FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ 2007 football recruiting class has been picked in the lower half of the SEC.

Again.

Most recruiting services rate the Razorbacks ninth or 10 th in the 12-team SEC.

The highest Arkansas has been ranked by Rivals. com since 2002 is seventh among SEC teams.

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“I’d love to come in here and say, ‘You know, we’ve got the No. 1 recruiting class in the SEC,’” said Razorbacks Coach Houston Nutt, who announced his 10 th signing class at Arkansas on Wednesday. “But somebody must be picking something wrong, right ?

“ Because we haven’t been finishing eighth in the league.”

As Nutt noted, the Razorbacks have gone to bowl games in seven of the past nine seasons and won or shared three SEC West titles, including the 2006 season when they won the outright division championship with a 7-1 conference record.

“We were in Atlanta,” Nutt said, referring to the site of the SEC Championship Game, where Arkansas lost to national champion Florida 38-28 on Dec. 2. “LSU wasn’t in Atlanta, right ? Alabama, Auburn, weren’t there. We were there.

“ That’s why I don’t get involved in [recruiting class ] rankings, don’t worry about them.”

Arkansas’ 2007 class undoubtedly would be ranked higher if not for some top in-state recruits who signed elsewhere, including Rogers offensive tackle Lee Ziemba (Auburn ), Fort Smith Northside quarterback Kodi Burns (Auburn ) and Pulaski Academy running back Broderick Green (Southern California ).

Ziemba and Green were Arkansas’ only two Parade High School All-Americans this year.

Arkansas’ recruiting class is led by offensive lineman Kareem Crowell from Tallahassee, Fla; offensive lineman and tight end Grant Freeman from Paris; linebacker Jermaine Love from Garland, Texas; Monticello center Seth Oxner; and tight end D. J. Williams from Central Arkansas Christian.

Overall, the Razorbacks signed 27 players.

“I love the ones that we got, and they wanted to be here,” Nutt said. “They don’t have the ink, they don’t have the Parade behind them, but they’ve got a lot of good heart and want-to to be a Razorback. “ You want the ones that want to be here. As far as the ones that left, I wish them nothing but the best.”

Nutt said it wasn’t easy to overcome negativity that engulfed the program in January and that other schools used it against Arkansas in recruiting.

After one year as the Razorbacks’ offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn resigned to become assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator at Tulsa and quarterback Mitch Mustain — who played for Malzahn at Springdale High School — left the team after being the Parade and Gatorade national player of the year and starting eight games as a freshman for Arkansas.

In December, before the Razorbacks lost to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl to finish the season at 10-4, freshman wide receiver Damian Williams — also from Springdale — left the Razorbacks and since has transferred to USC.

A prevailing perception is that Malzahn, Mustain and Williams left because Malzahn wasn’t allowed to coordinate the offense as he wanted, though none of the three have stated that publicly.

“Recruiting is so vicious,” Nutt said. “You go [for home visits ] and they have the articles [about the departures at Arkansas ] laminated on the coffee table.

“ You know the other schools have been there. You know you’ve got to go in and defend. You can’t go in there on offense. You’ve got to defend. That’s a tough living room.”

Nutt said he’s proud that 17 players who committed to the Razorbacks early stuck with the program and signed with Arkansas on Wednesday.

”We have the solid 17, ” he said. “They never wavered. They were the backbone.”

Strengths of the 2007 recruiting class include fast and athletic linemen on offense and defense; quarterbacks Joe Chaisson and Nathan Dick; running backs Juwan Franklin and Michael Harris; defensive backs Walner Leandre and Isaac Madison; and placekicker Alex Tejada.

Nutt said it’s especially gratifying that Tejada, who is from Springdale, stuck by his commitment to Arkansas because he was “right in the back yard” of the negativity and “was not even fazed.”

Nutt said he understands a lot of people are fascinated by recruiting ratings and how many stars are attached to a player’s name by various services, but that he and his assistant coaches look beyond the hype.

“You do all the homework you can,” Nutt said. “You watch them on the field, watch film, watch them play basketball, talk to coaches.

“ We hardly ever go by rankings. We wouldn’t want to trade a [high ] ranking for going to Atlanta.”