Judging Recruiting Results Now All Just Spin Control

We really won't know what this latest bunch of new players can do for Hogs for years

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Dec 23, 2023 10:11 PM EST
Original:
Dec 23, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Don't waste a lot of time trying to guess whether this is a good or bad recruiting class. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman knows this and it's all a pure guess. Trying to spin it any other way is just building hope.

One thing you'll learn in the transfer portal is just because a player can perform certain things at one place doesn't mean it will happen just like that at another. We've seen a ton of examples of that. The Razorbacks have had one — just one — become a star here.

You could see it coming from Drew Sanders the first time we got to see him on the field at a practice. He just did things at a completely different pace than everybody else had seen. He was playing at an Alabama pace and the stark differences with what we've seen with the Hogs were unbelievable.

ESPN graphic of Camellia Bowl with wrong team

None of that necessarily translates to wins and losses. We live in an age where anything in college football can happen just about any week. But playing for championships requires a different level of urgency and focus than just trying to win nine games and go to a good bowl game.

Players want a coach, not a middle-age best friend. Sooner or later they will discover if you don't make plays and win games, you aren't going to make much above minimum pay in the NIL world. Nobody's paying big money for potential. The number of exceptions to that are so small you count them on one hand.

Arkansas' latest haul of high school players and transfers are, at best building blocks. If you're okay with making a good bowl every 3-4 years and never competing for a championship beyond Halloween you'll find positives. As several former players have told, "If you're not playing for a championship, there's not really much point."

This latest bunch of recruits may do that. But there's absolutely no way to predict it now because there are way too many variables. Let's not get caught up in assuming a lot of hypotheticals. Every game is different and only have really good guesses at the end of the season.

We'll know a little more in a couple of months when spring practice starts. It will be the first time any of us have seen players outside of a game in about five months. We didn't see anything in November, mostly because Pittman didn't want us to be a distraction.

For now, though, stay away from trying to figure out how good they'll be next November. Nobody knows anything for sure. By the time we know, it'll either be about over-achieving or more excuses for failure. We've heard that too much over the last decade.