By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett estimates he changed his phone number “four or five times” in the past year because of all the calls.

The Razorbacks’ Heisman Trophy candidate — and future NFL draft pick —  said the volume was so intense at his parents’ home in Texarkana that he encouraged them to stop answering the phone, too. Especially if the phone calls were coming from a number they didn’t recognize.

Mallett insisted it was nothing personal as he addressed the media in the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala., last month. He just doesn’t want to get tangled up in conversations with agent after agent as he sets his sights on a highly anticipated junior season.

“I’m not talking to any agents,” Mallett declared. “Anybody that calls. Anybody that calls the coaches. I don’t want to talk to them right now. Don’t call my family. They don’t want to talk to you right now.”

Mallett was just one of several Southeastern Conference players asked for his opinion and experiences in dealings with agents during the league’s preseason kickoff event.

The reason for all the talk? The agent-athlete relationship has been front and center in college football because of a rash of recent incidents.

It’s not just the high-profile case of Southern California, which was hit hard with sanctions and scholarship losses thanks to former running back Reggie Bush’s dealings with an agent while in school.

Football players from North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia have all been questioned by the NCAA about a South Beach party that may have been organized by an agent. Former Florida offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey was accused of accepting $100,000 from an agent, although the NFL rookie has denied the claim. The NCAA also visited Clemson last week to question two football players, although the exact reason was not known.

The troubles have made other football programs around the country hold their breath, hoping they’re not next.

“It’s a concern you have every single day as a coach,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said at SEC Media Days.

But it also is another first-rate teaching tool for schools like Arkansas, which reported no “inquiries or incidents” involving agents and athletes last week.

All are prime examples of what Jon Fagg, Arkansas’ senior associate athletic director for compliance, said the Hogs have emphasized to their athletes all along.

“It’s great to be able to use real examples, current examples of things that have gone wrong to tell the guys that, ‘Hey, stuff really does go wrong,’” Fagg said. “Especially in this day in time with so much information flow. Where if you go do something, odds are, somebody is going to figure it out. That’s really, really scary.”

Petrino, Fagg and Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long all agreed education is key in helping players make good decisions when it comes to rogue agents. And the Razorbacks have practiced the proactive approach in ensuring every athlete understands right from wrong.

“They’re out there. They’re around,” Long said of agents. “The more information you can give your young people then the better decisions they’re going to make.”

It starts from the ground level, meeting with athletes to let them know what NCAA rules stipulate in regard to agents. For instance, Fagg said talking to an agent isn’t breaking NCAA rules. But accepting any extra benefits — whether it’s cash, a car or even a lift to and from campus — is.

Arkansas’ program doesn’t end with the basics, though.

An example: Joe Mendes, a former NFL vice president of football operations turned consultant for college programs, has been on Arkansas’ campus twice this summer to meet with players who will likely be NFL-bound when their collegiate careers end.

He shares his experiences with agents on the NFL level and helps them understand more about the business. Arkansas has also arranged interviews between select players and agents with Mendes serving as an unbiased moderator between the two sides.

“We’ve tried to take the proactive part of it as far as, let’s put everything out in the open,” Petrino said of Arkansas’ approach. “Let’s try to educate our players. What does an agent actually mean? What does he do for you? How do you go through the selection process?”

Agents on campus sounds like an alarming proposition, but tight end D.J. Williams said it has been an invaluable experience. A senior who will be drafted next April, Williams believes he knows much more and said it will help him – and teammates – make sound choices.

“When we bring some in and meet with agents the right way, (Mendes is) sitting right beside us,” Williams said. “So the agents don’t have a chance to take advantage of players. They don’t have a chance to try to tell them something they don’t know about and make them break a rule. He’s been a very beneficial factor at Arkansas.”

Of course, there is no way to monitor players 24 hours a day. Which means there also is no surefire method of making sure NCAA violations don’t occur.

That can be an unnerving situation, Fagg said, no matter how much time is spent talking to Arkansas’ athletes or arranging meetings with agents in controlled settings.

“We know that we don’t have very much control,” Fagg said. “ … The honest agents out there do it the right way, contact compliance, go through the coaches. They operate in the light. The ones that aren’t quite so honest, in my opinion, will operate in the dark.”

Not all blame can be placed on rogue agents, either.

Many times athletes are the ones at fault, whether it is knowingly or not. So Williams said accountability is important because, ultimately, it’s an athlete’s call.

“I wouldn’t say it’s all on the players, but when it comes down to it everybody has a choice to make,” Williams said. “I think every player needs to be educated on what is right and what is wrong. What line you can’t cross and what lines can be crossed. … But ultimately it comes down to the player knowing what’s right and wrong and thinking you can get away with something or not get away with it. It’s just, like I said, on the player.”

Williams and Mallett don’t think it will be a problem with the Razorbacks. They believe everyone at Arkansas knows what is possible this season and don’t want to make a mistake that could affect the team’s performance.

“I think our guys are smart enough to realize it,” Mallett said. “Especially when you see things going on.”