Texas.
Coming off of a Sugar Bowl win vs. 2-10.
That’s a good defense. (Sugar bowl vs us)
But how many LBers Chavis lost out on this cycle, is indefensible. He got whipped
He must not have compared the depth charts between the two, we’ve stuck out at LB since Jan.
I expect Chavis to retire after this year. We need to hire a young and energetic guy who can recruit.
Poor excuse Richard if at the same time we’re to heap praise on Stepp and others for their work on the trail.
That said, no doubt the lack of winning in recent years hurts. Should have followed my advice and fired Bielema after the Belk Bowl debacle. It was obvious then and after the Mizzou meltdown he’d completely lost the team and his best players were walking out the door. We’d be two years in to the rebuild instead of one… 2017 was a completely wasted year on the field and in recruiting and allowed the brand to continue to deteriorate.
Not saying that’s the only reason but you better believe it was used.
JUCO in time of need is an immediate answer, which is what Lakia Henry was and will be for what it is worth the UT recruiting staff has a dedicated JC recruiter who was a former JC coach (remember our success with Shibest?). This does not seem to be in the brain of Coach Chad, seems to project that it is beneath is dignity to have to resort to JC. I fully get and agree that high school recruiting is the foundation for success and give credit to the staff if they are sticking to their guns and selling out for HS 4 year contributors. Even the compliments paid by recruits to Coach Chavis are couched in past tense terms. I don’t think Coach Chavis could cut the mustard for Coach Pruitt at TN who was a less than glamorous hire, but is seemingly right that moribund program (as low as or even lower than us at the beginning of each tenure). I am not yet impressed with the recruiting results by this staff and think they blew the first spring even with it being so late (built in excuse, spin etc). They had some contacts that they did not make happen and if they sold the whole BB sucked and is gone so now is your opportunity then their targets did not listen. LB, and OL have to improve and it has to start with successful recruiting.
Any JC recruiting specialists on this staff?
This last class was the best we have had in many, many years. You can’t fix a talent deficit like CM inherited in one or even two classes, but there has been noticeable improvement.
They got some help in OL in the last class(including two JC guys in case you forgot) but they only got Zimos as a true LB. So yes, they are going to have to sign a couple of LBs, maybe three, in this class. There’s still work to do all over the roster, but the trend is up.
Why are we having such a hard time recruiting LBs? It seems like every other position is gaining traction and this is supposed to be Chavis’bread and butter.
Arkansas has not recruited well at LB for the better part of a decade.
Hate to pile on but why can’t we recruit this position better?
Surely Chavis can talk up linebackers he put in the league back in the day still.