It's been more than four decades since Frank Broyles left the sideline as the most successful football coach in the Razorbacks' program history.
The formula that brought the program to an elite level is the same today as it was in the 1960s, said new Razorbacks coach Chad Morris, and it starts with recruiting the fertile grounds of Texas, Tulsa and Memphis. That's where Broyles focused on, and Morris has the same intent.
"I'm very aware of it," Morris said. "That's kind of what we went back and looked at, you know? When Arkansas was really, really in its heyday, what were they doing? They were doing a great job of recruiting in Texas, in Tulsa, in Memphis and particularly in East Texas."
Indeed, in addition to obviously recruiting in-state prospects, Morris and his staff have hit those areas.
The Razorbacks currently have 18 pledges in their 2019 recruiting class, more than half of which are from two states. There are six from Texas and four from Arkansas.
There are also three commits from Tennessee (two from Memphis), a pair of pledges each from Alabama and a single prospect each from Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Arkansas land two or three more in-state prospects, a couple of players from Texas and/or two more from Tennessee before the class is put to bed either during the Dec. 19-21 early signing period or the national signing date Feb. 6.
That mix has worked well enough to have the Arkansas class ranked 16th nationally by Rivals (the highest since 2002), 21st by 24/7 and 25th by ESPN.
It helps to have connections in those areas with Texas recruiting headed by running backs coach and highly successful former Texas high school coach Jeff Traylor and supplemented by former SMU and current Arkansas assistants Mark Smith, Joe Craddock, Justin Stepp and Dustin Fry.
Traylor was successful enough as a high school coach at his hometown of Gilmer that the new high school stadium is named after him. Traylor has coached in college at Texas, SMU and now Arkansas.
He is extremely confident in his ability to land players from the Lone Star State, and Morris is considered an icon in Texas as a winner of multiple state championships and for basically an entirely all-Texas roster at SMU.
"I think we are doing a great job in the state of Texas, and that has a lot to do with how those high school coaches know us, trust us and believe we will do right by the kids they send us," Traylor said earlier this summer. "It's a trust that has been earned, and it gives us an edge when it gets down to the end and we are trying to land those kids."
The same goes for Barry Lunney in Arkansas, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, John Chavis and Steve Caldwell in Tennessee, Ron Cooper in Louisiana and John Scott in Georgia.
The concentration in Texas is different from the staff of previous coach Bret Bielema, who signed just 14 players total from the state of Texas in his five recruiting classes at Arkansas.
Bielema's staff had connections in Florida that served it well early on, but as assistants moved on the number of NFL-type players on campus dwindled.
The previous high in Texas high school players in one Arkansas class was five in 2012 just before the Bobby Petrino era ended.
Players from Arkansas, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Memphis seem like a better fit to help rebuild a program that won just four of its 14 games. It's a formula that proved to be successful in the past and can be again.
"That's part of our footprint," Morris said. "That is our footprint."
Sports on 08/16/2018