A lot of y'all say we need to recruit better

[theFlyingHog]

How in the name of Zeus' *** do you suggest we "recruit better"?

[parallaxpig]

Get more 4 & 5 star recruits...how else.

[razorbackchamps94]

Quit going after 2 stars

[NaturalStateReb]

How in the name of Zeus' *** do you suggest we "recruit better"?

Get in on guys earlier and make more offers.

[mutt]

come in with a sack of money like everyone else

[WorfHog]

Get in on guys earlier and make more offers.

Can't do that if we fire coaches that build those long term relationships.

[HiggiePiggy]

Pay them more. 

[orvillesghost]

We cant


It is the single biggest limiting factor in our program and has been really since we went into the SEC.


As so many have pointed out, when Arkansas has the in-state class of great talents which happens maybe once in 10 years, then we have somewhat of a chance to reach the top level in the league. Otherwise, it is going to continue to be quite difficult..

I don't like it, it is a hard thing to accept but it is the reality of things...

[Atlhogfan1]

Expand the pool.  Take chances on more risks.  When the police reports become more frequent we know we are getting better. 

I don't think Bielema will go this route and I can respect it.  I'd rather not see the UA in a negative light.  But many don't care and I see their point of view too.  It limits an already limited pool.  It is his career at risk. 

Convince the backwards state of Arkansas to get rid of some superintendents and school boards and consolidate creating some bigger and maybe better football programs.  Ark has a ridiculous amount of small schools.  At least Pulaski County is going to save our basketball program.  What a waste as far as football. 

[ChicoHog]

We cant


It is the single biggest limiting factor in our program and has been really since we went into the SEC.


As so many have pointed out, when Arkansas has the in-state class of great talents which happens maybe once in 10 years, then we have somewhat of a chance to reach the top level in the league. Otherwise, it is going to continue to be quite difficult..

I don't like it, it is a hard thing to accept but it is the reality of things...

Well said. I think the only chance we have and that is a slim one is if we somehow start putting 10-2, 11-1 and at worst 9-3 seasons back to back to back to back, etc.,  We will never get the best players because of our location unless we become a top notch winning program.  And of course since becoming a top notch program usually means you have top recruits I don't think it will happen. 

[Hawghiggs]

  1, Focus on regional areas
      a, Arkansas / Eastern Oklahoma
      b, Louisiana
      c, Texas
      d, Missouri / Kansas

  2, Assistant Coaches must have a background from one of these areas.
       

[snoot hoggy hog]

It's amazing how everybody forgot what happened this past recruiting year. We brought in all those 4/5 star recruits, sent the whole coaching staff to one or two of their homes for visits and we still got burnt badder than a soldier going "commando" through the red light district.

[PorkSoda]

or maybe we just keep competing the right way, and stop sweating the fact that we aren't bama.

[jvanhorn]

LOL, if we could just get Conway and Fayetteville to swap cities and facilities  that might help.  The location is just crap.  How Tennessee manages to get much done being so far from Nashville and Memphis is a mystery to me, but at least they are on an interstate.  LSU is kind of in the middle.  OU is kind of in the middle.  When Lou Holtz said Fayetteville wasn't the end of the world but you could see it from there he wasn't all wrong.  Fayetteville is a nice place, but what you can see from there is a crappy piece of Kansas, a crappy piece of Missouri and an Indian casino across the Oklahoma line.  No matter how you cut it not a good location for a major university.  But it is what it is.

[Prestworthy]

or maybe we just keep competing the right way, and stop sweating the fact that we aren't bama.

This is the mindset that keeps UA at 7-5.

[Arthur pigby sellers.]

 Only three real way for us to improve recruiting :

:)1.  Cheat
2.   Fix Little Rock schools
3.   Substantial consolidation of schools in Arkansas to improve competition


Y'all need to put things in perspective.  Our recruiting is not bad.  It's generally in the 20's.  Unfortunately we play the freaks of college football every week so it appears we don't have the Jimmys and Joes they do. In fact we can't ever recruit with Auburn, Bama, LSU or A and M until we do one of the things I listed above. Notice I didn't put Ole Miss name on there.  We all know why they are recruiting well.

[jlhogfan]

Try harder

[Little Lady Back]

Do what Ole Miss has been doing but don't get caught!!

[hogsanity]

Only three real way for us to improve recruiting :

:)1.  Cheat
2.   Fix Little Rock schools
3.   Substantial consolidation of schools in Arkansas to improve competition


Y'all need to put things in perspective.  Our recruiting is not bad.  It's generally in the 20's.  Unfortunately we play the freaks of college football every week so it appears we don't have the Jimmys and Joes they do. In fact we can't ever recruit with Auburn, Bama, LSU or A and M until we do one of the things I listed above. Notice I didn't put Ole Miss name on there.  We all know why they are recruiting well.

EXACTLY. Our classes are usually top 15-20, out of 125+ fbs schools, yet that is usually only 7th or 8th in the SEC.

BTW, good luck with #3 on your list, gotta make sure every hole in the road has their own school so they can continue to suck up govt money and their jimbob bo jacks can continue to have their cushy govt trough jobs.

[go hogues]

Do what Ole Miss has been doing but don't get caught!!

They've gotten caught and it hasn't slowed them down one bit. They are a Bama loss away from going to the SECCG.

[SDZ_Hog]

Spit balling here

1. Increase the population in NWA with a targeted breeding program. the 2034 season will be here before you know it. 
2. Hire a high level NCAA compliance person(s) to help you cheat.   
3. Go after the 2nd or 3rd chance people.
4.  Lobby the NCAA to decrease the max scholarship limits to a level where it distributes higher quality players evenly.
5.  Move the campus to Texarkana.  2 hr 40 away from Dallas 5 hours away from Houston.  Couple of hours away from N. Louisiana.

[Little Lady Back]

They've gotten caught and it hasn't slowed them down one bit. They are a Bama loss away from going to the SECCG.

Exactly!

[Großer Kriegschwein]

Spit balling here

1. Increase the population in NWA with a targeted breeding program. the 2034 season will be here before you know it. 
2. Hire a high level NCAA compliance person(s) to help you cheat.   
3. Go after the 2nd or 3rd chance people.
4.  Lobby the NCAA to decrease the max scholarship limits to a level where it distributes higher quality players evenly.
5.  Move the campus to Texarkana.  2 hr 40 away from Dallas 5 hours away from Houston.  Couple of hours away from N. Louisiana.

45 minutes from northern Louisiana.

[SDZ_Hog]

45 minutes from northern Louisiana.

I was taking in account the time it takes to get to the Monroe area and vicinity.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I was taking in account the time it takes to get to the Monroe area and vicinity.

So we need to recruit Monroe?

Ok.

[Jim Harris]

Quit going after 2 stars

what if those are all that are left?

[Großer Kriegschwein]

what if those are all that are left?

Then you've failed as a recruiter in the SEC.

[Jim Harris]

They've gotten caught and it hasn't slowed them down one bit. They are a Bama loss away from going to the SECCG.

It has slowed them down a little bit this recruiting season. They're having more of a Bielema-type year with their list of commitments. May have to take a shot at some projects.

[jlhogfan]

what if those are all that are left?

Then you are doing it wrong

[Jim Harris]

  1, Focus on regional areas
      a, Arkansas / Eastern Oklahoma
      b, Louisiana
      c, Texas
      d, Missouri / Kansas

  2, Assistant Coaches must have a background from one of these areas.
       

The three best performers on Arkansas's defense Saturday night (Coley, Pulley and Ledbetter) are from Florida. I'm finally convinced that Arkansas hasn't hit Florida enough.

[TheGunther]

Stabilize the Little Rock school district.

[hogmolar]

To the ones who say go after more "high risk" recruits. What happens when those "high risk" recruits do not pan out, which would probably be on a 50% rate or they would not be "high risk".  This mean that our program would have 4-5 win seasons on a regular basis with an occasional 9-10 win season thrown in there.  I personally would take 7-9 wins on a consistent basis than that. 

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

We cant. We have far too many strikes against us before we even get started.
1. We have the smallest in-state recruiting base in the SEC (and its not even close)
2. We are surrounded by media darling programs. Oklahoma to the northwest, Texas/a&m to the west, LSU to the south, Ole miss to the east.
3. The further you are away from a recruits family, the less likely you are to get them to even visit. This obviously doesn't apply to every prospect, but it is definitely a factor. It is also affected by #2, because not only do we have to get kids to go out of their way to get here, they have to go past auburn, bama, and ole miss to get here (or texas, tcu a&m from west)
4. This one really hurts me to admit, but few if any kids outside of the state of Arkansas grow up wanting to be an Arkansas razorback. They dream of playing for bama, USC, and Ohio State. Arkansas is just where they land when things don't work out as planned (see philon)

[Boss Hog in the Arkansas]

Stabilize the Little Rock school district.

agree 100000000%

[Swinesong1]

Stabilize the Little Rock school district.

Been years of central AR bashing by the pro NWA crowd in Hogville.  Their beloved part of the state has grown fast enough and will produce enough athletes to feed the Hogs.  Better facilities.  Better coaching.  Better people.  What happened to that?  Now y'all need central AR huh?

[theFlyingHog]

My question is, what good is recruiting if you can't coach them? I mean, how many 4* linemen do we have riding the pine while a converted defensive lineman starts? We have like 17 O-linemen on the roster and for some reason this is the best we can do??! That comes down to coaching. And I don't want to hear this garbage about how this is Anderson's first year. Coaches get replaced all the time and don't have shoddy units like our OL. If the learning curve is that steep then learn to dumb it down enough that we can actually run plays without killing our QB, or so we can actually run the football.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

My question is, what good is recruiting if you can't coach them? I mean, how many 4* linemen do we have riding the pine while a converted defensive lineman starts? We have like 17 O-linemen on the roster and for some reason this is the best we can do??! That comes down to coaching. And I don't want to hear this garbage about how this is Anderson's first year. Coaches get replaced all the time and don't have shoddy units like our OL. If the learning curve is that steep then learn to dumb it down enough that we can actually run plays without killing our QB, or so we can actually run the football.

I'm really is disgusting isn't it?

[hogsanity]

Been years of central AR bashing by the pro NWA crowd in Hogville.  Their beloved part of the state has grown fast enough and will produce enough athletes to feed the Hogs.  Better facilities.  Better coaching.  Better people.  What happened to that?  Now y'all need central AR huh?

So you think the LRSD is okay? You think the rate of kids who are either not even going to school, or have grades too low to qualify to play hs football is acceptable in that area? The lrsd needs bashed for many reasons, the least of which are athletics. Did you see what happened to one of the lr hs football teams earlier this year, they lost a game in which they had NEGATIVE yards. How can a public hs in the states largest city have a team that bad?

[hogsanity]

The three best performers on Arkansas's defense Saturday night (Coley, Pulley and Ledbetter) are from Florida. I'm finally convinced that Arkansas hasn't hit Florida enough.

If the Hogs ever field a team, especially on D, where the majority of the players are 3 & 4 star players from OUTSIDE Arkansas, they will win the sec, until then we will continue to struggle.

The color analyst on the game hit it on the head in the 3rd Q Sat night " It does not matter what defense you run, if the offensive players are better than your defensive players, you will get beat ".

[Piggfoot]

So you think the LRSD is okay? You think the rate of kids who are either not even going to school, or have grades too low to qualify to play hs football is acceptable in that area? The lrsd needs bashed for many reasons, the least of which are athletics. Did you see what happened to one of the lr hs football teams earlier this year, they lost a game in which they had NEGATIVE yards. How can a public hs in the states largest city have a team that bad?

If you don't know what happened to the Little Rock School District then you are from out of State or you've had your head in the sand for 50 years.

[TheGunther]

So you think the LRSD is okay? You think the rate of kids who are either not even going to school, or have grades too low to qualify to play hs football is acceptable in that area? The lrsd needs bashed for many reasons, the least of which are athletics. Did you see what happened to one of the lr hs football teams earlier this year, they lost a game in which they had NEGATIVE yards. How can a public hs in the states largest city have a team that bad?

Moreover, a stabilized LRSD that is graduating kids and has accessible extracurricular activities such as athletics, music, art, etc. is not just good for Little Rock and Central Arkansas, but it is also benefits the entire state including the UofA.   

Perhaps if Wal-Mart money can turn NWA into the utopia it is perceived to be, then perhaps too Wal-Mart money will turn around the LRSD

[SDZ_Hog]

So we need to recruit Monroe?

Ok.

No, not just Monroe., I said northern Louisiana as far as a general area. You can't just say a general area and then give a specific distance to a general area so I applied a buffer and gave a time from the outer reaches.  If you were down there you would want to recruit the whole state anyways not just N. LA.   

Anyways, the point is the correlation of a program's success and the proximity to a major talent pool.  Then these upper tier programs have so much success that they develop a national brand.         

[Piggfoot]

Moreover, a stabilized LRSD that is graduating kids and has accessible extracurricular activities such as athletics, music, art, etc. is not just good for Little Rock and Central Arkansas, but it is also benefits the entire state including the UofA.   

Perhaps if Wal-Mart money can turn NWA into the utopia it is perceived to be, then perhaps too Wal-Mart money will turn around the LRSD

Walmart does not have enough money to buy off the lawyers and federal judges that have destroyed LRSD.

[Little Lady Back]

So you think the LRSD is okay? You think the rate of kids who are either not even going to school, or have grades too low to qualify to play hs football is acceptable in that area? The lrsd needs bashed for many reasons, the least of which are athletics. Did you see what happened to one of the lr hs football teams earlier this year, they lost a game in which they had NEGATIVE yards. How can a public hs in the states largest city have a team that bad?

Are you sure that you are only bashing the LRSD because your post reads like you are also bashing Little Rock kids. My apologies if wrong. Anyway, I believe it would help tremendously in recruiting if high school sports all over the state improved (esp. the LRSD).   

[Atlhogfan1]

Walmart does not have enough money to buy off the lawyers and federal judges that have destroyed LRSD.

Would be a wasted effort in that liberal hellhole.  Progressives!

Are you sure that you are only bashing the LRSD because it sounds like you are also bashing Little Rock kids as well. Good grief!

They had rather play basketball.  Which is fine for our basketball program.  Going to save it from mediocrity at least. 

[The Kig]

Spit balling here

1. Increase the population in NWA with a targeted breeding program. the 2034 season will be here before you know it. 
2. Hire a high level NCAA compliance person(s) to help you cheat.   
3. Go after the 2nd or 3rd chance people.
4.  Lobby the NCAA to decrease the max scholarship limits to a level where it distributes higher quality players evenly.
5.  Move the campus to Texarkana.  2 hr 40 away from Dallas 5 hours away from Houston.  Couple of hours away from N. Louisiana.

Holy Spit Balls, Batman!  Those are some pretty big large saliva pools. 

[Piggfoot]

We cant. We have far too many strikes against us before we even get started.
1. We have the smallest in-state recruiting base in the SEC (and its not even close)
2. We are surrounded by media darling programs. Oklahoma to the northwest, Texas/a&m to the west, LSU to the south, Ole miss to the east.
3. The further you are away from a recruits family, the less likely you are to get them to even visit. This obviously doesn't apply to every prospect, but it is definitely a factor. It is also affected by #2, because not only do we have to get kids to go out of their way to get here, they have to go past auburn, bama, and ole miss to get here (or texas, tcu a&m from west)
4. This one really hurts me to admit, but few if any kids outside of the state of Arkansas grow up wanting to be an Arkansas razorback. They dream of playing for bama, USC, and Ohio State. Arkansas is just where they land when things don't work out as planned (see philon)

You may add to this list:
XNA is the most expensive midwest airport.
There is one interstate road coming into Fayetteville from the south only.
It's as far away from SEC recruiting as it can possibly be.
Kids want to be close so their parents and so family can see them play.
Frank Broyles was crazy to think that TA&M would help Arkansas.
Solution: Arkansas has to establish home and home with SMU, TCU, and Baylor and maybe Houston. Forget the cupcake teams that do nothing for recruiting.( I realize they are there to increase the home game schedule. )
They must continue to play A&M in Dallas.
to increase our presence in the Dallas area.

[Little Lady Back]

Would be a wasted effort in that liberal hellhole.  Progressives!
They had rather play basketball.  Which is fine for our basketball program.  Going to save it from mediocrity at least.

Our basketball program is clearly looking up and a big part of that is because our b-ball coaches are getting it done in recruiting!

[Atlhogfan1]

Our basketball program is clearly looking up and a big part of that is because our b-ball coaches are getting it done in recruiting!

About time.  Helped by having in state talent not great enough to go to UK and willing to attend Arkansas. 

[Little Lady Back]

About time.  Helped by having in state talent not great enough to go to UK and willing to attend Arkansas.

Nice. Anyway, WooPig!! :razorback: