Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

2/2/2011 at 1:20pm

Bobby Petrino's second signing class (2009) had more out-of-state Rivals.com 4-star recruits, such as Knike Davis and Ronnie Wingo Jr., than the one the Arkansas Razorbacks raked in on National Signing Day. But, considering where he took his third Razorback football team that was built on his first three classes and the leftovers from Houston Nutt, it's a good bet Petrino will find a way to continue to compete with the 2011 signees.

It appears that 80 percent of the crop was already in the barn as we approached the final two official-visit weekends, with Arkansas fans having hopes Petrino and his staff could sway a couple of defensive line playmakers to abandon Louisiana for four years in Fayetteville - it doesn't seem like such an outlandish idea as seen from afar, but that hold LSU has on its instate studs these days is strong indeed.

So, the final days boiled down to holding on to a highly rated defensive tackle out of Miami (success), wooing a Dallas area tight end who had blown up this fall into a big-timer (success), holding a 4-star diva of a tight end also out of the Dallas metroplex (fail), stealing a commitment to Georgia Tech (success) and giving out a trio of scholarship offers to players no major school had offered. In one of those cases, most schools don't value the need of a great blocking fullback quite the way Petrino does.

When you forget everything that was built over 11 and a half months and focus on the last two weeks, it's easy to fall into that inherent Arkansan trap of "here we go again, another failure." Truth be told, there was a moment this writer even wanted to title the column: "Razorbacks' Good Class a Fizzle at the Finish From Being Great."

You'll see a lot of excitement out of Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and Florida State at last-day decisions by so-called "difference makers." In truth, Arkansas wasn't in the running for any 5-stars during any of the recruiting season, much less the last 48 hours.

But the 3- and 4-star rated players who signed Wednesday will adequately fill the needs left by this year's departing seniors as Petrino now has HIS team across all four classes. We've long passed the point where Petrino has to call on 16 freshmen and a bunch of sophomores to hold everything together like we saw in a 5-7 first season in 2008. The great junior receivers of last season who who almost everyone figured would be leaving early for the NFL are back again next season, while the ones behind them mature.

The reality on National Signing Day is, all we have is a bunch of stars handed out by a bunch of supposed expert talent evaluators and a bunch of programs with fanatical fans, mostly in the Deep South, living and dying on the whims of a 17-year-old's decision. Visit any of those websites and watch flim on these players. Find one player out of hundreds, thousands, whose film is awful. For that matter, find any coach around the country who is saying Wednesday, "Sad to say, we came up really short in recruiting this year."

Four years from now, at least a quarter of these kids and probably more will have been passed by or have quit the game.

For every Julio Jones who comes in with his 5 stars and is every TV announcer's favorite for three years, there seem to be two Jamaal Anderson types who come in, maybe even as a "grayshirt" as Anderson did (not put on scholarship until the following January), and end up making All-Southeastern Conference before being drafted early by the NFL. Blogger Chris Low had a great observation earlier this week as to the large number of first-team All-SEC players who WEREN'T in ESPN's top 150 in high school, including the Hogs' Knile Davis.

How many of Wednesday's experts, who can barely take a breath as they go on and on discussing Signing Day on ESPNU, knew all along that Nick Fairley was far better than a 3-star in high school, knew he was out of position in the offensive line, and knew he only needed to lose 30 pounds to become the beast of 2010?

That's why I held off on saying this Arkansas class was a fizzle at the finish. And here's another reason:

Frank Broyles wasn't the first to say this, but the former Arkansas coach and athletic director was known to ask, "Well, who's recruiting him?" when presented a prospect's name by an assistant. It's a good rule of thumb, and if one studies this year's Hog signing class close enough, it's easy to see that out-of-state signees such as cornerback Tevin Mitchel, defensive lineman Lonnie Gosha, tight end Andrew Peterson and receiver Quinta Funderburk were in high demand by the right programs. Also, don't sell the likes of Monroe's Demarcus Hodge short when you know TCU wanted him badly.

But Frank Broyles also extended what was maybe the last scholarship he had in the 1967 class (and he had 50 to offer then) to a quarterback out of Garland, Texas, simply on the recommendation of the staff's ace talent scout and assistant, the late Jack Davis. Broyles had plenty of quarterbacks already signed in that class, including the heavily recruited Bill Montgomery out of Carrollton, Texas. Davis saw something special in this last offer.

And was he ever special. Chuck Dicus helped make Bill Montgomery on his way to All-American honors as a wide receiver, also winning the Miller-Digby Trophy as a Sugar Bowl MVP in a superlative three-year career.

I remembered the Dicus story the other day when Arkansas was the only big-time school to offer Kane Whitehurst out of Alpharetta, Ga., an Atlanta suburb. He played some quarterback, but we're guessing Bobby Petrino sees something special that might correllate to a fast, Wes Welker-like receiver. The guy must have something; his brother Charlie is an NFL quarterback.

Will the recruiting "experts" four years from now be talking up Whitehurst's heroics after he was an unsung recruit in 2011 while they note Petrino's expert eye for finding HIS kind of player?

This is why talent gathering isn't just about how many high-ranking stars a coach can bring in. Sure, we'd bet Petrino would love Fayetteville to be situated as close to so many 4- and 5-stars as Auburn, Georgia, Clemson and Florida State seem to be (check where all their players came from when noting how well they recruited). Because of the locale, rare if ever will be the recruiting season that Arkansas is ahead of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Florida in the SEC team rankings on signing day. All those have great recruiting head coaches and staffs, too, as does Tennessee.

There weren't a whole lot of high-ranking stars in Petrino's backyard this year, but he got all but one of those - and it just so happened two of them are much-coveted offensive linemen (Brey Cook and Mitch Smothers), maybe the best Arkansas has produced.

So, a coach like Petrino takes his swings at big-time talent but also finds the players he feels are coachable and will mesh together, just as he did at Louisville. TCU and Boise State are a couple of examples of programs that can win big without 4- and 5-stars. The comeback to TCU and Boise is always, "Well, they couldn't do it week after week in the SEC." Who actually knows that for certain?

All I know for certain is I just saw Arkansas win 10 games overall and six in the SEC, leading into the fourth quarter of the two games they ended up losing, with a ton of 3- and some 4-star talent. Keep winning 10 games and going to BCS bowls, and the out-of-state superstars will be taking serious notice and wanting to be a part of that, while every kid in Arkansas will be begging to be a Hog. The dividends of a 10-win season and a Sugar Bowl berth this past season should be realized next year on this National Signing Date anyway.

Tagged: Ronnie Wingo Jr., Knile Davis, National Signing Day, Southeastern Conference, Bobby Petrino, Brey Cook, Mitch Smothers, Chuck Dicus, Bill Montgomery, Frank Broyles, Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators