When I interview a football recruit, Arkansas’ weight room always gets rave reviews from prospects after visiting Fayetteville. They rarely recall seeing anything like it at any other college campus.

“They’re pretty much in awe when they walk into the room,” said Arkansas’ strength and conditioning coach, Jason Veltkamp. “Their first response is, ‘I didn’t know that there were weight rooms that looked like this.’”

While that’s been true for quite some time, Veltkamp, who was hired by Coach Bobby Petrino on Jan. 3, has made several improvements since being hired that have impressed prospects.

“There’s not [another ] weight room in the country that’s a 100 yards long,” said Veltkamp, who spent the previous four years at Louisville in the same capacity. “It’s 19, 000 square feet, maybe only equaled by a handful of other schools. The way we have it equipped and some of the technology in it and some of the things we’ve added to it since we’ve been here, I don’t think there’s another one in the country that compares when you add in the technology and some of the tools for training we’ve added to it.”

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One of the additions to the facility that Veltkamp and his staff sell to recruits is the video analysis system that gauges if an athlete is using proper technique during lifts.

“It’s a great tool when we’re teaching a kid when they’re first here in the room,” Veltkamp said. “We can actually video them and play back immediately on the TV between the platforms what we just videoed. A kid can see his technique and make corrections to his techniques and basically move to more advance exercises much more rapidly while at the same time keep in safe positions and not put him in positions that could harm him.”

Veltkamp praised Athletic Director Jeff Long and associate athletic director for business Tom Dorre for being receptive toward his requests for upgrades. “They were very open-minded to what I had to say and what I had to ask for,” Veltkamp said. “They’ve been great to me since I’ve been here. They made it possible in my opinion for us to be on top of everybody else. And I didn’t think I would get them all, but they said all right. It was great demonstration to their commitment to what I want to do here, to what Coach Petrino wants to do here and to the whole recruiting process.” Veltkamp also asked for and received six vibration trainers. The units promote blood flow and allow for quicker recovery time after a workout or game. Veltkamp used the machines at Louisville and said only a handful of schools have as many as Arkansas.

“We found great benefit in recovery and regeneration coming in a day after games and using them,” Veltkamp said. “Some people may actually spend a hundred dollars on a massage, but our kids get one right after they’re done training to help their muscle tissues recover for the next workout or the next practice.”

“Every time a kid commits, it seems he mentions the 100-yard weight room. That’s impressive to kids, but that’s not our greatest tool. There’s so many things in this room that overshadow that from a results perspective.”

When Arkansas entertains prospects on official visits, Veltkamp will talk to the group of athletes for about 45 minutes, educating them on the weight program.

“I’ll get at the end and I’ll ask if there’s any questions and I have so much information in the 45 minutes they’re a little bit blown away,” Veltkamp said. “We try and cover nutrition, we try and cover our training, strength training, our flexibility program as well as conditioning, speed, agility and power program. There’s a lot of things to cover. I usually spend the first five to 10 minutes talking about what our goals are as a program and what our philosophy is as a program. Once I get out of that 10 minutes, I spend a good 20 to 25 minutes on the program and finish with nutrition and supplement.”

Veltkamp said most schools ’ weight-training facilities come up short when compared with Arkansas. “At Louisville, we had some of the things, but we didn’t have it all. We didn’t have the video analysis; we didn’t have the supplement area like we have here,” Veltkamp said. “Iowa has some of the technology, but they don’t have the supplement area, they don’t have all of the technology we have. Florida, I know they have some of it, but they don’t have all of it. Those are the three off the top of my head.” While Veltkamp and his staff are actively involved during weekend official visits, most strength and conditioning coaches around the country spend a short period of time with recruits on Saturday.

LINEMAN SAYS YES TO UA Offensive lineman Cam Feldt, 6-4, 285 pounds, 5. 3 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Pilot Point, Texas, has orally committed to Arkansas for the 2010 recruiting class.