Bahn: Razorback Staff Turnover Might Have Helped Late Push For Key Defensive Additions
2/1/2012 at 6:10pm
FAYETTEVILLE — Head coaches across the country, without fail, give their staffs credit for making the year’s recruiting haul possible. It might be the one part of national signing day more predictable than the consistent unpredictablity of 17- and 18-year olds.
Bobby Petrino has routinely praised his staff in his previous four recruiting roundups at Arkansas. So it was no surprise to hear him once again express appreciation when unveiling a 24-man class that addressed multiple needs.
It might be routine, but it wasn't without sincerity. Can you imagine Petrino ever being more grateful for the assistants than he was this year, considering how much turnover the staff saw from December to January?
Sure, the Razorbacks missed out on their No. 1 target. They failed to land Dorial Green-Beckham, the 6-foot-6 wide receiver from Springfield, Mo., lauded by many as the nation’s best player regardless of position. A change in offensive coordinator at Arkansas was even cited by Green-Beckham’s father/coach as a possible factor in choosing the Tigers.
If that was indeed the case, it makes what the Arkansas defensive staff pulled off even more worthy of kudos. December and January saw a massive overhaul of the defensive coaching staff and Arkansas survived thanks to some key hires and the work of recruiting coordinator Tim Horton, who kept things operating smoothly even with the roster of assistants in flux.
Here’s a quick recap: Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was fired and replaced with Paul Haynes. Linebackers coach Reggie Johnson left for a defensive coordinator position on Garrick McGee’s staff at Alabama-Birmingham and Taver Johnson replaced him. Kevin Peoples moved onto the field from an administrative position to replace John L. Smith, who took a head coaching job at Weber State. Veteran assistant Bobby Allen shifted to the secondary to make way for Peoples to coach the defensive line.
Let’s pause to catch our breath.
OK. Did we miss anything? It’s honestly hard to keep straight considering how much and how quickly the defensive side of the ball was overhauled following a 10-win regular season.
Despite the turnover, the Razorbacks seemed to upgrade on the defensive side of the ball. They lost no defensive prospects in the final month of recruiting and actually managed to add two players that at one time or another were committed to Southeastern Conference rivals.
“I thought the transition was something we handled really well,” Petrino said.
Not to downplay Green-Beckham’s snubbing of the Razorbacks, but if there was one position Arkansas could go without its top priority, wide receiver was it. Defensively, the Razorbacks really needed to upgrade depth at linebacker and on the interior.
They did both on Wednesday, despite losing coaches at both spots. In some ways the addition of Peoples and Johnson might have been a boost to the recruiting efforts.
Otha Peters, a one-time Tennessee pledge, chose Arkansas. He’s considered by some services as a four-star prospect and had offers from three other SEC teams and other schools such as Kansas State, TCU and Nebraska.
Even more of a surprise addition to the class was Prichard, Ala., defensive end Darius Philon, a player expected to sign with defending national champion Alabama on Wednesday. Philon, who recently underwent knee surgery, was asked to defer enrollment at Alabama until next year. [Al.com has details on his late switch.] He instead picked Arkansas, where his high school teammate, JaMichael Winston is headed.
Beyond Peters and Philon, the Razorbacks appeared to upgrade defensively. They signed five defensive ends (a little heavy, Petrino admitted), a pair of linebackers and three defensive backs. Missing is a game-changing safety, but Arkansas does have one open scholarship.
As expected, plenty of playmaking offensive options were added as well. But defense is where the Razorbacks, at least on first glance, did their best work down the stretch.
It’s unusual for coaches to express anything but satisfaction with a class. Nobody expected Petrino to show any disappointment with the signees, but considering the month of transition on defense and how the staff closed, his praising of how things turned out was easy to understand.
“We prioritized what we needed first and I thought we stuck to that,” Petrino said. “We did a good job of evaluating and finished strong. Anytime you can finish strong and get it done, we feel like we hit what we needed to do.”
Email: cbahn@abpg.com. Follow Chris on Twitter @cbahn
Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, Otha Peters, Garrick McGee, Bobby Petrino, Tim Horton, Taver Johnson, Kevin Peoples, Reggie Johnson, John L. Smith, Willy Robinson, Steve Caldwell, Bobby Allen, Paul Haynes, Dorial Green-Beckham
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