The blue chips that we missed out...

[bphi11ips]

Location. 

Comparable or better programs are closer to the more fertile recruiting areas.  The biggest handicap our football program has.  Really the only handicap. 

Football recruiting is first about location.  We are farther away from their home areas and the African American culture many are used to based on where they are from.  Then it is about brand.  Mich and ND can be exceptions because of brand - history, university's rep, coaches etc. 

This is lost on those without the perspective to understand it, but succinctly stated.

[Hambunctious]

Then you turn our boosters loose too until the brand is built.  You know we have some of the sneakiest business people in the entire world. They know how to get around....issues.

[passinghog]

IronHog and Atlhogfan are giving our fans the ugly truth; you can either accept the reality or not. I'm gonna go ahead and add to it too. Since we've been in the SEC, under every staff, every time we've had a chance to fill an opening with a proven, great recruiter, we don't. Almost always the guy that's a better coach than recruiter. Not to mention, not enough minority assistants. I've never understood why schools like LSU, Alabama or Auburn have 4,5, or 6 minorities in the field as assistants and many years Arkansas would have 1 or 2. We're already behind the 8-ball, and for years we refused to even recognize that's something we could change. Our program still isn't doing everything they can to make this place a more appealing place to recruit the type of athletes to compete consistently in the upper-echelon of the SEC.

[IronHog]

Then you turn our boosters loose too until the brand is built.  You know we have some of the sneakiest business people in the entire world. They know how to get around....issues.

That's another issue.....Arkansas' big boosters just don't really care like some schools.

[passinghog]

That's another issue.....Arkansas' big boosters just don't really care like some schools.

That too....

[shown006]

Did you see all the NWA fans whining about having to go to Memphis during the bowl?


trying to recruit southern kids to a place that looks down on them will always be a losing proposition.



The problem has and always will be the location of campus......and those that live there.

You do for some reason seem to hear a lot of negative talk about Central Ark...Little Rock, etc.

[hoglady]

UofA doesn't feel southern and has an attitude that gives off a strange vibe IMO. 


Lock down Arkansas, get what they can from LA and Texas cause the Deep South kids ain't coming unless they're out of options.

Yep - I was talking about Fayetteville in another thread the other day and got called an excuse maker. I look at it as a truth teller. NWA is a beautiful and booming area but it does not "feel" like the south. It feels like a different world for some of these kids - and some just will not like it.
I grew up in Northern LA and for me LR is as far north as I would ever live - when I'm driving the state I feel much more at home in South AR. It's actually hard to describe.

[Been10Hog]

I blame Federal Judge Henry Woods who destroyed Central Ark Football with his pet desegregation case.  We are not producing the kids in Central Ark or even in Pine Bluff we used too.

Very good point! Wish more "troubled" kids would sign up for sports as a pathway to a better life. Otherwise most will never sniff college!

[ChiTown27]

Why do we care about blue chips, when we only want red chips? The guys we got are all in, and I'll guarantee that our guys are hungry to prove themselves. We will be just fine, and we will beat LSU again this year causing their coach to lose his job.

[Been10Hog]

I complained about it too and look down on Memphis.

Yeah! Memphis is an armpit! Liberty Bowl was supposedly a "better" bowl than Texas Bowl. Give me Houston over Memphis please! Music City in Nashville was a "lesser bowl" but nicer trip IMO

[DeltaBoy]

Coach is Happy and Richard Davenport is Happy about this Class so I will be happy too.

[billmontgomery10]

I think it's great that we can grab some good players out of Florida, Georgia and Louisiana but the Hawgs are missing out by not recruiting Oklahoma harder. OSU had a dismal recruiting effort this year and even "mighty" OU barely finished above the Hawgs in the recruiting services. There are blue chippers in Oklahoma and it seems much easier to persuade them to come than in other states where we face other SEC West teams in recruiting. I don't understand why we don't recruit harder in Oklahoma and Missouri to add to the recruiting in Texas. When Arkansas was a brand name in college football, it kept the top players from in state and added some of the best players from Oklahoma and Texas. I hope CBB can build relations with the coaches at Jenks, Tulsa Union, Broken Arrow and other schools in Oklahoma and Jefferson City, Rockhurst, Blue Springs South in Missouri who furnish talented players to colleges. Louisiana has a ton of talent but it's going to be  rare when we can get one of the top blue chippers to go anywhere but LSU.

[Hoggish1]

We didn't miss out-


They did!

First rate thinking.

[Hoggish1]

You can try to spin the Home State tale, but all you need to refute that is to look at the Ole Miss class.

Out of 25 guys in their Top 5 class ONLY SIX ARE FROM MS.

In other words, nineteen of their guys were from out of state.

Your post about OldPi$$ raises the usual questions for me.  I don't think Col. Reb does things that fit the home state mold.

[Hoggish1]

I hear ya and that makes sense.  So how does one explain Ole Miss?  Its a small town that is booming, but it cant have anything on Fayetteville and NW Arkansas.  Its in one of the most racist states in all the country.  The confederate flag is part of the state flag.  Its 90 mins from Memphis- a 1M population metro area, but its not like there is a ton of night life and such that would interest a kid from say Miami or Chicago yet I heard Ole Miss is going to sign like 12-13 4 star players and they got the best QB prospect in the country. 

( yes, I heard what BB said about OM and Fla's recruiting-ole BB sure isn't scared to put it all out there. LOL)

We'll see if Hugh puts it all together this year LMAO, or goes 0-3 with all the high priced out of state talent. 

The Oldpiss game is one I'm going to see in person.

[Hogwild]

Yeah! Memphis is an armpit! Liberty Bowl was supposedly a "better" bowl than Texas Bowl. Give me Houston over Memphis please! Music City in Nashville was a "lesser bowl" but nicer trip IMO

It's not a better bowl anymore. Of the three bowls listed, the Liberty's payout was the lowest of the three.
The Liberty bowl dropped their payout from $2.4 million in 2014 to under $1.5 million last season.

SEC schools and their payouts:

Florida Gators – Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan: $4.25 million
Tennessee Volunteers – Outback Bowl vs. Northwestern: $3.50 million
LSU Tigers – Advocare V100 Texas Bowl vs. Texas Tech: $3.0 million
Georgia Bulldogs – Taxslayer Bowl vs. Penn State: $2.75 million
Texas A&M Aggies – Music City Bowl vs. Louisville: $2.75 million
Mississippi State Bulldogs – Belk Bowl vs. NC State: $1.7 million
Arkansas Razorbacks – Autozone Liberty Bowl vs. Kansas State: $1.437 million
Auburn Tigers – Birmingham Bowl vs. Memphis: $1.1 million

[Hoggish1]

Does anyone actually believe ole miss is legitimate?  I remember back when ole hootie was the coach and they signed like 47 players one year.  Of those players they signed like the #1, #2,#3,#4 WR in america.   This was under Nutts offense!! I knew right then that ole miss went riding dirty and they have ever since.  You cant tell me  hugh freeze comes in his first year and gets a top class at ole miss legitimately when he had no previous experience as a big time coach.  And then he does it a few years .  There is just no way they arent cheating. 

U can look back at say a team like bama when they payed albert means $275k to go to bama.  They got in trouble but nothing like they probably should have got.  These teams that were once powerhouses dont have to pay players once they get it rolling again.  They just do it until they get a few great teams under the belt. Like say bama, i doubt they have to pay players to go there now, but i dont doubt for a second they did a few times after the albert means deal.  Auburn did it.    I look at ole miss and its just obvious they are doing it.  And really, what does a coach have to lose in a case like that?  If they dont win enough games they are going to get fired anyways.  If they pay for players and get caught theyll get fired , but they can always blame it on some rogue assistant coach . Haha.  Anyways, I'm just tired of seeing a crappy team like ole miss cheating and getting top recruiting classes.  :/

Once a team that cheats gets rolling they can just pay them after they get there to play and drop the pay to visit.

[tophawg19]

saying location is everything just isn't true. these kids will travel as we just saw with Cleveland and Putu . The thing we are missing is the ability to close on the kids coming here . look at Porter going to texas ? make no sense? when was the last time texas had a thousand yard rusher , much less two in the same year ? Why would any kid sign with Texas , LSU or Auburn knowing there is a good chance of a coaching change after next season ?

[hoglady]

saying location is everything just isn't true. these kids will travel as we just saw with Cleveland and Putu . The thing we are missing is the ability to close on the kids coming here . look at Porter going to texas ? make no sense? when was the last time texas had a thousand yard rusher , much less two in the same year ? Why would any kid sign with Texas , LSU or Auburn knowing there is a good chance of a coaching change after next season ?

Strong is a fantastic recruiter. He pulled in some pretty good talent to Louisville.
Texas is still Texas - lots of those kids grew up Longhorn fans.
Mack Brown was lazy toward the end - Charlie is not.
If they start winning again - he'll have Top 5 classes every year.