It's Arkansas Y'all, not Texas! 20+ years says so!

[hawginbigd1]

Can the facts be changed to Texas or can CCM break the mold? Anything is possible.....

Going back to HDN our success is dependent upon great Arkansas recruits, either stacked classes together or 1 great class like 08 for CBP.

Sure we don't produce enough D1 talent to make a good to great team, but the core of our best teams are the Arkansas players.

The best teams over the past 20+ who are the biggest cogs and where did they come from?
Madre Hill
Cedric Cobbs
Jonathan Luigs
Shawn Andrews
DMAC
Peyton
MJ
DJ Williams
Dennis Johnson
Mallet
Gragg
Adams
And on and on and on.

04, and 05 brought us HDNs last run, 08 and 09 brought us CBP success.

We can get caught up in the must recruit Texas mantra or we can look at what history has shown for Arkansas to be upper crust we must sign and stack the best players from Arkansas, and the athletes have to be there.
like 2018 and 2019 has the appearances to be those types of classes we need from in our state to build a successful run.

The other facts of recruiting are that on average recruits stay within 300-350 miles from home, look at the distance from Fayetteville that elite recruits live, and who do we have to compete with for those recruits.

I am just not sure if putting all the emphasis on CCMs Texas "connections " is the savior of the program, I am thinking unless something changes we have to have and retain the talent from Arkansas. We can't afford to have the people going to Bama and tOSU etc. if he wants to be successful CCM needs to get the Bohannon and Bishop type in state recruits to stay home, and compliment them with Texas, La., Memphis etc. players.

Anyway the proof points to Arkansa talent=winning.

[The Boar War]

Who's to say we can't put an added emphasis on Texas while making sure the best players stay home?  Morris said that was the plan.

[Love those Hogs]

Can't just recruit Arkansas, gotta have Texas.

[HogHomer]

Have you watched his press conference? He talks about the need to keep the Arkansas talent in Arkansas? He has talked about making Texas a priority but it's not like he saying it's going to be at the expenses of instate recruiting like you are suggesting.

[Hugo Bezdek]

Gotta get the best kids out of Arkansas. Morris gets that. But that's a one-legged stool. There's not enough talent here to fill the roster. Texas and Louisiana get us there for the most part. We've been neglecting Texas and that's about to change. I hope we don't abandon the in-roads we've made into Louisiana, but I think it's safe to say Arkansas and Texas will get the majority of our recruiting focus this year.

[hawginbigd1]

Have you watched his press conference? He talks about the need to keep the Arkansas talent in Arkansas? He has talked about making Texas a priority but it's not like he saying it's going to be at the expenses of instate recruiting like you are suggesting.

Not what I was meaning to suggest, as the title says it's Arkansas. We have to keep and HAVE(this being just as important) the in-state talent to be successful is my point. To this point we have not had REAL success with recruiting classes that are out of state oriented.

[Hogtrillian]

When there's 20+ spots available each year, and only 7~10 SEC-caliber players in the state of Arkansas, then there's no reason you can't go into Texas and other states. Historically, it's true that some of our best years had a good mix of both, and having just 15 kids from Texas over 5 years is terrible, and Bielema failed miserably in that area.

[Vantage 8 dude]

Not what I was meaning to suggest, as the title says it's Arkansas. We have to keep and HAVE(this being just as important) the in-state talent to be successful is my point. To this point we have not had REAL success with recruiting classes that are out of state oriented.

No one's arguing that we most certainly need to keep the brightest and best talent from within the state going to the Hill. However, the plain truth is that most years we have at BEST ten to twelve D1 players around the state, not all necessarily SEC level. It's therefore obvious that we will need to supplement this core with top notch players out of Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere.

[Birminghog]

Both and. And thanks for my boy Madre being in the list!

[jvanhorn]

Tulsa is probably as close to Fayetteville as Little Rock, if not closer.  We used to have a coach that was from there [can't remember his name] and he proved you could recruit Tulsa players to come to Arkansas and Tulsa has a couple of really great high school programs there also [Jenks and Owasso, I think}.   Also I have never understood where there has never been much football talent come out of Springfield MO, because I think we could do some good there, as well as Memphis.  These are all areas, as well as maybe Shreveport, that are close enough to be worth really examining closely.

[jvanhorn]

When there's 20+ spots available each year, and only 7~10 SEC-caliber players in the state of Arkansas, then there's no reason you can't go into Texas and other states. Historically, it's true that some of our best years had a good mix of both, and having just 15 kids from Texas over 5 years is terrible, and Bielema failed miserably in that area.

Well when you go down there and tell the Texas high school coaches that they are no damn good and that they can kiss your ass-well guess what is going to happen, lol.

[ChitownHawg]

Can the facts be changed to Texas or can CCM break the mold? Anything is possible.....

Going back to HDN our success is dependent upon great Arkansas recruits, either stacked classes together or 1 great class like 08 for CBP.

Sure we don't produce enough D1 talent to make a good to great team, but the core of our best teams are the Arkansas players.

The best teams over the past 20+ who are the biggest cogs and where did they come from?
Madre Hill
Cedric Cobbs
Jonathan Luigs
Shawn Andrews
DMAC
Peyton
MJ
DJ Williams
Dennis Johnson
Mallet
Gragg
Adams
And on and on and on.

04, and 05 brought us HDNs last run, 08 and 09 brought us CBP success.

We can get caught up in the must recruit Texas mantra or we can look at what history has shown for Arkansas to be upper crust we must sign and stack the best players from Arkansas, and the athletes have to be there.
like 2018 and 2019 has the appearances to be those types of classes we need from in our state to build a successful run.

The other facts of recruiting are that on average recruits stay within 300-350 miles from home, look at the distance from Fayetteville that elite recruits live, and who do we have to compete with for those recruits.

I am just not sure if putting all the emphasis on CCMs Texas "connections " is the savior of the program, I am thinking unless something changes we have to have and retain the talent from Arkansas. We can't afford to have the people going to Bama and tOSU etc. if he wants to be successful CCM needs to get the Bohannon and Bishop type in state recruits to stay home, and compliment them with Texas, La., Memphis etc. players.

Anyway the proof points to Arkansa talent=winning.

While I agree with you that there is a direct correlation between success and big in state classes - my hunch is those teams also had good Texas players as well.

FORMULA

LOTS TEXAS PLAYERS + LOTS QUALITY ARKANSAS PLAYERS = GREAT YEAR (9+ regular season wins)

LOTS TEXAS PLAYERS + FEW QUALITY ARKANSAS PLAYERS = OKAY YEAR (7-8 regular season wins)

That is my theory.

[hawginbigd1]

While I agree with you that there is a direct correlation between success and big in state classes - my hunch is those teams also had good Texas players as well.

FORMULA

LOTS TEXAS PLAYERS + LOTS QUALITY ARKANSAS PLAYERS = GREAT YEAR (9+ regular season wins)

LOTS TEXAS PLAYERS + FEW QUALITY ARKANSAS PLAYERS = OKAY YEAR (7-8 regular season wins)

That is my theory.

Yeah kind of what I am getting at except I am not sure it is lots of Texas players, it's lots of contributing players from wherever, but for us to be highly talented, the big guns are going to be home grown talent it seems.

[racinghog]

We better help and fix the LR school football situation. This would help the recruiting tremendously in ARK.

[Snout team]

If we can get 7-9 high quality players out of AR and 7-9 out of Texas then we will only need a few from Louisiana, Mo, Ok, or Fl combined. 

I don't know if we can get that many really good players or not but CCM seems to think we can

[woodhog14]

When there's 20+ spots available each year, and only 7~10 SEC-caliber players in the state of Arkansas, then there's no reason you can't go into Texas and other states. Historically, it's true that some of our best years had a good mix of both, and having just 15 kids from Texas over 5 years is terrible, and Bielema failed miserably in that area.

There's not 7-10 SEC caliber players in Arkansas every year. Maybe every not and then, but most year is 3-5 SEC caliber players.

[Torqued pork]

I would hate to see our Louisiana recruiting de-emphasized. There are tons of kids there that are really athletic and tough as nails who never get P5 offers even with no grade problems.

[Oklahawg]

Tulsa is probably as close to Fayetteville as Little Rock, if not closer.  We used to have a coach that was from there [can't remember his name] and he proved you could recruit Tulsa players to come to Arkansas and Tulsa has a couple of really great high school programs there also [Jenks and Owasso, I think}.   Also I have never understood where there has never been much football talent come out of Springfield MO, because I think we could do some good there, as well as Memphis.  These are all areas, as well as maybe Shreveport, that are close enough to be worth really examining closely.

Garrick McGee was a graduate of Booker T Washington HS in Tulsa. OC/QB coach under Petrino.

We signed Jordan Curtis (RS, DB; Jenks), Kamron Curl (DB; Muskogee), and Kyrie Fisher (OLB; Tulsa Union) last year. Both of those schools along with 6A Div 1 champ Owasso have a boatload of talent. Throw in Bixby, Broken Arrow, and BTW and there are a lot of players to look at.  4A powerhouse Wagoner has produced D1 players each of the last couple of years.

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

Both and. And thanks for my boy Madre being in the list!

One of the best... There's still many, many more...

[Chief Mac]

Yes, our best teams have been anchored by instate talent but unfortunately we don't have the ability to turn out that type talent every year. On average, I would say we have 5-6 SEC caliber kids in the state.  A better than average class will see about 10 SEC level kids, with peak years having around 12.  While we occasionally lose out on one of the top recruits instate, it's rare.  Some have suggested we haven't kept the top players instate, which is a fallacy. Those that have left, haven't really fared well so we might have "missed" on them, I would say we didn't. 

In my mind, 50% of our players in each class should come from Texas/Tulsa area. Then a mix of instate players and players from La, Ms, Al, Fl,and Ga.

[blu]

CM talked about the fence - let's see if he can build it - sometimes those one or two we didn't land (or recruit) could've been difference makers for us.

[#1 STUNNA]

His first test will be the 2019 class... cause it has some studs in it

[hawginbigd1]

His first test will be the 2019 class... cause it has some studs in it

I hear you but I think his first test is to get Bohannon and Bishop! I like our in-state commits but it won't be a home run unless we land these 2 IMO.

[masbas3]

Have you watched his press conference? He talks about the need to keep the Arkansas talent in Arkansas? He has talked about making Texas a priority but it's not like he saying it's going to be at the expenses of instate recruiting like you are suggesting.

Exactly, CBB didn't recruit sometimes some of the better talent in Arkansas, and now that talent is starting for some of our neighbor States, and one defensive player from Fordyce that has and offer from Alabama did not have an offer from Bielema even though we need defensive linemen in a bad way.  CCM didn't say he was going to make Texas his #1 priority and forget Arkansas recruiting, he wants to keep all Arkansas talent in state and recruit Texas hard, something that hasn't been done here in a long time.

[NotSoFastMyFriend]

When there's 20+ spots available each year, and only 7~10 SEC-caliber players in the state of Arkansas, then there's no reason you can't go into Texas and other states. Historically, it's true that some of our best years had a good mix of both, and having just 15 kids from Texas over 5 years is terrible, and Bielema failed miserably in that area.

Well said.

[JaketheSnake]

We start taking a couple more from Ark each year that might usually go to a LA directional school and hope we can get them to play roles after a couple years.  Fill in with Texas and east Oklahoma/N LA and don't worry about other areas unless a kid shows interest or we have some kind of other connection. 

[SooieGeneris]

Who's to say we can't put an added emphasis on Texas while making sure the best players stay home?  Morris said that was the plan.

This! When there are not enough SEC caliber players in AR in any given year, where are we supposed to turn?

Texas, OK and LA. What part of that do so people not understand? Many years there are only 6-8 such players in AR, sometimes even less.

If we tried to only recruit players from AR, the 2017 season will look good by comparison..

[31to6]

I would hate to see our Louisiana recruiting de-emphasized. There are tons of kids there that are really athletic and tough as nails who never get P5 offers even with no grade problems.

CCM has said repeatedly that he is going to recruit TOLA.

The difference is he is going to try to really step up the Texas recruiting.

How well we do in Louisiana will all depend on how well the coach he assigns there can do the job. Michael Smith had done some good work for us down there.

[Phil D]

Can the facts be changed to Texas or can CCM break the mold? Anything is possible.....

Going back to HDN our success is dependent upon great Arkansas recruits, either stacked classes together or 1 great class like 08 for CBP.

Sure we don't produce enough D1 talent to make a good to great team, but the core of our best teams are the Arkansas players.

The best teams over the past 20+ who are the biggest cogs and where did they come from?
Madre Hill
Cedric Cobbs
Jonathan Luigs
Shawn Andrews
DMAC
Peyton
MJ
DJ Williams
Dennis Johnson
Mallet
Gragg
Adams
And on and on and on.

04, and 05 brought us HDNs last run, 08 and 09 brought us CBP success.

We can get caught up in the must recruit Texas mantra or we can look at what history has shown for Arkansas to be upper crust we must sign and stack the best players from Arkansas, and the athletes have to be there.
like 2018 and 2019 has the appearances to be those types of classes we need from in our state to build a successful run.

The other facts of recruiting are that on average recruits stay within 300-350 miles from home, look at the distance from Fayetteville that elite recruits live, and who do we have to compete with for those recruits.

I am just not sure if putting all the emphasis on CCMs Texas "connections " is the savior of the program, I am thinking unless something changes we have to have and retain the talent from Arkansas. We can't afford to have the people going to Bama and tOSU etc. if he wants to be successful CCM needs to get the Bohannon and Bishop type in state recruits to stay home, and compliment them with Texas, La., Memphis etc. players.

Anyway the proof points to Arkansa talent=winning.

You must not have listened to CCM's press conference he was emphatic that we need Arkansas players first then fill in with Texas and surrounding states.

[Pig in the Pokey]

You must not have listened to CCM's press conference he was emphatic that we need Arkansas players first then fill in with Texas and surrounding states.

right. he clearly says heel print in arkansas and fanned out into La, Ok, and Tx.

[Porkette]

I'm afraid I don't get the point of the OP. Arkansas still gets most of our best in-state talent (you're always going to miss on one here and there), but there just isn't enough of it, especially lately it seems. This isn't an either/or thing. The point is that Texas should be the biggest focus of our out-of-state recruiting.