re: This is why Bielema is being given time

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That's the point. Apparently, everyone, including Arkie fans, thought there was still a lot of talent left there by Petrino. So much, in fact, that even with Smith coaching them, they were still thought to be a top 10 team. By everybody. Including Arkie fans. Especially Arkie fans.

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There was some talent left for Smith, they were just almost all seniors at that point. Cobi Hamilton, Tyler Wilson, Chris Gragg, Knile Davis, Dennis Johnson. All of them made the NFL (4 were drafted) and were seniors in 2012 so they left after that year.

The ones that were supposed to replace them either were trash or true freshmen that Bielema recruited within a month. Petrino didn't recruit hardly anything behind those players.

Nuts4LSU let me explain Petrino in this way. He is a coach that can take a sows ear and make a silk purse out of it. In other words he beats you with smoke and mirrors. He was not a very enthusiastic recruiter but he did make sure he had plenty of receivers and a qb. While he was here it looked to me like recruiting linemen was a afterthought as he had more important things to take care of. When Bielema got here what he really cared about, (linemen) they were pretty scarce, well good ones were. Bielema builds his foundation of team strength on linemen, defensive as well as offensive. Basically he started over. First year it was very rough,second year he was laying a couple cornerstones but had a ways to go. Third year you could see the advancement of the over all squad but they did enter the season with skilled people and linebackers and dbacks in scarce supply and that is the very place they were hit by injuries the worse. The dline was very good last year but the linebackers and dbacks that could play could not cover all the contingencies that were crucial. They tried but the results were a real mess playing in space kind of offenses. They flat out did not have the people to do a decent job of it. One thing there did happen though, because of injuries receivers were developed and very inexperienced dbacks gained valuable needed savvy plus new jucos have helped. The cupboard of skilled players is much better entering this season and the fact is Bielema feels like he now has some depth across he board for the first time and physically the team looks imposing not only in the lines but throughout the complete squad. Is he there yet? No he will continue building. Now lets get back to recruiting. According to the recruiting gurus Ark continues to recruit at about 11TH best in the SEC, the very same place Petrino did. Yet when you compare the Petrino and Bielema squads there is a vast chasm in Bielema's favor when it comes to over all size, strength, and speed among some other things. To me it seems that no matter how well Bielema recruits he will not be given credit for it and we will still be ranked 11TH in the conference. All I can say is Bielema and his strength coach must be hell at developing players. All programs say this but when Arkansas gets off the bus they now look like and are starting to play like they belong with LSU and Bama. But according to the recruiting gurus that ain't possible.. Right now in the lines the possibility of Ark passing LSU in size and strength is a reality. Now as a program with all the other intangibles I am not saying the same thing because when you look at all the other areas, LSU and Bama too, are off the charts. Still though how will all this transfer to the field for Ark this season I guess we are about to find out one way or another. One thing I will say for a certainty, we have not seen Bielema's best, not yet.

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tjv305

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Thread about Arkansas

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Whats really funny is you missed what else he did, run the program into the ditch with him. Than we hire John MF Smith to take care of the program??? They were
not held accountable one bit, lots of them let their grades slide and Bret cleaned house. He had no choice. Today we actually look like an SEC football team at all positions. Your team better be able to throw, you are not running over this DLine.
Opposing teams will have their hands full going forward.

5 is a lot, right?

Go look at the schools that are after most of the kids we sign. No school in the top 50-75 are even on them. Mostly tiny directional schools. His recruiting last year and this year is horrible. You can't win big with mediocre players in the west. His seat is hot after next year. He's a 7 win ceiling coach here.

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Yes the excuses have been used a lot. Is it true that 6 of this years starters were not Brets recruits ? Seems funny that Arkansas fans say he came into a team with no talent yet in his 4th year 6 of the 22 starters were recruited by previous coaches.

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He did play players recruited by Petrino and JLS, yes. Did he win with those players?? No, not really. He hasnt had a team yet completed by his own recruits.

In response to the questions of "Who has Bert recruited??" You will see them this year....Alex Collins and Hunter Henry were the notable one from last year. This year he will have Jeremy Sprinkle, Dominique Reed, Rawliegh Williams, Devwah Whaley, the entire O-Line, most of the D-Line, all of the Linebackers and most of the secondary (which wont be very good btw). So 90% of the playmakers we have on offense and defense this year will be his players.

That said, if I had the choice between Bret and Petrino today, Id chose Petrino if guaranteed he could keep his nose clean. He's proven he could coach, although he couldnt recruit. Bret has proven he can recruit, but he hasnt proven he can coach yet. I have been impressed with his recruiting though. We have gotten some players we would not have had a chance at in years past and have been on some top-notch talent's final choices and just couldnt close the deal. Thats much better than Petrino ever did, other than Dorial Green-Beckham

So Jeremy Sprinkle was one of Brets recruits? I don't know who your claiming the play makers are but on offense K.Hatcher , J.Sprinkle and K.walker are not Brets recruits . On defense 2 of the starters on the D-line and one DB were also recruited before Bret came along.

I agree he didn't really win much but a key part of his teams strengths have been because of players he inherited. compare that to Petino who did his best in his 3rd and 4th year when his recruits started to get experience.

Arrogant ignorance