FAYETTEVILLE -- When it comes to football, Steve Spurrier is a stand-up guy who asserts what he means and means what he asserts whether about his own team or an opponent.
So in retrospect it's surprising that the blunt South Carolina coach inadvertently asserted a half-truth after his Gamecocks routed the Razorbacks 52-7 in the Razorbacks' 2013 homecoming game in Fayetteville.
"I do feel badly for Arkansas," Spurrier said. "It's not fun getting your butt beat like this at home on homecoming and all that. Bret [Bielema] and his guys will need to recruit their way out of it."
They certainly made strides with their 2014 recruiting class. Among others, Bielema's second recruiting class provided the likes of starting cornerback Henre Toliver, starting offensive guard Sebastian Tretola, backup center Frank Ragnow, backup offensive tackle/tight end Cameron Jefferson, backup nose tackle Bijhon Jackson, backup linebackers Randy Ramsey, Dwayne Eugene and Khalia Hackett and promising redshirts like offensive tackle Brian Wallace.
However, Spurrier only half-covered Bielema's to-do list. Developing the inherited was the utmost thrust required for the Razorbacks' rapid improvement.
Although still winless in the SEC at 0-3 for 2014, following last year's 0-8 conference record, irrefutable evidence mounts that the Razorbacks are improving rapidly.
Alabama, which was 52-0 over the Razorbacks in 2012 and 2013, needed a blocked extra point and nearly innumerable what-ifs last Saturday to escape Fayetteville with a 14-13 victory.
In fact, if South Carolina played Arkansas this season, Spurrier's Gamecocks might even be underdogs. Texas A&M beat the Gamecocks 52-28 in Columbia, S.C., but Arkansas led A&M by 14 going into the fourth quarter of a 35-28 overtime loss at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Arkansas improved in part because of the continued improvement from Bielema's 2013 recruiting class, but mainly from Bielema and his staff developing remnants from John L. Smith's 2012 tatters.
Even though Bobby Petrino's 2011 Hogs were 11-2, recruiting patterns indicated a rebuilding season in 2013 off a highly anticipated 2012.
Razorbacks fans know all too well how Petrino's scandal-revealing motorcycle crash in April 2012 crashed the program a year early under Smith.
Bielema inherited a short stick, but Bielema and his staff ceaselessly developed players who preceded them.
Some players who had been overlooked like third-year sophomore nose tackle Taiwan Johnson, once lower than a snake's belly on the depth chart, are influential starters now. Lightly recruited safety Alan Turner has developed into a mainstay and a team leader. Brandon Allen, despite some irrational critics on message boards and talk radio, has progressed remarkably at quarterback against three SEC teams that have been ranked as high as No. 2 (Alabama and Auburn) and No. 6 (Texas A&M).
Although few shoot film any more, this is one picture that requires looking beyond Arkansas' SEC darkroom to visualize what is developing.
Sports on 10/15/2014