Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

1/25/2012 at 3:04pm

Image by Amy Glover Bryant

Bearden athlete Defonta Lowe is one of just four in-state players expected to sign with Arkansas in 2012.

It’s hard to believe Arkansas high schools could provide fewer players than the five who signed national letters of intent with the Razorbacks in 2010. But by all accounts this 2012 class will have only four.

However, the difference for this Arkansas recruiting class and the 2010 haul is that — should all the commitments hold and one or two difference makers jump on board by Feb. 1 — the out-of-state signing group could be the best the Razorback football program has brought in since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1992.

Based on commitments reported to this point, Arkansas plans to sign Bearden’s Defonta Lowe, a quarterback/safety; linebacker A.J. Turner from Lepanto/East Poinsett County High; offensive lineman Jeremy Ward of Pottsville, and defensive end/tight end Jeremy Sprinkle of White Hall.

A fifth in-state commitment to the Hogs, Warren receiver Jalen Cobb, recently decommitted, reportedly due to academic shortcomings. Just 16 percent of the 25-man signing class for Arkansas on Feb. 1 will be made up of Arkansans, unless the Razorback staff has a well-guarded surprise in store. In 2010, Bobby Petrino didn’t offer Russellville kicker Zach Hocker until the final weekend before signing day — a serendipitous turn of events for the Hogs, as a Shreveport high schooler, Will Russ, decommitted from Arkansas for Texas; Russ hasn’t kicked a ball in a game yet in Austin, while Hocker has had a huge role in the Hogs’ 21 victories over the past two years.

Tennessee appears to be in the same boat as the Hogs are. The Vols this point have commitments from just three Tennessee high school prospects.

However, the state of Tennessee has (as of this writing) 20 prospects who have committed to Southeastern Conference schools, including two Memphis-area players who are planning to sign with Arkansas. The state of Georgia leads the SEC with 60 players committed to SEC schools.

Those four Arkansas in-state commitments are the only Arkansas-based players committed to SEC schools — Arkansas has produced the fewest SEC commitments of any SEC state. There is no Michael Dyer or Kiehl Frazier headed to another SEC school in this Arkansas senior class.

The beneficiary to Arkansas’ mostly out-of-state recruiting focus obviously is Arkansas State, under new head coach Gus Malzahn, as well as Football Championship Subdivision-level UCA and head coach Clint Conque.

While there may be just four athletes deemed SEC level by the Arkansas staff, at least a dozen or more who can play some level of Division I football, if not on the highest (re: SEC) tier. On average, the state has seen 20 players a year sign with Division I schools.

For instance, Landers Award winner Fredi Knighten from Pulaski Academy, a speedster apparently deemed too short to play quarterback and too light in general to handle the pounding, was available for ASU’s Malzahn, who added 11 more commitments over the weekend.

Camden Fairview star Derek Keaton was headed to Kansas until the coaching change in Lawrence brought Charlie Weis on board. KU’s new staff let Keaton know he might want to look around, and he didn’t have to look far or long before committing to Malzahn and ASU.

Strong’s do-everything Kenneth Dixon, an extremely physical player and possessing an SEC-type frame, has been long committed to Louisiana Tech.

The theory long was that Arkansas could compete with the big boys if it pulled in 12 or so in-state players (about half the signing class) from in state and picked up the other dozen or so from Texas or surrounding states.

The myth that grew from Arkansas’ entry into the SEC after leading the Southwest Conference is that the Hogs lost a recruiting presence in Texas. Truth is, starting in 1980 to about the time SMU suffered the NCAA’s death penalty for recruiting infraction, Arkansas’ recruiting in Texas waned from its 1960s-70s heyday. The Hogs still picked up 4-6 average-to-good Texans a year after joining the SEC.

When Danny Ford took the Arkansas head coaching job at the end of the 1992 season, he mistakenly believed — he confided this later to friends — that Arkansas’ high schools provided the bulk of the Razorback talent. It took a couple of seasons before Ford and his staff made huge inroads back into Texas, as well as Mississippi and Louisiana, and signed players that Texas A&M and Texas sought.

For a time, Houston Nutt — who followed Ford after the 1997 season — mined the northeast Texas area for talent to supplement the Arkansas haul.

In the meantime, Arkansas had high-water marks for producing great in-state talent in the early-to-mid 1980s and the early 2000s, periods in which it wasn’t usual for the state to have as many as three Parade All-Americans in one season.

This year, the state has managed to produce just four players that Arkansas or anyone else in the SEC believes is an SEC-caliber athlete. Pottsville’s Ward is the only one of the four to receive another SEC offer outside of Arkansas.

Of course, it runs in cycles, and next year’s Arkansas senior class already possesses two players, Altee Tenpenny and Hunter Henry, who are highly sought — Alabama’s Nick Saban flew in to Adams Field last night, and he wasn’t stopping in to just eat at Doe’s and talk about Alabama’s most recent national championship.

The key for Arkansas football, when the in-state harvest is down, is somehow to land a handful of blue-chips from the neighboring states. Petrino and his staff didn’t accomplish that in 2010, but the current commitments and other players still considering the Hogs in the run-up to the Feb. 1 signing day are a big step up for the Razorback program.

Petrino and his staff have gained commitments from nine other states, including California. He’s landed his first significant commitment (receiver D’Arthur Cowan) from Mississippi after striking out the past three years.

However, this class so far has no commitments from talent-rich Louisiana despite the Hogs’ recent success against LSU. But Texas prospects headed to Fayetteville are on the upswing, and Arkansas has been winning recruiting battles with future SEC foe Missouri and with the Big 12’s Oklahoma State, which had been outrecruiting the UA program for much of the past decade.

Petrino and his staff will be in Central Arkansas on the night of Feb. 2 to review the 2012 signing class at the Little Rock Razorback Club's annual fete, scheduled this year for Verizon Arena. Tickets are $65 and the silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m.

Award-winning columnist Jim Harris wasn’t around when Hugo Bezdek named the Razorbacks, it only seems that way. His acumen for UA football history is renowned and he has covered the Hogs and the state sports scene since 1976. He's always looking for a good gumbo to try. Email: jharris@abpg.com, and follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360 .

Tagged: D'Arthur Cowan, Little Rock Razorback Club, Jeremy Sprinkle, A.J. Turner, Jeremy Ward, DeFonta Lowe, Southeastern Conference, Bobby Petrino