By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Craving football news, the e-mailer wanted to know if so-and-so was on the Fayetteville campus.
The athlete in question was one of more than 30 who signed up to play for Bobby Petrino at Arkansas and very few of the names announced in February stick in the memory banks through the summer. After forwarding the query to an all-knowing one, there was assurance that Anthony Oden was, indeed, on campus.
Come next year, there will be fewer opportunities for such angst among football fans in the Southeastern Conference. Six weeks ago, presidents of the league’s 12 schools voted to limit the number of football signees to 28 per year and to sponsor similar legislation at the NCAA convention. Before settling on 28, the presidents considered a limit of 30.
Considering the scholarship limit of 25 per year, 28 seems fair and such a cap should provide a more accurate picture of incoming talent for those who fervently embrace a recruiting class. The ranking of recruiting classes in February is based on all signees and the no-shows are deducted when class ratings are updated in the fall. If the defectors are particularly talented, a recruiting class can drop a half-dozen spots or more nationally.
For instance, prior to Petrino, Rodney Giles, Freddie Barnett, Thomas Shuler, Albert Gary, Basmine Jones, Adrian Campbell, Juwann Franklin, Michael Harris, Dee Williams, Michael Bibbs and Ryan Young were among the prominent players who signed with Arkansas and never played for the Razorbacks.
The decision by the SEC presidents was interpreted as a reaction to Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt signing 37 players in February. Nutt said he knew seven or eight of the players wouldn’t qualify, but that he wanted to cement relationships with Mississippi high schools. In the process, he said, “We were able to help some Mississippi junior colleges.”
Apparently, Arkansas was the only other school in the SEC to sign more than 30.
Defensive end Caleb Evans of San Marcos Palomar Community College said in late May that he would be a Razorback. He is No. 33, so the squeeze is on to get to the manageable number of 27.
February signees bound for junior college are Arkies Turrell Williams and Rickey Hughey and Floridians Kevin Lowery and Shauntez Bruce.
When Petrino provided an assessment of his signing class in February, he said Williams would start out at linebacker and that Hughey could play a variety of positions, maybe even grow into a defensive end. He talked about Lowery’s motor and described Bruce as “very athletic and light on his feet.”
SEC commissioner Mike Slive said coaches have their reasons for signing a player, but the presidents and chancellors “view the signing of a letter-of-intent as a commitment by a student-athlete capable of being academically admitted …”
During the past three years, more than half of SEC schools have signed 26 to 29 players, he said. Next time, 29 will be one too many.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
