In advance of Wednesday’s national signing day, ESPN.com’s Chris Low filed a report Tuesday sizing up the recruiting needs at all of the Southeastern Conference schools and has the following to say about Arkansas’ circumstances:
Talk about losing the farm. Arkansas’ running back corps took a huge hit when Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis announced their intention to take their acts to the NFL. The Hogs need to replenish their backfield and would like to find a big back in the mold of Hillis. The Hogs’ offense scored 56 touchdowns last season, and the players who scored 41 of them are gone. With Bobby Petrino taking over as coach, the Razorbacks need to find a quarterback who is comfortable with his system. Wide receiver is another immediate need. Arkansas was also gutted in the secondary. Matterral Richardson, Kevin Woods, Michael Grant and Matt Hewitt are all gone. Cornerback is where the Hogs need the most help.
Filed under: Arkansas Football, SEC Football by Greg Harton. Posted on: February 5, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Perhaps Sean Salisbury should declare intentions to “take his act” [back] to the NFL I am all but certain that Salisbury’s second try as a quarterback in the NFL would be about as convincing as his first try.
And regardless, Salisbury, the 3rd string, ride the bench guy in the NFL is STILL better than Salisbury, the ESPN talking head.
ESPN, with the likes of Salisbury, is a joke.
[...] Necessary Roughness | two kingdoms, hundreds of thousands of miles wrote an interesting post today on The Low-down from ESPN.comHere’s a quick excerpt…hit when Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis announced their intention to take their acts to the NFL. The Hogs need to replenish… [...]
dwp007, instead of character assassination, maybe consider that Salisbury is on to something. Defense wins championships - doesn’t matter how great the offense is - for example, the 2007 New England Patriots - and the Hogs don’t have many prominent defensive commitments for next year. And they don’t have much of a defense returning next year.
Sure, our offense will be explosive and fun to watch the next couple of years but we won’t win our division in the SEC - until we have a great defense. See my comments on the other blog by Greg Harton on “Coaching changeovers”. Defense wins championships, particularly in the SEC.
hognaustin, I understand your concern about defense and i really don’t think 007 is disputing this fact. Instead, I think 007 is venting his views toward Salisbury in general. Let’s face it Salisbury is not an Arkansas fan nor a Petrino fan. With that being said, I do think Salisbury needs to stick to the NFL Xs and Os. Is that going to happen? No. 007 take the media with a grain of salt bro, it is all good. hognaustin take 007 with a grain of salt bro, its all good. Will Arkansas win an SEC Championship in 2008-9? No, not with our defense. I say give the man a couple of years to recruit his team as a whole, not just the offense or defense. It takes time guys, he is laying a foundation for offense this year. I will bet that next year’s recruits are mor defense oriented. That’s my opinion but its just like a butthole!
I appreciate the “love” Crittco and you nailed it. Hognaustin, I have no argument in terms of your comment on defense and what is necessary to win championships. You are absolutely right, a solid defense will be necessary. Eventually, I think Petrino will install both an offense and defense to make the Razorbacks a national contender.
However, when Sean Salisbury started jaw boning about how Arkansas recruits should reconsider their commitments when Petrino left Atlanta, the line was crossed. This idiot, whose so-called “expertise” and livelihood totally depend on the NFL, has the objectivity of a housefly trying to decide between an open bag of trash and pile of manure. He’s a classic talking head, trying to make as much [negative] noise as he possibly can - often times regardless of his true knowledge of the subject matter. Salisbury has no “character” to assassinate, in my opinion.
I also believe that next year’s defensive recruits will get Petrino’s primary focus, yet it would appear that the UA has gained some significant ground of late, if the scouting reports are accurate. We will know soon enough. GO HOGS!.
ANYBODY HEAR ABOUT THE RUMOR THAT DJ WILLIAMS
HAS ASKED FOR A TRANSFER…..GOT THIS ON DRIVE-TIME SPORTS YESTERDAY……AND THEY SAID IT WAS JUST A RUMOR……
I completely agree with everything you’ve all said. We can’t win without a good defense. With a great defense, we would have contended for the Nat’l Championship this year. Next year, I think we will struggle on both sides of the ball unless Petrino works some serious magic with the offense.
On recruiting defensive players, I don’t think top recruits are lining up to come to Arkansas when we don’t even have a DC yet. What scheme are we going to use? If I was a defensive lineman or a linebacker, I would want to know if it was a 4-3 or 3-4 before I committed the next four years of my life. CBs want to know if they are going to play mostly man-to-man or zone.
Most all you guys sound like a herd of housewives - gossipping without having any serious thoughts.
The Razorbacks will do just fine - thank you.
You guys need to take a toddy, a little “Blue Pill”, or whatever it is you do, but quit complaining - it’s going to be all right and you’re going to wake up the kids.
Just believe in Coach Petrino and his Assistants - they’ll get the job done - evidenced by the fine class of recruits they’ve just picked up. You didn’t even wait to see before pontificating.
Go Hogs!!!! Boo Critics!!!
razorbackintexas you are my kind a guy, chime in any time!
I’m reminded of a comment Ronald Reagan made when debating Jimmy Carter, “are you better off than you were four years ago?” Like others have said, time will tell on this class of recruits. But, you have to admit that if Houston Nutt were still coach, would Ryan Mallet be here? No. Would Joe Adams be here? No. Would Tyler Wilson be here? No. Jerico Nelson? Cruz Williams? The answer again is No. Ryan Mallet is a leader. He would’ve gone to Tennessee. Joe Adams would be Pete Carrol’s prize. Living in Missouri, I can tell you that Gary Pinkel WANTED Tyler Wilson until Petrino made it very apparent early on that Tyler wasn’t leaving the state, period. Jerico Nelson would be on another promising Florida Gator squad. Cruz Williams might have migrated north to Michigan like RM originally did.
Bottom line is that we have young men coming on board that either are already leaders or will be competing for the “C” on their jersey. 11 out of 26 recruits are from out of state and not just Texas. Petrino has proven he will find the talent anywhere it exists. Nutt never knew the definition of the words, “frequent flyer miles.”
Chris Low, another uninformed ESPN analyst/writer, filing a last-minute missle (day before the final signing day) at Arkansas, possibly to upset any recruit whom might wait until the last minute to decide on Arkansas.
Well, Chris, it turns out that you’re like many of the other mean-natured ESPN writers who have tried their dead-level best to disparage Arkansas.
Arkansas has done wonders in recruiting, no thanks to ESPN and it’s ilk. ESPN doesn’t seem to understand that Arkansas’ great history and sports performance preceeds and predates ESPN - you can’t sweep a magical wand and fool everybody with your false hype - people, especially when it comes to sports, can see through ESPN’s tendency to preach and carry on with untruths.
So Phooie on you.
Go HOGS Go!!!