Depressing

[Piggfoot]

The information below is taken from 247 Sports. I guess we can be thankful we're not the worst and it also points out the disadvantage our coaches have when trying to field a competitive team.
Looks like with 7 wins our coaches are doing a good job.

3 star and above players

Kentucky.    10
Missouri.     12
Arkansas.    15
S Carolina.   32
Mississippi.   40
Tennessee.   58
Alabama.       69
Louisiana.      85
Georgia.        207
Texas.            285
Florida.          308

[Piggfoot]

The more I think about it Ive come to this conclusion. In the old SWC we perhaps could  have been considered an extension of Texas.
Our players for the most part came from Texas. They played against kids they might have known. We were in Texas for half of our games thus affording the parents of our players ample opportunity to see their kids.
As pointed out by another poster Arkansas was poorly thought of by Ole Miss and other SEC schools. I can remember the bitter rivalry with Ole Miss to the extent that the frequent fights between fans played a large part in the series with them being discontinued.

[widespreadsooie]

Florida has the most crowded sideline

[Hawghiggs]

The more I think about it Ive come to this conclusion. In the old SWC we perhaps could  have been considered an extension of Texas.
Our players for the most part came from Texas. They played against kids they might have known. We were in Texas for half of our games thus affording the parents of our players ample opportunity to see their kids.
As pointed out by another poster Arkansas was poorly thought of by Ole Miss and other SEC schools. I can remember the bitter rivalry with Ole Miss to the extent that the frequent fights between fans played a large part in the series with them being discontinued.

It's why we need to form a New SWC.  Arkansas, Houston, Tulane plus the old Big 12 south division would make a solid 9 team conference. Four states Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

[Pork Twain]

I am not sure how this is still surprising.

[JackJohnson]

Not really Bc Missouri, Tenn, Vandy, UK, S Car, Ole Miss and Miss St are in the exact same situation we are but all of them have to split the talent/fan base in their states

[ricepig]

Not really Bc Missouri, Tenn, Vandy, UK, S Car, Ole Miss and Miss St are in the exact same situation we are but all of them have to split the talent/fan base in their states

Who does Missouri split with?

[jry04]

Not really Bc Missouri, Tenn, Vandy, UK, S Car, Ole Miss and Miss St are in the exact same situation we are but all of them have to split the talent/fan base in their states

How do you figure? Mississippi has 40+ ever year. Even if they split it evenly, they still have more than us each year. MSU and Ole Miss can split the amount of 4/5* recruits they have in their state right down the middle and still have more committed to them than we do in all of Arkansas.

South Carolina has twice as many as us, too. I get they have more competition in their home state with Clemson, but there are only 25 spots in a class. Nobody says you have to get every top kid to be successful when you are in those states with 30+ division 1 athletes. In Arkansas, you do, and even then it isn't enough. We still have to find 15-20 other quality players to come for 3 years from out of state. Realistically, there are maybe 4-6 SEC quality players in Arkansas each year. There are 15+ in every other SEC West state. UK and Missouri are the only 2 schools in the SEC who have as bad of home state as far as recruiting goes.


Tennessee currently has 10 kids ranked 4* or better in their state. Arkansas has 2, and one is Byers that isn't coming here and nobody really knows if he will even qualify. Like I said, other states can get 6-7 kids in their top 10 and they already have 6-7 4* or better recruits. Our top 10 consists of 3-4 quality players every year, and then a bunch of kids with Tulsa, Ark State, Iowa state type offers.

[31to6]

Who does Missouri split with?

They split the KC metro with K-State and KU and they split the STL metro with Illinois. So not really in-state, but the fact that the two major population centers straddle borders makes it harder for them to lock-in talent. Plus, Missouri is not as talent-rich as you would expect for the population.

[ricepig]

They split the KC metro with K-State and KU and they split the STL metro with Illinois. So not really in-state, but the fact that the two major population centers straddle borders makes it harder for them to lock-in talent. Plus, Missouri is not as talent-rich as you would expect for the population.

I don't think they are talent rich at all.

[SemperHawg]

Clemson is the anomaly in this entire line of thinking.  Competing for championships and able to recruit nationally with a very limited home recruiting base to work with.

[The_Iceman]

Clemson is the anomaly in this entire line of thinking.  Competing for championships and able to recruit nationally with a very limited home recruiting base to work with.

Close to Georgia and Florida. Less than 2 hours from Atlanta. Also good pipelines towards the NE. Not a bad recruiting location at all.

[jry04]

Clemson is the anomaly in this entire line of thinking.  Competing for championships and able to recruit nationally with a very limited home recruiting base to work with.

To be fair, South Carolina still has far more division 1 athletes than the state of Arkansas. They also usually have twice as many 4* or better recruits. Then you throw in the fact that Clemson is right on the border. They are 3 hours from Knoxville, 2 hours from Charlotte, and 2 hours from Atlanta. They are within 3 hours any direction of metros of 2.5 million, 6 million, and almost 1 million (Knoxville). It isn't hard for them to pull from the Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia recruiting hot beds when you are a couple of hours away. Last season, there were 6 4* or better players in the state of South Carolina, and 3 in Arkansas. There were 23 3* or better kids in Arkansas, and 40 in South Carolina. Then you throw in they are 2 hours from Atlanta where there are 10+ 4* or better kids.

Last season, Clemson signed 13 4* or better recruits. 3 were from South Carolina. 2 were from the ATL area less than 2 hours away.  3 others were from North Carolina about 3 hours away. That is 8 of their 13 4* players who were just a morning drive away from campus. As close or closer than Little Rock is to Fayetteville, and definitely closer than Dallas, Memphis, Oklahoma city, etc are to our campus. It is one thing if you have a less talented home state but you are near major metros that you can recruit and still keep kids relatively close to home. Arkansas doesn't even have the luxury of that, though. Clemson is definitely a national brand now that can recruit nationally, but they don't really have to. They can stay within 4 hours of their campus and pull a top 15 class. They had 21 commits last season, and 14 were within 4 hours of campus.

[GoHogzzGo]

It is 90% coaching guys. LSU and Texas are in the middle of hot beds, but how was LSU before Saban built it up. Texas is crap without a good coach. Alabama was average before Saban. Florida was average beteeen Spurrier and Urban. Michigan before Harbaugh. We can do this all day folks. The school history and location carry you the last 10% give or take, the rest is coaching.

[Piggfoot]

It is 90% coaching guys. LSU and Texas are in the middle of hot beds, but how was LSU before Saban built it up. Texas is crap without a good coach. Alabama was average before Saban. Florida was average beteeen Spurrier and Urban. Michigan before Harbaugh. We can do this all day folks. The school history and location carry you the last 10% give or take, the rest is coaching.

Les Miles is considered by many here and elsewhere to be a joke, a poor clock manager and poor QB developer. Yet, going back to 2006 LSU has had 6 double digit win seasons and the rest no fewer than 8 wins.
To be sure coaching counts particularly if all else is equal.  At Arkansas all else is not equal.

[WriterWrong]

Florida has the most crowded sideline

My thoughts. We need some more info on what these numbers show.

I'm guessing this is by state, not by team. Arkansas had 15 recruits 3* and above. Florida had 308.

[King Kong]

Clemson is the anomaly in this entire line of thinking.  Competing for championships and able to recruit nationally with a very limited home recruiting base to work with.

Not really

[GoHogzzGo]

Les Miles is considered by many here and elsewhere to be a joke, a poor clock manager and poor QB developer. Yet, going back to 2006 LSU has had 6 double digit win seasons and the rest no fewer than 8 wins.
To be sure coaching counts particularly if all else is equal.  At Arkansas all else is not equal.

Agreed not equal. However I think we are overstating the impact. There are not many exampls like Les Miles, who arguably took Saban's culture until it faded and got canned. Whereas there are infinite examples of programs thriving and then going no back to average when the coach leaves.

Not advocating to cut CBB. I just don't buy blaming too much on recruiting. We easily have the talent for 9-10 wins. After that it is just coaching. So I set my expectations on 7-8 wins and I don't have to be sad about it in the off season. Although losing big leads twice in a row was tough.

[Exit Pursued by a Boar]

The information below is taken from 247 Sports. I guess we can be thankful we're not the worst and it also points out the disadvantage our coaches have when trying to field a competitive team.
Looks like with 7 wins our coaches are doing a good job.

3 star and above players

Kentucky.    10
Missouri.     12
Arkansas.    15
S Carolina.   32
Mississippi.   40
Alabama.       69
Louisiana.      85
Georgia.        207
Texas.            285
Florida.          308

Tennessee??

[Redhogs]

It is 90% coaching guys. LSU and Texas are in the middle of hot beds, but how was LSU before Saban built it up. Texas is crap without a good coach. Alabama was average before Saban. Florida was average beteeen Spurrier and Urban. Michigan before Harbaugh. We can do this all day folks. The school history and location carry you the last 10% give or take, the rest is coaching.

100% Correct.

[Razorbackers]

The information below is taken from 247 Sports. I guess we can be thankful we're not the worst and it also points out the disadvantage our coaches have when trying to field a competitive team.
Looks like with 7 wins our coaches are doing a good job.

3 star and above players

Kentucky.    10
Missouri.     12
Arkansas.    15
S Carolina.   32
Mississippi.   40
Alabama.       69
Louisiana.      85
Georgia.        207
Texas.            285
Florida.          308

This is incredibly confusing.

[widespreadsooie]

My thoughts. We need some more info on what these numbers show.

I'm guessing this is by state, not by team. Arkansas had 15 recruits 3* and above. Florida had 308.

Ah, yes. That would make much more sense haha.

[Piggfoot]

Forgive me for omitting Tennessee. Their number is 58.
The numbers were taken from 247 Sports and their listing of the top recruits in each state.

[farmhawg]

Who does Missouri split with?

KU? KSU? Those shouldn't be hard to out recruit at all.

[ricepig]

KU? KSU? Those shouldn't be hard to out recruit at all.

Meh....I was going with in-state school as competition.

[Athog]

They split the KC metro with K-State and KU and they split the STL metro with Illinois. So not really in-state, but the fact that the two major population centers straddle borders makes it harder for them to lock-in talent. Plus, Missouri is not as talent-rich as you would expect for the population.

Missouri is impact area runs into Big Ten Ill.

[pigroots]

Louisiana is the hot bed ...85 and almost all want to go to LSU. That is a great area to mine

[bennyl08]

The information below is taken from 247 Sports. I guess we can be thankful we're not the worst and it also points out the disadvantage our coaches have when trying to field a competitive team.
Looks like with 7 wins our coaches are doing a good job.

3 star and above players

Kentucky.    10
Missouri.     12
Arkansas.    15
S Carolina.   32
Mississippi.   40
Tennessee.   58
Alabama.       69
Louisiana.      85
Georgia.        207
Texas.            285
Florida.          308

Yet, from 2011 to 2015, we tied for 11th (16th ignoring ties above) in number of NFL draft picks over that time. Once you include 2016, we rank 9th (13th ignoring ties above).

Bama 44
FSU 38
LSU 38
tOSU 35
UF 33
UGA 33
Clem 33
Okla 31
USC 29
MIA 28
Stan 28
ND 27
Ark 25
SC 24
Wisc 23
Bay 23
UCLA 22
NC 21
Mich St 21
WVU 21
Ore 21

We are a top 15 school in the country as far as talent goes. For all the d1 talent in SC, Tenn, and Miss, we export a lot more to the NFL from our university than they do theirs.

[Piggfoot]

Yet, from 2011 to 2015, we tied for 11th (16th ignoring ties above) in number of NFL draft picks over that time. Once you include 2016, we rank 9th (13th ignoring ties above).

Bama 44
FSU 38
LSU 38
tOSU 35
UF 33
UGA 33
Clem 33
Okla 31
USC 29
MIA 28
Stan 28
ND 27
Ark 25
SC 24
Wisc 23
Bay 23
UCLA 22
NC 21
Mich St 21
WVU 21
Ore 21

We are a top 15 school in the country as far as talent goes. For all the d1 talent in SC, Tenn, and Miss, we export a lot more to the NFL from our university than they do theirs.

I suppose your numbers indicate the number of drafted players during the time listed. Out of Arkansas' number half were from out of state indicating we did a good job in getting those players to be Razorbacks.
The numbers I gave indicate the number of high school players rated 3* or above in that particular SEC State.

With your numbers to say that talent wise we are a top 15 program is stretching the matter. 
Theoretically a team could have say five players drafted and not win a game because the other players were not up to par.

[ChicoHog]

Yet, from 2011 to 2015, we tied for 11th (16th ignoring ties above) in number of NFL draft picks over that time. Once you include 2016, we rank 9th (13th ignoring ties above).

Bama 44
FSU 38
LSU 38
tOSU 35
UF 33
UGA 33
Clem 33
Okla 31
USC 29
MIA 28
Stan 28
ND 27
Ark 25
SC 24
Wisc 23
Bay 23
UCLA 22
NC 21
Mich St 21
WVU 21
Ore 21

We are a top 15 school in the country as far as talent goes. For all the d1 talent in SC, Tenn, and Miss, we export a lot more to the NFL from our university than they do theirs.

Good info but without doing the research I bet 2/3rds of those drafted from Arkansas were in the last 3 rounds.  We have had very few upper echelon type players.  Even now most of the Hog alumni in the NFL are subs, special teams and practice squad players. 

[pignatious]

Stop being depressed. Be angry instead. We haven't had the right coaches in place to do good recruiting in all phases in years. There are players out there all around Arkansas. They can't all go to Alabama or LSU or A$M. I also think people are delusional if they think money and gifts aren't being handed out like candy at some of these places. Some of these schools get a pass from the NCAA obviously. Cars being given out at Bama for instance. So, we either need a coach who will work his ass off recruiting and hire a staff that does the same, or figure out another way to compensate. That, or realize we aren't serious about winning and accept permanent mediocrity. We have had really good teams and players here and can have them again with the right coaches in place.