re: Why can't Petrino recruit 4 and 5 stars?

And it's not just Petrino. Nutt couldn't recruit 4 and 5 star guys consistently to Fayetteville either.

But so far, the guys who Petrino's brought to campus have been better students and caused less trouble. He's also been able to retain most of his recruits with very little defectors.

Nutt might seem to have a decent class one year, but half of them would be gone within 2 years.

The move to the SEC really hurt our Texas recruiting but it's improving with the game in Dallas and more national exposure on TV.

We've started to recruit Oklahoma and Missouri much better, both have some good football talent.

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We've started to recruit Oklahoma and Missouri much better

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This has been huge right here. We NEVER recruited Missouri when Nutt was here despite there being a lot of talent up there. We may not sign a lot from the state but Petrino has done a nice job taking the top RB out of there in 2 out of the last 3 years.

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Don't forget RayRay (False start) Dominquez.

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I said "close to being irreplaceable."

I think Dominguez will be easily replaced by Freeman.

As someone who grew up in STL I'm shocked to hear people say they think there's a lot of football talent in Missouri

MU locks up what talent they can and then they go to Texas for the most part

Hopefully we add Dorial Green-Beckham in 2012. He may be the best WR prospect in the country.

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Hopefully we add Dorial Green-Beckham in 2012. He may be the best WR prospect in the country.

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he's going to be a top 5 player in the country.

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As someone who grew up in STL I'm shocked to hear people say they think there's a lot of football talent in Missouri

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They haven't locked it all up recently. We have taken two big time recruits from them recently and are in on two/three top guys next year. There is more talent in Missouri/St. Louis/E. St. Louis than Arkansas recently so you have to look at where we are coming from. In comparison to Louisana of course not but in comparison to Arkansas it is on the same level or more.

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can't

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Petrino goes after who he thinks will fit his system, i.e. players who are willing to work hard (work ethic), good character, has good length, speed, and plenty of upside regardless of stars. A very good example of his not relying on Stars is a couple of years ago an unnamed 4 Star DL out of Florida had Arkansas as his favorite.

Within a day or two after his official visit he all of a sudden “flips” to Ole Miss and the Rebel Fans make a big deal out of Nutt “stealing” one from the Hogs. I was told that during the recruit’s visit to Arkansas there were two big, red flags for the staff. 1. He wasn’t as tall as advertised. 2. He couldn’t even bench his own weight (not injury related). Fast forward two years and I don’ think he has played a down for the Rebels.

A couple more very good examples is RB/LB recruit Breylon Mitchell from Heber Springs, AR and OL Luke Charpentier from River Ridge, LA. Both rated as 3 star recruits.

Mitchell committed to the Hogs early after getting an offer from one of the camps he attended. He RS this year and he is playing LB for the Hogs. According to the coaching staff, Mitchell was better and had more potential than any other LB prospect they were recruiting including some “4 stars”. His progress during his RS year has been very good.

The 6’ 4” Charpentier reported at 340, way over where he needed to be. However, he trimmed down to 290-295 and has lost his “baby fat”. He is slowly regaining his weight with muscle and plans on playing at about 315. The Strength Coach raves about his work ethic and it’s been reported that he has really increased his speed which will help him pulling. The coaches are very, very happy with the progress Luke has made and they think he will be an outstanding OL for the Hogs.

Don’t be fooled by the star ratings on the Hog commitments because if Petrino didn’t think they could help the Hogs reach their goals, i.e. compete for the SEC Championship and a BCS Bowl, he wouldn’t have taken their commitment this early.

Mitchell: LINK

Charpentier: LINK

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Only 6 seniors are starting this year. 3 OL, 1 TE, 1 S and 1 LB.

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I didn't research this but one of the radio hosts on Monday stated that 26 different players played on defense Saturday against LSU and 23 of them were underclassman. That's called building depth.