Ohhhh we got close

[redeye]

Thing is no one on this board knew he grew up in Jacksonville FL and watched the gators growing up.  That's a key detail in this whole thing.  Had we known that I think a lot of the fanbase would understand that and we wouldn't have believed he was such a strong lean here.  I have no problem with his decision although I bet he'd have more success here.  Emotion always wins.

I mentioned it nearly every time his name came up over the past several months, but I never considered him a strong lean here and I'm not sure anyone else did, either.

[gchamblee]

I think its great that we were second.  That is awesome and I can't wait to come in second on more top notch recruits.

Coming in second when you traditionally didn't place at all is a good sign of improvement and leads me to believe that we are setting ourselves up for first place finishes in the near future. Obviously this is not how the doom and gloomers see it though.

[gchamblee]

kid didn't wanna be a razorback, can't force him to be one or he wouldn't excel when he was on campus. Probably good that he didn't come here if his heart wasn't in it.

Philon says hi

[gchamblee]

Like Fitz Hill used to say "there is only one place in recruiting and that is first place, everywhere else is last place." If you finish second on the top twenty five recruits in the nation what have you got? Nothing. Sometimes you've got to know your limitations. That was Danny Ford. D.J Cooper, Clint Stoerner, Anthony Lucas, Bobby Williams, Kenoy Kennedy, Jeremy Flowers, Grant Garrett to name a few.

So it is your position that we should stop swinging for the fences and concentrate on just getting on base? I personally hope we get on base but continue to swing for the fences.

[redeye]

Cleveland I can live with, the Putu decision still stings for me. He seemed like the kind of kid that when he gave you his word is was stronger than a signed contract. I still think he is a kid of good character but i feel like he broke up with us when we did nothing wrong

Yea, Putu was a much bigger disappointment, because he seemed fully committed.  Richard was already saying that we'd love him, but he never gave us that chance.  He could have flipped to Florida earlier, so I wonder what changed late?

[PorkRinds]

Yea, Putu was a much bigger disappointment, because he seemed fully committed.  Richard was already saying that we'd love him, but he never gave us that chance.  He could have flipped to Florida earlier, so I wonder what changed late?

His coach is good friends with Randy Shannon.  Randy Shannon and his coach got in his ear. Basically convinced him that FL was his ticket to the NFL.  That's what happened. 

[TOM "tbw1"]

quit opening threads on subjects that don't interest you, idiot.

This is Friday.  Let's all relax a bit.

[gchamblee]

This is Friday.  Let's all relax a bit.

Sorry Tom. He seemed to be begging for it and I didnt want him to leave the thread unfulfilled. Ill relax.

[DeltaBoy]

I'm feeling good and I not going to worry anymore about the ones we missed.   We got so close that on NSD it was like a kick in the Nuts to see them go somewhere else.

[Hawgndaaz]

I actually feel much better after reading the article. Great kid who chose Florida for all the right reasons. Do what you want to do, not what everyone else wants you to do.

Best of luck to him.

[Nosboar Accubond]

Cleveland and Fulton both ended up going to the schools they grew up around...

This is and always will be our biggest hurdle, lack of deep in-state elite talent. We all know that, until we can produce talent on the level of Louisiana or decide to engage the proper bagmen ala Ole Missy we will have a hard time getting these guys.

Winning a consistently higher level will help, continuing to develop relationships will help, branding will help, but instate talent is a big factor too. We need them all to come together to get top classes, or just starting cheating lights out.

:razorback: :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

[lumphog]

SAY (or whine) what you want.....But, it's a process & we ARE making steps in the RIGHT direction.......IT IS COMING!!!!!! Have a little faith

[RazorbackToTheFuture]

Close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades.

WPS, on to next year.

[Vantage 8 dude]

I too want to go ahead and put '16 recruiting to "bed". However, just one comment/thought concerning this particular article. Time and time again we've seen kids select schools based on some "funky", strange reasons....sometimes it's the color of the unis, the shoes a program uses, the helmets, the "swag"-whatever that really means a lot of times-etc. However, we often also run into where the kid's "heart" is. Where did he grow up, is there a particular school(s) this family/friends followed, etc. Certainly the Hogs have been a beneficiary of that loyalty and love over and over again. In this particular case apparently Cleveland's long time obsession/desire to play for the "swamp reptiles" was just too much to overcome even an aunt's tearful pleas to "make the right choice" and come to the Hill.

In the end we believe and/or hope that with our coaches' best efforts and powers of persuasion, a great time during a recruiting visit, all the tremendous things that the Hill has to offer, the Catfish Hole, the power and enthusiasm of the fans, etc. etc...we can pull the kid along enough to convenience him that a Hog is what he should be. Unfortunately, despite our absolute best, it isn't always going to happen. This is obvious one of those instances. While I may be disappointed at not signing this kid, I can rest much easier knowing that we did EVERYTHING humanly possible to sway this young man. And while I don't go in for "moral victories", giving it your totally best shot is ALL anyone can ever ask. In this case we just had too much of the deck stacked against us......

[longpig]

I mentioned it nearly every time his name came up over the past several months, but I never considered him a strong lean here and I'm not sure anyone else did, either.

Cognitive dissonance is rampant in Hogville, very few cooled off on DW after his indecent proposal to a 14 year old too.

[longpig]

I actually feel much better after reading the article. Great kid who chose Florida for all the right reasons. Do what you want to do, not what everyone else wants you to do.

Best of luck to him.

Good to see we were actually in it to the bitter end, not just being let down easy.   

[HSVhogfan2]

Arkansas is stacked at receiver for one season. Then what?

Exactly. You can't ever have too many guys who can run.

[longpig]

Thanks for posting that longpig.

Cleveland is gonna be good and it's still nice to see that we came close (don't care who disagrees).  His family passionately wanting Arkansas tells me that Bielema's getting the job done and that the problems he's had closing recruits are related to something else.

Now I just hope we can make Tyrie and Putu regret their decisions next year, when we play Florida in Fayetteville.

P.S. Don't worry about the critics here, because they'll be gone in a few days.

No worries, this ain't my first rodeo

[longpig]

Exactly. You can't ever have too many guys who can run.

We may be stacked at receiver with what's on the roster till 2018, won't know till they get on the field.

[Vantage 8 dude]

Close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades.

WPS, on to next year.

Wow, did YOU really come up with that piece of cleverness all by yourself?! I mean is it like copyrighted or can we all use it 'cause it really is so totally awesome.

[Hogs-n-Roses]

For all parties concerned. The student athlete, his family(or caregivers), the University, other students already on the team. The family must be in the recruitment or involved to some degree. There fore you must recruit the families also. For multiple reasons. Looks like we're doing just that. Win some, lose some. Win more games and we'll win more of these battles.

[redeye]

His coach is good friends with Randy Shannon.  Randy Shannon and his coach got in his ear. Basically convinced him that FL was his ticket to the NFL.  That's what happened.

Someone else said his coach is a Florida fan, but I didn't know Shannon was responsible.

[Karma]

Who cares? Good grief it's done and over. Lets move on.

You clicked on the thread, you commented on the thread.

[Pig In The City]

Spend time on what you have.  This kind of gnashing of the teeth just isn't healthy.

[redeye]

Spend time on what you have.  This kind of gnashing of the teeth just isn't healthy.

I'm not gnashing my teeth, because I never expected to get him.  I'm just pleased to know we were close, so I guess it depends on your outlook.

[PorkRinds]

Someone else said his coach is a Florida fan, but I didn't know Shannon was responsible.

Heard RD say it on the radio. I believe it was RD. One of the local recruiting guys. RD, forgive me if that wasn't actually you.

[Smokehouse]

"I don't think we should talk about this, so I'm going to comment on it and bump it to the top of the forum so more people see it" ... 

I thought the article was germane to Razorback recruiting in general. The staff clearly had an impact and won the family over big time. And (Fulton aside ) this seems to be a regular occurrence. That's going to pay dividends at times.

[1highhog]

for the right reasons

https://www.seccountry.com/florida/the-story-behind-tyrie-clevelands-commitment-to-florida

They expect Tyrie to make and immediate impact for the gators this coming season for them, he's no longer in my memory until we play them and I hope he gets slammed hard everytime a ball get thrown his way.  Other than that, Tyrie, Putu, and Fulton are the enemy now so I hope they get burned when the Hogs play them.

[HogBreath]

Arkansas is stacked at receiver for one season. Then what?

Have you heard about Kody Walker coming back?

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

Arkansas is stacked at receiver for one season. Then what?

We see if Deon Stewart and Pettway are as good as the coaches has been saying playing next to Jared.

But I wouldn't expect you to know the roster. Have you finally figured out Randy Ramsey is back?

[tophawg19]

we will be fine at WR after next year as well . Pettway, Stewart ,according to CBB are going to be very good . this years class has some very good ones too. If Enloe's injury is ok he will more than make up for Pollard

[Smokehouse]

They expect Tyrie to make and immediate impact for the gators this coming season for them, he's no longer in my memory until we play them and I hope he gets slammed hard everytime a ball get thrown his way.  Other than that, Tyrie, Putu, and Fulton are the enemy now so I hope they get burned when the Hogs play them.

Cleveland and Fulton seem like good kids who genuinely considered the Hogs but ended up on teams they grew up cheering for. I don't mind wishing them luck outside of their games against the Hogs.

Putu can stuff it, though.

[hawginbigd1]

we will be fine at WR after next year as well . Pettway, Stewart ,according to CBB are going to be very good . this years class has some very good ones too. If Enloe's injury is ok he will more than make up for Pollard

I really don't believe Pollard was going to play WR here, which is another reason he is at USCe.

[Rzbakfromwaybak]

Well I guess we all know were you stand on the talent we hauled in. Cool story bro.

Has nothing to do with the talent we pulled in, so you are dead wrong.  We got some good ones in this class. The thread is only discussing the high number of big one's that we missed on late.  I'm sure that our coaches, were also a little unhappy with our late misses.  That doesn't mean they were disappointed with the group they signed.  They wanted, & expected a few more really good ones to sign in this class.