hogs along with OU should have the highest hit rate there.

Try and sign 1-2 from FL, 1-2 from GA, 2-3 from LA and split the rest between AR and TX.

Yea, cause no one else is signing kids from Tx.....oh wait, Texas Tech, TCU, Houston, plus LSU gets its fair share from East Texas. 

[Tusks]

Yea, cause no one else is signing kids from Tx.....oh wait, Texas Tech, TCU, Houston, plus LSU gets its fair share from East Texas. 

I didn't know the hogs competed with TTEch, TCU, UH for recruits, didn't used to.

[Hawghiggs]

 
1, Arkansas- east Oklahoma
2, Texas
3, Louisiana
4, Illinois-Kansas-Missouri

  Wouldn't bother recruiting outside of these regions.

[Deep Shoat]

Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Tulsa, St Louis, Memphis, and be the SEC option for linemen in the Midwest.

Add that to the best Arkansas kids and a solid redshirt program, season with a few JuCos, develop and retain.

That is the recipe for Arkansas success.

[HamSammich]

Step 1: set up a big ass tent in Houston

Step 2: flood this market with UA advertising and coaches

Step 3: someone send me some good barbecue from Arkansas for my solving the riddle.

Step 4: repeat step 3


Well men, looks like my work is done here...

[Athog]

Already taken by KSU.

Not... could win that battle!

[Wildhog]

LA, South FL, Houston, DFW, Tulsa, Missouri...  Spot recruit everywhere else.

[Hawgphish]

Recruiting to Arkansas in the SEC is a complicated issue.  I have heard coaches who have left the U of A discuss how difficult it is to convince young kids to go far from home.  So we are at a definite geographic disadvantage.  Additionally, our state produces very few players that can play at the SEC level.  Also, the addition of Texas AM and Missouri to the SEC has sandwiched us with recruiting competition from the fertile Texas grounds.  The recruiting gurus agree that we will never win the recruiting battle in the SEC, especially in the West. 

[Al Boarland]

Already taken by KSU.

If we can't take that title from the KSU program we sure as heck won't be taking any HS recruits from the big boys.

[Hogs-n-Roses]

Texas n across I20. Dallas,Longview,Shreveport,Monroe,Jackson.Miss.

[Wildhog]

If we can't take that title from the KSU program we sure as heck won't be taking any HS recruits from the big boys.

Why would we want to take that title from KSU?

[AirWarren]

yea, cause we give them in state tuition rates.

Yes. Cheaper and easier education.

[Hogtimes]

Yes. Cheaper and easier education.

yea, cause we give them in state tuition rates.

Yep....and the Arkansas tax payers pay for it.

[Hogtimes]

Texas and Louisiana

[Tusks]

Recruiting to Arkansas in the SEC is a complicated issue.  I have heard coaches who have left the U of A discuss how difficult it is to convince young kids to go far from home.  So we are at a definite geographic disadvantage.  Additionally, our state produces very few players that can play at the SEC level.  Also, the addition of Texas AM and Missouri to the SEC has sandwiched us with recruiting competition from the fertile Texas grounds.  The recruiting gurus agree that we will never win the recruiting battle in the SEC, especially in the West. 

Sounds like you talked to a coach that couldn't recruit.

The right coach can recruit anywhere.  Run down a list of out of state players that have played for the hogs, there's a ton of great ones.  It's not like it's never been done before.

[Inhogswetrust]

If we can't take that title from the KSU program we sure as heck won't be taking any HS recruits from the big boys.

KSU is located in a state with a lot of junior colleges and Snyder was brilliant in tapping that potential. Not sure if true still but Arkansas has no juco's playing football. Mississippi also has a lot of junior colleges.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

For Bielema's classes from 2013-2017 here are the states from which we signed our players (total of 121).

AR-33 (27.3%)
FL-17 (14.0%)
TX-15 (12.4%)
LA-12 (9.9%)
CA-8 (6.6%)
GA-6 (5.0%)
KS-6 (5.0%)
MO-5 (4.1%)
OK-4 (3.3%)
MS-4 (3.3%)
IA-2 (1.7%)
AZ-2 (1.7%)
MN-1 (0.8%)
NJ-1 (0.8%)
CO-1 (0.8%)
HI-1 (0.8%)
IL-1 (0.8%)
TN-1 (0.8%)
AL-1 (0.8%)

I'd say our staff is covering a lot of ground.

[HamSammich]

For Bielema's classes from 2013-2017 here are the states from which we signed our players (total of 121).

AR-33 (27.3%)
FL-17 (14.0%)
TX-15 (12.4%)
LA-12 (9.9%)
CA-8 (6.6%)
GA-6 (5.0%)
KS-6 (5.0%)
MO-5 (4.1%)
OK-4 (3.3%)
MS-4 (3.3%)
IA-2 (1.7%)
AZ-2 (1.7%)
MN-1 (0.8%)
NJ-1 (0.8%)
CO-1 (0.8%)
HI-1 (0.8%)
IL-1 (0.8%)
TN-1 (0.8%)
AL-1 (0.8%)

I'd say our staff is covering a lot of ground.

We are our own State in Houston. I don't se "Hu" on your list.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

We are our own State in Houston. I don't se "Hu" on your list.

Sorry, I don't get what you are saying.

[Atlhogfan1]

Nebraska built a successful program in an 8 team conference with other Midwest programs.   They are now a has been irrelevant for 15 years now that their brand has faded and they have had to compete with programs whose home base was Texas and Ohio Pa Mich and beyond.   NU is now Iowa.   

[Atlhogfan1]

We won't outrecruit the SEC.  Have to evaluate well, retain players and develop well.  The state of Ark Is almost useless especially the craphole LR.  Football is too hard for the kids there.  Drive bys and basketball.  At least it may keep our bask program treading water.