There is a saying “you are what you eat”. Applying that to football, it translates to” you are what you recruit”. It shouldn’t be of a surprise that SEC West standing is Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, Miss. State, and Ole Miss. With some variations, and exceptions, the recruiting has gone that way. True at times, lower teams like AR beats LSU, and even challenges AL couple years in a row, but at the end of the year, when all exceptions occurred, all teams fall in their proper order of recruiting for the most part. Miss ST. recruits about equal with AR; usually one above or below. Now we are tied 2-4 for head to head match up. The other four are above us where they should be. That brings us to the main question. Are we ever going to move up the ladder and rub elbows with SEC West elites, or are we going to continue to leave in the gutters of SEC West and rub elbow with Mississippi’s (no put-down intended). Bottom line, Arkansas and Coach Bielema are not going to survive the SEC West, unless he takes the recruiting to the next level or there would be a realignment of the conference. At the moment it appears neither one is going to happen anytime soon.
I think the issues are 50% recruiting (mainly more speed and playmakers in space) and 50% coaching\development. Having said that it is also not underperforming on the big stage when you have packed home field advantage, prime time national tv coverage, high profile ranked teams and house full of recruits that you want to impress. You got to close the deal in those instances when you are selling at your best and we have not done that the past two years----I discard the first two years as rebuilding from depths that we had fallen.
Go back and look at the scores of the conference games in 14 and 15 and you would’ve thought Arkansas was getting there. This year has been a set back with the blowouts, but it doesn’t mean the program can’t get back to that level next year. Hard to see now, which I understand, but what were LSU fans thinking when they were blown out by Arkansas, Bama and Ole Miss last year.
It this is happening next year, then I would really be concerned.
Your are absolutely right. Recruiting success is as important, probably more so than on field coaching, IMO. The best coaching staff in football can’t win consistently without good to great players. Proof is in the performance of three of the teams you mention. Bama, I’ve lost tract of the number of NC’s they’ve won since Saban has been there. He is absolutely in the top two in college football recruiting. Auburn and LSU have also won NCGs and played in others. In past years when Tn and Fla were recruiting well they played for and won NCs. Arkansas hasn’t performed in recruiting or on the field with any consistency since we’ve been in the SEC.
Coaches and coaching matter but you have the studs to really make things happen consistently.
Outside our conference there are the usual high producers: OSU, USC, and sometimes OU and UT.
There is always the occasional outlier that will do well. Iowa and Oregon, recently, may apply here.
Arkansas? It hasn’t happened since 1964, and I’m not sure it will ever happen for us in the SEC. If we do it will be one of those “perfect storm” type years. Recruiting speaks for itself. JMO>
Very good points by all you guys, including “The Recruiting Guy”. All the SEC West teams have good coaches, so the difference will continue to be the recruiting success of each school…consistently getting very good players and a bunch of them to your school.
Richard. a question…how would you rate Bielema and his staff on their recruiting ability? Do they have what it takes to get us an SEC West Championship roster to win the title some day?
It would be nice for someone to come up with a guaranteed formula on how to get the top recruits at your school, regardless of your team’s situation. There are probably many factors involved. It would make a good book and video. 
Go back and look at the scores of the conference games in 14 and 15 and you would’ve thought Arkansas was getting there. This year has been a set back with the blowouts, but it doesn’t mean the program can’t get back to that level next year. Hard to see now, which I understand, but what were LSU fans thinking when they were blown out by Arkansas, Bama and Ole Miss last year.
This team has lost to TAM 24-45, AL 30-49, AU 3-56, and LSU 10-38. It is of concern when this team quits fighting when the game is on line. Against AU and LSU, the front line was wide open as though no one was there. In 2014 & 15 we fought to the bitter end, and we where proud of them. Something is very wrong with the mental aspect of this team. How much of it is coaching or lack of depth I do not know.
I’ve said numerous times I think Bielema can recruit at higher level than previous coaches. It’s unrealistic to expect him to match recruiting efforts of Bama, LSU, Ga , Fla. and others in a four year period. I think he can eventually close the gap.
I am not hugely concerned about “stars” when it comes to recruits. But, Many on this board are, and there’s no question that while services can miss on ratings, having a bunch of 4 stars does work out better than a bunch of 3 stars…over time.
Bearing that in mind, then, everyone please go review the current offensive and defensive lineman on campus and their recruiting ratings. We have at least 4 DL that were 4 stars by someone…with Led being highly coveted as a Juco…with more on the way…and 7 DL. So I don’t think its pure “CBB hasn’t recruited well in the trenches.” I think on the OL we lost some key players and replaced them with talented but really inexperienced players, who were abused. On defense, our DL has not dominated as we hoped, but they have not been the primary problem on defense, IMO.