FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will spend two of its next three weekends in Texas playing football games with TCU and Texas A&M and will be back in October with seven assistant coaches to recruit.
In other words, Razorbacks coach Bret Bielema gets how important that state of Texas and its football recruits are to the success of his program.
He’s also a big fan of being able to play a neutral site game with Texas A&M in AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, because of a deal that Arkansas athletic director and vice chancellor Jeff Long and former Razorback and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones worked out.
“I think Jeff had a great idea when we got in (Texas) based on what he’d witnessed here,” Bielema said. “They’d (former coach Bobby Petrino and his staff) recruited Texas, of course, but not really with the urgency. To have the Dallas Cowboys, to have Jerry Jones, one of the biggest Hog fans there is, and his son Stephen played here, I mean, that was a red flag for me right away, hey, let’s put our attention right there.
“Let’s go to Dallas and see what we can do. Now we’ve also been into Houston, East Texas. Not a lot in West Texas. But with a border state and everything, it’s been a huge point of emphasis with our coaches. We recruit over there.”
The Razorback staff, who has 12 Texas natives who will play significant roles against TCU this Saturday and two commits from the state in its 2017 recruiting class, has taken several coaches into Texas recruiting on open dates the last few years and will do so again on Arkansas’ bye week this season.
“We’ll send seven coaches over one day this fall during our bye week and hit Dallas and Houston in a big, big-time way,” Bielema said. “I think we’re beginning to see the rewards right now and hopefully this (TCU) game will give us a little momentum.”
Tight ends Barry Lunney is Arkansas’ chief in-recruiter and now is also recruiting East Texas for the Razorbacks.
“You get a chance to display your brand on national TV and do it in a market that is within five hours of our campus roughly and in an area that is known for football players and has historically been good for Arkansas in recruiting.
“All that adds to a really nice opportunity for us, not just for our team, but for the long-term benefit of recruiting.”
While Arkansas has 19 commits already, winning both games in Texas this season would certainly benefit future recruiting per Lunney.
“To be able to go down there twice - this week and in two weeks - hopefully we can play well and win some games and take advantage and create some interest from a young man that might not know much about the Razorbacks. That may be his first introduction so there are all kinds of layers that are there to make this game big.
“The most important layer and the top layer is because its our next game.”