Arkansas looking for depth at tight end

[Hogstradamus]

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[Jim Harris]

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How about we do something different? How about we look for some TALENT at tight end?

There is a kid in Mississippi, at Ocean Springs. Made All-State in Mississippi as a junior. Plays linebacker too, but will be a great tight end. Has relatives in Arkansas. Father is good friends with a Hog star of yesterday. Has offers from all the SEC biggies east of the Mississippi river, as well as Miami and many others. Has NOT heard a word, even through a letter, from Arkansas.
Kid's name is Richard Dixon. I know it. How can Chris Vaughn and Clifton Ealy not know it?

[SonOfMud]

. How can Chris Vaughn and Clifton Ealy not know it?

You aren't being serious are you?

[SonOfMud]

How about we do something different? How about we look for some TALENT at tight end?

There is a kid in Mississippi, at Ocean Springs. Made All-State in Mississippi as a junior. Plays linebacker too, but will be a great tight end. Has relatives in Arkansas. Father is good friends with a Hog star of yesterday. Has offers from all the SEC biggies east of the Mississippi river, as well as Miami and many others. Has NOT heard a word, even through a letter, from Arkansas.
Kid's name is Richard Dixon. I know it. How can Chris Vaughn and Clifton Ealy not know it?

I have an idea how this will play out.  Somewhere during the middle of this next season, the Hogs will finally get on the ball and offer this kid after they wake up.  But because of the lack of ability to determine quality players while they are 10th and 11th graders, the coaching staff will be trying to play catchup on this kid, all the while Otis Grit tells the Hog nation that the Hogs have the inside track because of family from Arkansas.  Then when this kid goes to Miami, Grit will tell us that it was really close between the two schools, but the reality being the Hogs had no chance because they didn't even know about this kid til it was to late.  Sound familiar?

[Oklahawg]

A few years back there was something said by a coach about having a GA assigned to monitor fan message boards. I don't know if it was serious, or not, but I recall it being said. I wonder...how difficult is it to have a GA log on to rivals and scout and download the top 100, or all 4-star and 5-star recruits info so the coaches can send something out?

This dovetails with something said about Mack Brown and Texas two years ago. UT buys info from a couple of recruiting sites. There is concern about the good ole boy network contributing to UT's perennial run at Recruiting National Champion.

I think we may be working the recruiting game a bit harder rather than smarter. A small amount of info, in advance, might do us some wonders.

Ealy is out getting his name mentioned in the recruiting game a lot this spring. Maybe he's the one reading message boards, and he knows that I, for one, would love to see him become a game ranger or Artic weather patrol officer so we can get an upgrade on the staff.

[tophawg19]

i would like to see the recruiting coordinator not involved in every day coaching as a position coach
he needs to be free to concentrate all his energies toward recruiting .it is important enough to hire
someone to focus entirely on it . this just makes good sense take the money from the recruiting budget if needed .organized recruiting would save enough to more than justify the cost & would
boost recruiting success

[Jim Harris]

i would like to see the recruiting coordinator not involved in every day coaching as a position coach
he needs to be free to concentrate all his energies toward recruiting .it is important enough to hire
someone to focus entirely on it . this just makes good sense take the money from the recruiting budget if needed .organized recruiting would save enough to more than justify the cost & would
boost recruiting success

can't do that anymore. the NCAA cut out the recruiting coordinator position  as a separate entity a few years back, forcing schools to assign the duties to one of the full-time assistants.

[Jim Harris]

A few years back there was something said by a coach about having a GA assigned to monitor fan message boards. I don't know if it was serious, or not, but I recall it being said. I wonder...how difficult is it to have a GA log on to rivals and scout and download the top 100, or all 4-star and 5-star recruits info so the coaches can send something out?

This dovetails with something said about Mack Brown and Texas two years ago. UT buys info from a couple of recruiting sites. There is concern about the good ole boy network contributing to UT's perennial run at Recruiting National Champion.

I think we may be working the recruiting game a bit harder rather than smarter. A small amount of info, in advance, might do us some wonders.

Ealy is out getting his name mentioned in the recruiting game a lot this spring. Maybe he's the one reading message boards, and he knows that I, for one, would love to see him become a game ranger or Artic weather patrol officer so we can get an upgrade on the staff.

It's the recruiting guru of a certain paper getting Ealy's name out with about every story. Whoever would be that guru's source is going to get his name mentioned alot. Reading only that guru and you would think Vaughn is the wunderkind of recruiting coordination, a veritable Ronny Cottell times 100.

BTW, they do have GA assigned to read the boards.

[tophawg19]

ok make him special teams coach we don't seem to practice that much anyway . or let him be a weight training coach .

[Jim Harris]

ok make him special teams coach we don't seem to practice that much anyway . or let him be a weight training coach .

It could be special teams coach. can't be hte weight training coach, he's not one of the eight full-time football assistants.
Personally, I wish  they'd bring back Louis Campbell to the defensive staff and park Ealy up in the football operations staff, or join the rest of the SEC and finally name someone the High School Liaison (would Ealy be a "dangerous" liaison) and put him there.

[tophawg19]

that's a title i'm not familiar with H.S liason [sp]

[akp4105]

we need help at tight end because no one wants to play tight end at arkansas..because alot of the time he's just a blocker..tight ends wanna have the ball in their hands also and arkansas doesnt use the tight end in the offense enough..im not askin for a winslow or somethin..but we gotta throw to them some..i think they just put wes murphy in there and let him catch a few balls..he played bball in high school and has some hands

[tophawg19]

Mark Winston can run & catch but if we don't throw to them we might as well recruit more linemen
and try to find one of them that can catch .

[akp4105]

winston also played bball in high school and was offered d1 scholarships to play basketball in college..he has very good hands also..but we waste these guys in my opinion..they are very athletic..they can do more than just block..having that damn run first offense..even in the shotgun..doesnt help the passing game much..

[Jim Harris]

that's a title i'm not familiar with H.S liason [sp]

check around the SEC. Florida, Bama, Tennessee, all of them have a person, a former coach or whoever, devoted to maintaining their relationship with the high schools, which may be a way of getting around some of the recruiting coordinator crap Nutt leaves on Vaughn. Can you imagine if there were High School liaison at Arkansas, maybe 75 per cent of Nutt's problems that have arisen in Warren, Fort Smith, Mayflower, etc. would go away?

[tophawg19]

we are a balanced offense remember  tight ends are wasted. good hands ,height & speed
causes matchup problems .sound familiar .

[akp4105]

HDN is not gonna give up this "Matt Jones Offense"...he'll start RoJo next year and he's not the best qb on the team, but he wants to try to run that damn offense..get in shotgun and act like your gonna throw it and then run some option crap that will end up gettin us not a first down but 10 yards in the hole, RoJo overthrew everyone in the practices i watched..i think Cole Barthel has looked the best through the spring..i went to bout 3 or 4 practices and the red/white game..he looks the best..he's gotta lot to learn but he should be the man..arkansas needs a drop back qb..mortenson just looks really shaky..runs from the pocket too early..

[hawgfan_18]

Mark Winston can run & catch but if we don't throw to them we might as well recruit more linemen
and try to find one of them that can catch .

Exactly...WTH is the deal we recruit these guys and basically tell them to block, they never get the ball thrown to them. that is why i question the need for Ealy?

[tophawg19]

thanks Drake is this a coaching position ? can he contact recruits ? can he go out of state to H.S
in other states .& how many can you have .

[Jim Harris]

thanks Drake is this a coaching position ? can he contact recruits ? can he go out of state to H.S
in other states .& how many can you have .

the guy deals with in-state high schools, he's not among the full-time "coaches" on the field, he cannot recruit prospects in person (and since that, it would be pointless to have him making calls), he serves as a go-between with the high school coaches and the university. At least, that's how I understand Alabama's job duties. Most schools have one High School Liaison.
Sounds like just the job for Ealy.

[tophawg19]

GOTCHA  that would open up a spot for a real coach .