Although Bobby Petrino’s tenure at Louisville lasted just four years, he did recruit the state of Kentucky effectively.

Much of Arkansas’ success is dependent upon keeping in-state talent, an area that has been lacking in recent years.

At Louisville, Petrino had to compete with Kentucky for the in-state talent. At Tuesday night’s news conference he said he liked the idea of being the “main show.” The one-school, one-state thinking is what made Arkansas so attractive to Frank Broyles.

Jody Demling, who covers recruiting for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, said Petrino will focus on the in-state recruits.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I noticed last night he talked about keeping the kids in Arkansas,” Demling said. “It was a very unusual time in Kentucky. We had the two best players in the history of Kentucky football and he kept those two guys and a few other really good in-state prospects. Michael Bush the first year and Brian Brohm the second year. They were battles. Bush came down to Louisville and Ohio State. Brohm was looking at Tennessee, Kentucky and Notre Dame. He kept both of those guys. That’s the first priority for him and his staff and they’ve always made it a point to get the top two or three kids in the state.”

Petrino’s first recruiting class ranked No. 48 and No. 35 nationally, by popular recruiting news services Scout and Rivals.

Although the ranking might not be impressive, the class did produce four picks in the 2007 NFL Draft, including defensive lineman Amobi Okoye, who was selected by the Houston Texans as the 10 th overall pick.

Three others were selected in the fifth round of the draft. Running back Michael Bush was picked by the Oakland Raiders, running back Kolby Smith was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs and defensive back William Gay by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This year’s Associated Press second team All-America wide receiver, Harry Douglass, was also part of the 2003 class, along with linebackers Malik Jackson and Preston Smith, who have pro potential.

The 2003 class had a heavy dose of Florida and Georgia high school talent.

“They had 25 guys in their first class,” Demling said. “Ten of them were from Florida and seven of them were from Georgia. That was a huge thing for him with the Florida connections that he had. A lot of the connections were from when he was in the NFL at Jacksonville, when he was down there for a couple of years. He had 17 guys the first two years from the state of Florida that they signed.”

In Petrino’s second year, he made inroads into the states of Alabama and Ohio.

“The second year is when they kind of started in Alabama and they really went after Alabama hard,” Demling said. “He actually got three or four really good players from Ohio which is hard to get into.”

The 2004 class was ranked No. 54 and No. 64 respectively by Scout and Rivals. The class featured Brohm, first team All-Big East center Eric Wood of Cincinnati, first-team All-Big East tight end Gary Barnridge out of Florida and second team All-Big East linebacker Lamar Myles of Florida.

Scout rated Louisville’s 2005 class at No. 43, while Rivals had the Cardinals at No. 45. The class was headlined by highly recruited offensive tackle Brian Roche of New Jersey, who had offers from Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina State and Notre Dame. Another prize was with highly regarded defensive end Earl Heyman, who played at Ballard High School in Louisville. He chose the Cardinals over Kentucky, Boston College and Clemson.

After compiling a 29-8 record in his first three years, Petrino had his finest recruiting effort in 2006. Highly recruited Alabama defensive end Peanut Whitehead shocked everyone when he spurned Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee to sign with the Cardinals. Ohio tight end Zach Meagher had offers from Oklahoma, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Northwestern. Wide receiver Latarrius Thomas of New Smyrna Beach, Fla. had offers from Florida and South Carolina. Ohio wide receiver Josh Chichester turned down Ohio State, Kentucky and Illinois.

The class was ranked No. 26 by Scout and No. 34 by Rivals.

Demling said Petrino works hard and demands the same of his staff.

“I think he has a fairly good reputation as a recruiter out there but he surrounded himself with a good staff like his brother Paul,” Demling said. “Paul has a reputation of being very good in recruiting. He made sure he surrounded himself with really good people who were going to work hard. He’s a tireless worker and it’s just not on the field. It’s even in recruiting, too.”

Demling believes being in the SEC and Petrino’s reputation as an offensive-minded coach will only improve recruiting.

“The system draws a lot of attention to the offensive guys,” Demling said. “That’s one of the things with the Harry Douglases and Bushes and the Brohms. They wanted to play for him and they wanted to play in the system. That draws a lot. He’s got the facilities down there and he’s got the SEC. I look for him to recruit probably even better than he did here at Louisville because of the SEC.”