Just read on the recruiting page that CBB may not fill all 25 scholarships. I can see one, but two, three, or four is ridiculous! This crap shoot he plays during the summer with JUCOS and transfers is not a winning formula. If CBB feels he has met this classes needs, ( That Boggles my mind) then why not recruit one or two kids the big boys looked over or didn’t have a spot for and give them a chance to develop? This would be ideal for Defensive players. With the defense we have know, it couldn’t hurt. Your thoughts.
I could see CBB going after a couple defensive backs, although we still have Britto Tutt who is supposed to be pretty good. Our OL just need to start playing BIG and UGLY. HOGS YA’LL.
What I gathered from that was he wasn’t going to give schollies just to have warm bodies fill the quota, but instead if he cant fill out the class with quality players he would leave the spot(s) open. Then utilize those spots on grad transfers with players more ready to play immediately. However I could have read into it completely wrong.
The big question is why can’t he find quality players and has to gamble getting a Grad transfer. If he can’t the net result is we are on a self imposed probation! This is crazy.
Looking at the commit list. He has at least five scollies left and looks to still need 2 DL’s, one OL & one LB. The Lineman are a high priority. Bielema needs freshman to fill those spots with a redshirt year to develop. He should have been building his lines in that manner from his hire. That was obviously not ever done by recruiting the right prospects on the O-Line as proven by the bad situation on the offensive line this year.
By not recruiting & developing freshman, Bielema is inviting OL & DL problems in his near future. This also begs the question of recruiting. Why aren’t Kurt Anderson, Rory Segrest and even Robb Smith recruiting to these needs? Michael Smith was the prime recruiter of the last D-Line commit.
I mean on the defensive side, they cannot recruit or coach. However Bielema still rather belligerently declares no changes. I think this just all shows Hog Fans this coach has little concern for program success. His measure of success is at the bank.
Arkansas is a small southern state with a bad reputation north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I know, I lived in Indiana several years and I have close relatives that live in the northeast. Arkansas cannot get these coaches from the far north & northeast and sling millions at them with long contracts that have dual bindings. We will have this exact situation more often than not.
Just how does any coach at Arkansas have the luxury of finding “quality players” since we basically do not have our choice but usually find second level players from other states since the big names are taken. And of course we do not develop enough high school star guys to fill half our roster.
I fully realize we are not going to sign 7-10 4 star players but we used to be able to get upper 3 star players who developed into pretty good players. Now it seems half our class is filled with mid to lower 3 star players and that is totally coaching! I believe Long gave Bielema marching orders to fix the academics as the number one priority with winning secondary and that is why the huge buyout because no matter how much you and me complained, it is financially impossible to fire him!
By the numbers we are farther along with recruiting at this stage than ever before with some quality talent still available and considering the Hogs. But we all know what can happen on NSD with these kids.
The problem is according to 247Sports, we are ranked 24 in the country but 10th in the SEC. We could improve to 9th but anyone can see the problem. If we were in the Big12 we would be ranked 2nd and more competitive although I’m not suggesting we move to the Big12.