Bielema pleased with unprecedented 2017 recruiting start

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema talks to an unidentified player during a football camp Sunday, June 5, 2016, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

— With an unprecedented 19 commitments in place even before spring football practice began, Arkansas head football coach Bret Bielema is a happy man when it comes to the Razorbacks’ 2017 recruiting class.

“I think there is just a lot of positives,” Bielema said at a Thursday press conference to preview the start of fall camp. “ I think the program itself has received a lot of positive publicity.

“…We have been able to do things right and keep our kids on track. I think parents like the fact that we graduate and do things right and hold our kids accountable. I can’t tell you how many times that comes up, especially in today’s world it is a big deal.

“We will just keep riding that wave.”

Bielema, whose 19th commit of the 2017 class came five months before it has the previous three years, views the first summer of the advent of nation-wide satellite camps as a positive for Arkansas.

“There is no doubt in my mind that satellite camps helped the Arkansas Razorbacks,” Bielema said. “ All joking aside and jokes about Cabo and the Bahamas, the ones that we went to were very productive and not only got us commitments from this season, but prospects for the year ahead, not just seniors, but juniors, sophomores and - even in a couple of cases - freshmen.”

A recent addition to the NCAA rules gave coaches the ability to retweet prospects on Twitter, something they started doing at 12:01 a.m. on Monday.

“Recruiting has gone well,” Bielema said. “Obviously we can’t get into specifics, but world of recruiting has changed, even with this new rule that went into place Aug. 1.

“My goodness, my phone was blowing up, the communication factor, the kids that are committed to other places that still make contact and vice-versa. It is just an endless resource of ability for you to recruit. It is just amazing.

“I think certain kids really can play to that, kids that get hot and you can press them and stay with them and stay on them and get them thinking about the Razorbacks and find a few triggers that can make them happen.”

But it is a slippery slope, Bielema said.

“I like it for the fact that at this point in our program it allows us to access that is unprecedented,” Bielema said. “But on the flip side of it, you can’t possibly keep up with all the monitoring that goes on - what is said, what is not said.

“I have to be careful. We can basically direct message a certain age of recruit and all of a sudden you will have a recruit reaching out to you and you are just kind of used to flipping the DM (direct message) - and he is following you and you are following him - but you can’t message them.

“There is a whole world of violations that are kind of just floating around out there. That is my only real big concern with the satellites is the number of possible violations that can occur without even trying to do it.”

Bielema noted an instance of what happened at some satellite camps this summer.

“You are walking through the parking lot and a parent comes up to you and wants to talk to you, but you can’t stiff arm them and walk away,” Bielema said, “but if it is the wrong parent at the wrong time in the wrong set or parameters, you could be deemed violating an NCAA rule that could prohibit you from recruiting that young man from a period of time, you could be barred from being on the road, you could be held accountable to a whole ‘nother set of standards with coaches being held in suspensions.

“There are a number of coaches that did it and it is going to be interested to see how many of those penalties come out and are enforced.”

Bielema stressed his respect for the Razorback Athletics Compliance Office.

“Our compliance does a great job of literally daily sending us information and tips,” Bielema said. “I gave them credit the other day in how there was a creative little way when we were going to this new rule, which basically says you can click it and send it, but don’t type.

“Click it and don’t type is really the way it is. You can click on someone and favor it, but if you add anything it would be illegal.They are doing a nice job of working with us.

“My coaches know bottom line that we are never going to lie, cheat or steal to get someone here. I think that point is pretty well established in our program. I think if you have to do that to get someone in your program that you are setting a precedent that once they are there you can’t overcome.

“Our guys kind of know the standard way of operation. The only one I worry about is the violations that you don’t even know you are violating. That scares me.”