Arkansas Not as Successful at Recruiting State as Fans Like to Think

Pittman actually only coach to pull rare feat in either of last two decades

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman reacts during the second half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mississippi State won 7-3. / Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas fans are at it again, irrationally losing their minds and getting mad at Hogs' football coach Sam Pittman for something over which he truly has little control.

Another recruit changed his mind. This time it's a 3-star offensive tackle from Georgia who rates as the 45th best player in the state.

The issue at hand is Bear McWhorter once put up a billboard wanting to play for Arkansas coach Sam Pittman. The Razorback coach's reputation for developing linemen while at Georgia stuck and McWhorter was willing to go halfway across the country to Arkansas to play for him.

Then something happened that caused him to change his mind. Like all recruits, he's a teenager so it could have been one of a hundred things.

He may have gotten a good offer closer to home and got tired of family members nagging him about wanting to be able to see him play in person more. Perhaps Eli Drinkwitz called him up and convinced him Arkansas is a terrible place to be and Pittman won't be there to develop him after Halloween so he should go elsewhere.

Or, and this never happens in college football, especially to Arkansas (please read all the sarcasm into it you want), perhaps someone came up with more NIL money than it was responsible to refuse. Just look at the offer list:
• Texas
• Texas A&M
• Georgia
• Ole Miss
• Florida
• Florida St.
• Penn St.
• Tennessee
• Wisconsin

There are more, but even among that list, there's not a team against which Arkansas is expected to win an NIL battle should they decide they either want McWhorter or don't want the Razorbacks to have him. There are other possible reasons why’ll he may have changed his mind, but considering every team on that list has a significantly bigger NIL war chest, more wins and most are closer to family, it's surprising the legend of Pittman as an offensive line coach was enough to get his commitment in the first place.

Even if McWhorter were from Arkansas, it would be hard to compete with that list. A tweet made its way around social media this past week claiming that for the first time in school history, Arkansas is going to miss out on the top three recruits in the state.

That's simply not true. According to Rivals, the Hogs missed out on all three of the state's top recruits in 2020. According to 247, three of the Top 4 left in 2021.

Truth be told, the rarer feat is for the Razorbacks to land all three as for decades the top player in Arkansas has typically left the state for greener pastures. The 247 rankings show Pittman pulled a miracle in 2022 by using the bounce of the 2021 season, a year largely fueled by local players, to land the entire Top 6.

Elite Arkansas athletes just aren't drawn to Fayetteville much anymore. Even before Pittman and NIL it was hard to land the best in-state recruits.

In 2018, the first year of Chad Morris back when he had all the hype, three of the Top 4 left the state. The only player the Hogs landed, No. 2 recruit Connor Noland, actually came because of the reputation of the baseball team and quickly left the football program to put his focus there.

Outside of Pittman breaking the mold in 2022, only once from 2009 until now has Arkansas landed the three highest rated in-state recruits according to 247 rankings, and that was a 2016 class Pittman spent a lot of time recruiting for Bret Bielema before leaving for Georgia after the season because of how frustrated he became with the lack of seriousness around recruiting.

It should be noted that according to Rivals.com, Arkansas still missed out on a Top 3 recruit that year as running back Damarea Crockett went to Missouri. The issue clearly isn't that Pittman isn't capable of recruiting Arkansas.

Interestingly, the last time it happened without Pittman involved was in 2008 when Bobby Petrino took over the Razorbacks' football program. He focused heavily on Arkansas to fill up his first class and it just so happens it was loaded.

He signed not just the Top 3, but the Top 11 in-state recruits. Among them were Tyler Wilson, Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, Greg Childs, Dennis Johnson and De'Anthony Cutis. It was truly a rare class.

HOGS FEED:

• Pittman needs to stack wins to up chances with loaded in-state class

• Arkansas lands premier weekend starter out of portal

• Arkansas collects more Division I transfer portal position players

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