Arkansas Razorbacks' Ryan Silverfield needs to go out of box with recruiting approach

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It started as a relaxing date night with the wife, but it quickly turned into a dream land where the Arkansas Razorbacks began landing some of the greatest athletes on the planet without breaking the bank.

It's already been proven that the Hogs aren't going to be anything special using old school thought when it comes to the football program. Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek went out and hired possibly the greatest offensive line coach in college football history to be his team's head coach in Sam Pittman and Pittman spent years sifting through top prospects as o-line coaches, eventually landing on Eric Mateos, the clear future of coaching at the position.

However, once NIL took over, it didn't matter how great the coaches were on the sideline. Pittman had one good offensive line once the transfer portal and contracts took over the sport. There's no way the Razorbacks can operate in a quasi-NFL by placing themselves into a box built for the mid-1970s.

The coaching staff needs a bit of bravery, a lot of creativity and a slight dose of whatever Mike Leach was drinking during his days at Mississippi State. If they don't find themselves swinging literal swords at some point to think, they're not in the right place yet.

That brings us back to date night. At some point, my 13-year-old son convinced by wife to start watching these shows from Asia that are competitions based on physical strength, agility and a certain amount of strategy.

Netflix's "Physical Asia" is absolute chaos a lot of time in the most fun of ways. It's pure entertainment put over by some of the greatest voiceover work ever.

There will be a giant, ripped former MMA champion from Mongolia with his long hair matted in sweat as it hangs over his shoulders and he will have a reaction to an equally ripped judo champion pushing a crate of giant sand bags up a ramp onto a pirate ship to be thrown into a pit with the whitest, most generic American voice ever recorded.

Whether these guys are actually saying these words is between them and Netflix, but hearing these white voice actors speak for all of these Asian super athletes in the heat of battle is worth the price of admission alone.

However, what hooked me was the arrival of team Australia. First off, it took a minute to process that much of the world thinks of Australia as part of Asia, but an academic look at tectonic plates helps it make sense.

Team Australia is led by a world famous MMA champion who is flanked by a rugby player who looks like what everyone imagines a defensive back should look like, but, instead, he's been given one of those mushrooms from Super Mario Bros. and grown into a giant super linebacker with defensive back agility.

Still, it wasn't the rugby player who caught the eye. Instead, it was the 6-foot-5, 420 pound Samoan bull of a man named Eddie Williams. Williams is a Strongman champion who is everything one would never expect from a strongman.

Most are a lot like Godzilla. Super strength that is able to take down entire buildings, but horrible footwork and woefully short arms.

That wasn't Williams. The first clue he was different was in the intros when they showed him playing rugby, dashing down the field with the ball like he was Christian Okoye but with better agility. He zipped by guys and planted his giant baseball glove of a hand into defenders' bodies and sent them flying with the slightest flick of his arm.

Williams easily scored. Then, in one of the first competitions on the show where teams basically competed in a giant game of "King of the Mountain" where they had to claim ground on top of this disk while trying to throw members of the other team off to maximize the amount of teammates on the platform when the clock ran out.

Williams dominated. His footwork was amazing and his ability to create leverage against Olympic wrestlers, martial arts champions, and MMA fighters was insane.

He was immovable and if he ever decided to move anyone else, Williams tossed them.

Event after event showed his strength, leverage, athleticism and pure monster energy. His conditioning was insane on top of everything else.

At one point there is a vote among roughly 56 of some of the world's greatest champions as to whom they would not want to fight and Williams easily won. As the episodes flew by and Williams proved himself to be more than simply strength, an idea began to form.

What if Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield could allow himself to open his mind and pursue a super athlete like Williams. What a rabbit hole that thought opened up.

While Williams is world famous as a strongman champion, famous YouTuber, reality show star and also a singer on "Australia's Got Talent," what he reportedly brings home per year isn't what he would make as a left tackle playing college football, even at a place like Arkansas.

Clearly Williams has an agent, so it's worth a call. The worst he could do is say no, but there has to be the opportunity given. An SEC football schedule allows plenty of time to do the filming of reality competitions and competing in strongman competitions.

If he's going to be serious about his classes, which seems to be highly secondary in regard to eligibility these days, he has online options to make it possible. He would also have a ton of international NIL opportunities available on top of what Arkansas could pay him.

It would be a win-win because there is little doubt he has the natural skills to dominate at the position. It's too bad he didn't get that kind of opportunity with Pittman and Mateos while they were here, but that type of creative thinking just wasn't going to happen then.

It may not work out with Williams in the end, but that style of thought opens the door to other pathways. Suddenly a giant list of elite rugby athletes come into consideration.

It's not like it would be Arkansas' first trip into Australia looking for recruits. The Hogs once lured kicker Max Fletcher to Fayetteville to be a punter.

However, unlike Fletcher, many of the men Silverfield would be scouting wouldn't be young men desperately missing home because they are thousands of miles and an ocean or two away from their family for the first time. These are grown men who have traveled and can bring their families with them.

Yes, there will be a learning curve, but not too much. Teaching guys who spent their whole lives hitting other men without pads to do so with pads isn't much of a stretch.

There's talent to be had that could eventually perform at a higher level than what Arkansas is currently able to get using traditional methods.

If Fayetteville were to become a hub of international players learning the game together, they would be less likely to wander to other schools where they may not have that community or support.

Now, obviously, it wouldn't make sense to try to build a full team of international super athletes. The idea is to simply add size, athleticism and talent to the room that wouldn't otherwise be there because Arkansas wouldn't get consideration if these same athletes were traditional American football players.

It happens in other sports all the time. Baseball and basketball are littered with international players at the college level.

Arkansas also had Hjalte Froholt on its offensive line at one point in time. The longtime NFL offensive lineman technically came to the Hogs by way of IMG Academy, but he originated from Denmark.

The point is this. Arkansas needs its own thing that makes it unique in comparison to other schools.

BYU has its Samoan population. Ohio State has the best players money can buy.

The Arkansas identity can become the best team in the world. Linebackers from Australia, a running back from Japan, a lineman from Germany and a tight end from Spain.

Why limit the shopping aisles, especially when you need to stretch the NIL budget? Look where no one else ever has and find a pipeline to talent no one else knew existed.

America may have the highest concentration of super athletes, but it's not the sole source. It will just take a little creativity to make it happen.

Arkansas can be not only great, but a unique fan favorite across the country. It just has to find its thing.

One thing is for sure. This 1970s style box isn't it.

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