Arkansas' one recruiting advantage over rest of SEC

[BrassNunchucks]

I was reading Clay Travis' website today (I know, terrible), and he answered a question from a reader about whether A&M would ever allow Texas to join the SEC. He said no, because they can offer Texas recruits something that no other school can: the opportunity to stay at home and play in the best conference in America.

It got me thinking, and I realized: there is one thing that Arkansas can offer that no other SEC school can. Fayetteville, in terms of geographical distance, is much closer to Oklahoma's major population centers than any other SEC school.

Now, Oklahoma is no Texas, but it does produce a significant number of recruits every year. According to the following link, by my count there were 43 Oklahomans playing for schools in Big 5 conferences as of last year: http://newsok.com/oklahomans-in-division-i-college-football/article/3895920. That's an average of 10-11 major conference players per year.

So my point is, I wonder if the coaches would consider aggressively planting the UA's flag in Oklahoma. It wouldn't transform the program on its own, given that talent from year to year will vary. But perhaps putting up "SEC" billboards in OKC and Tulsa, really making Arkansas visible, and going with a hashtag like #Oklahawgs wouldn't be worth it.

I know we're going after Jalin Barnett and Wariboko this year, and I think Cantrell's going to be a player, but if we have this one selling point, maybe we should really pursue it aggressively as a sustained policy (similar to OK state in Texas), however minor the advantage is. Make it a policy to go after the top five players in Oklahoma every single year and make sure they know it, and expect it, so that their top three schools are always OK, OK state and UA.

[SemperFi]

I lived in Tulsa until three months ago and although there is a large number of Razorback fans in the area it is still predominantly OU and OK St friendly. The people there are all about the Big 12 and I've been in more than one friendly discussion regarding SEC dominance. We also have to contend with the University of Tulsa. I think the Hogs can make a small dent to the recruiting efforts of those other three U's, but it's a much tougher sell than I had thought.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Never researched it, but I suspect their isn't enough available OK talent to justify a major recruiting commitment in that state.

[WorfHog]

It's not like we're ignoring Oklahoma, Austin Cantrell is a solid commit and we're in on Jalin Barnett.

[redeye]

I've long said that we needed to recruit harder in Oklahoma, but I think we're doing that now.  The thing is that we can probably only hope for 1-2 players a year, because there's not that much talent and there are 2 good instate schools.  Recruiting against Oklahoma is similar to recruiting against Alabama, except that OU hasn't been as good recently and Oklahoma is closer to Fayetteville.

However, our proximity to Oklahoma is a big deal and should allow us to grab a couple of good players each year, much like Auburn does in Georgia.  Auburn grabs more because Georgia has more talent, but a couple of good Oklahoma players per year would be a big help for us.

[IBleedRazorbackRed]

Isn't Pittman from Oklahoma? I think he recruits that area

[onebadrubi]

I believe we have a couple on the team now that were high caliber Ok HS talent.  And anything west of 169 in Tulsa is just like going into tx, Louisiana, MS, or TN. 

[BrassNunchucks]

I don't disagree with any of the above points. I think it would be an interesting piece of our overall recruiting strategy, though. We do seem to be recruiting Oklahoma fairly well already. However, making it a formal thing, saying "we're going after the top recruits every year, and we're gonna stamp SEC all over the state" (with billboards and such), might bring in 2-3 big-time recruits per year. It may be hard to compete w/ OU and OK St. on a regular basis, but you can see that Ole Miss under Freeze hasn't given up trying to recruit south Arkansas athletes, even though he hasn't been successful so far.

[Cinco de Hogo]

I think OU, OSU, & TU recruit Arkansas harder than we recruit Oklahoma which is sad.  However when it come to Arkansas we are the only major school so all the kid need recruiting attention from outside.

[poloprince]

There is a reason OU gets a vast majority of their players from Texas. No need to try to camp out in OU, the state doesn't produce enough talent.

[rzrbackramsfan]

I live in the area.  That's kind of like telling a bunch of ou and ok st. Fans and alumn they should become fans of arkansas.

[3kgthog]

I really don't think we can compete with Big Red Sports and Imports for OK recruits. If you catch my drift...

[Jek Tono Porkins]

We have pulled a number of good recruits from Oklahoma for that very reason.

Felix Jones was from Tulsa, wanted to play in the SEC, but wanted to be close enough to where his family could come watch him play. Eric Bennett said the same thing when he committed as did Alvin Bailey and Keon Hatcher, IIRC. It appears as if Jalin Barnett is thinking along the same lines.

[ricepig]

There is a reason OU gets a vast majority of their players from Texas. No need to try to camp out in OU, the state doesn't produce enough talent.

71 on Okie Light's roster are from Texsa, I wouldn't put any more effort than we already are.

[FrozenHam]

Wasn't Garrick McGee helping our recruiting efforts in Oklahoma?  He is from Tulsa and seemed better received by high school coaches than Bobby was.

[OnTheHillHogFan]

Wasn't Garrick McGee helping our recruiting efforts in Oklahoma?  He is from Tulsa and seemed better received by high school coaches than Bobby was.

Yes he was helping and his dad is a legendary HS football coach in Tulsa so that didn't hurt either.

[DoubleReedHawgCaller]

If we are going to plant flags and do billboards, I like going the South Florida route the best.

[RNHog]

Arkansas lacks a lot of advantages that Alabama, auburn, lsu, Florida, and even South Carolina have. Throw georgia in too.

[RNHog]

If we are going to plant flags and do billboards, I like going the South Florida route the best.

Our pipeline to south Florida is critical. If coach B can get kids from down there to wisky, he can do it here.

[redeye]

Oklahoma puts out some good players that live within a short distance from Fayetteville.  We would be stupid if we didn't recruit them hard.  I'm not saying we should have camps in the state or try to fill our class mostly with Oklahoma players, but we should give extra attention to every great player within 200-250 miles of Fayetteville, regardless of the state.

[Hawghiggs]

 We don't have a recruiting advantage.

[Cinco de Hogo]

We don't have a recruiting advantage.

At times we do but I doubt the OP was talking about the bottom quarter of the conference.

[BoynamedWooPigSooie]

I can't agree with you on football but Oklahoma does crank out baseball talent, too bad the really good ones go 1st and 2nd round in the draft and never see a day in college.

Tulsa and OKC are very underrated basketball hotbeds also.

Football, they are good for as many players a year as Arkansas.

[Locutus_of_Boar]

I lived in Tulsa until three months ago and although there is a large number of Razorback fans in the area it is still predominantly OU and OK St friendly. The people there are all about the Big 12 and I've been in more than one friendly discussion regarding SEC dominance. We also have to contend with the University of Tulsa. I think the Hogs can make a small dent to the recruiting efforts of those other three U's, but it's a much tougher sell than I had thought.

I lived in Tulsa for fifteen years and of course watched Tulsa TV years earlier when I was attending Arkansas.  Tulsa has always been an under-recruited territory for Arkansas.  OU-OSU are about equally dominant in Tulsa with TU a much smaller but equally loyal fan base.  That said, there is a lot of opportunity as the commitments from list year's state of Oklahoma suggests.

I think the key to Arkansas' improved visibility in Tulsa and Oklahoma would be to get some sports media types into the local TV stations or sports talk radio in Tulsa.  Do that and Arkansas could gather up the D-1 talent not headed to OU/OSU and maybe steal away one or two from those two.

Oklahoma Top 15 recruits 2014
4- OU
3 - OSU
0 - Tulsa

1 - Bama
1 - LSU
1 - Texas Tech
1 - Iowa St
1 - Colorado St
1 - Oregon State

2 - DNQ

[davehog]

Northern Louisiana is where we need to stake a serious recruiting claim. LSU cannot take them all and there is a ton of talent coming out every year.   

We have a great sales pitch for the ones that LSU doesn't offer or the ones they do offer at positions they are stacked at and we can sell earlier playing time.

[ArkansasI]

I am a bit concerned that Razorback fans can identify one recruiting advantage over the rest of the SEC, and that it is the State of Oklahoma.

We are - without question - the best option for any in-state recruits.

We are the westernmost campus in the conference - which makes Oklahoma only one of many states that make Arkansas the closest option to SEC participation.

Fayetteville is fantastic - the university offers an excellent and diverse curriculum on a manageable campus.  Dickson and the Square are beautiful, quaint, fun and student friendly.  Hiking and other great outdoor activities are nearby.  The world's largest retailer is within 20 miles of campus and, together with some of our nation's strongest poultry producers, places the area in the heart of some of the best post-graduate opportunities in the country.

Oh, our athletic facilities are second to none.

I understand that Arkansas is a relatively small state, but Razorbacks aren't the type to shy away from competition.  Our athletic department certainly has nothing to apologize for... I think that it's time for some of us fans to lose whatever inferiority complex that are displayed in the recruiting forum.  The folks that are kicking ass in our state never let anything stop them from succeeding.

The first step to being elite is adopting the belief that we can be just that.  We damn sure won't thinking we can't.