Texas and Oklahoma are set to become members of the SEC, which begs the question of how their arrival will affect the University of Arkansas.
The two schools are slated to join the league on July 1, 2025, but most expect them to negotiate a settlement with the Big 12 for an earlier exit.
Former Arkansas sports information director and Razorback historian Rick Schaeffer saw Texas A&M's move to the SEC in 2012 as a negative for Arkansas in regards to recruiting in Texas.
From 2008-12, prior to the Aggies entering the SEC, A&M averaged signing 5.8 Texas prospects who were rated 4 or 5 stars while Arkansas inked one. From 2013-21, the Aggies averaged 8.7 prospects rated 4 or 5 stars while the Hogs averaged less than one, according to 247 composite rankings.
"My opinion is Texas A&M coming into the SEC hurt Arkansas' recruiting," Schaeffer said. "I suspect it was very difficult for us to recruit the high-profile player out of Texas because now A&M was in the league, and if you lived in Texas you could go to A&M."
After the Arkansas-A&M contract to play in Arlington ends in 2024, it's expected the games will be played on campus. Being able to play away games against the Aggies and Longhorns gives the Hogs the opportunity to play in Texas on a yearly basis.
"If it was just A&M, you play in Texas once every other year," Schaeffer said. "Now with Texas as long as both aren't home and road the same year, you're going to be playing at least one game in Texas every year either in Austin and College Station."
Schaeffer also noted that playing Oklahoma in Norman every other year gives Arkansas a game about three hours away from the talent-rich Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The 2020 and 2021 Arkansas media guides listed 27 Texans on the roster. Traditionally, the roster has a majority of players from Arkansas, followed by Texas and other bordering states such as Oklahoma and Louisiana.
CBS Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming started scouting high school talent in 1978 when the Hogs were still in the Southwest Conference. He believes Texas and Oklahoma's recruiting could benefit from the move.
"I think it might help Texas and Oklahoma a little bit mainly because they're in the conference now," Lemming said.
He doesn't think that uptick will dent Arkansas' recruiting.
"They're already in Oklahoma and Texas, so I don't know that it will impact them that much," Lemming said.
With the Big 12's two premier teams leaving and the future of the league in doubt, Lemming thinks the Hogs will be a more attractive option than the remaining schools in the Big 12.
"Arkansas will be much more powerful than TCU or SMU or Texas Tech and Baylor," Lemming said. "They'll be more powerful than Oklahoma State in Oklahoma. There are [recruits who are] going to want to play at Arkansas over those schools."
Schaeffer believes the uncertainty of the Big 12 will hinder Oklahoma State's recruiting and help Arkansas in the Cowboys' backyard.
"This has to really hurt Oklahoma State because no one knows what's going to happen with them," Schaeffer said. "It gives us a chance to get some players that Oklahoma State or Tulsa might get."
Former Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield, whose winning percentage of .760 is the best in program history, predicts that Texas joining Texas A&M in the SEC will aid the Hogs in recruiting the Lone Star State.
"With two schools in there [the SEC], it won't do anything but help solidify high school recruits wanting to stay close to home and learning about all of the great Texas players who have played up here at Arkansas throughout our history," he said.
Former Arkansas director of high school and NFL relations Bobby Allen was one of the better recruiters of Texas talent while an assistant coach for former coaches Houston Nutt and Bobby Petrino.
During his 15 years as an assistant, he recruited eastern Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth, central Texas and parts of Houston. He inked offensive lineman Jason Peters, running back Fred Talley, cornerback Lawrence Richardson, receiver Cobi Hamilton, running back Decori Birmingham, safety Ross Rasner, defensive lineman Colton Nash and others from Texas.
Adding Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC makes the league more attractive to recruits, he said.
"Obviously one of the drawing cards in recruiting is your opponents," Allen said. "You always go in and talk to the young man about who you're going to have a chance to play and play against the best."
Having two opponents in Texas helps UA coaches' sales pitch to prospects and their parents.
"Now you're going to have a presence in that whole area as far as recruiting, and I think the brand for Arkansas is going to get bigger and stronger," Allen said.
Linebacker Caleb Miller, who lettered from 2000-03 and was an All-SEC performer in 2003, is another east Texas product Allen signed. Having Texas on Arkansas' schedule in 2003 helped Allen recruit the Sulphur Springs native.
"When I recruited him, he wanted to go to A&M in the worst way, but they weren't really interested in him and the fact we were going to play Texas while he was here, he wanted the opportunity to go back to Texas and prove they made a mistake in not recruiting him," Allen said. "Fred Talley was that way. Those kids who get shunned by the big schools in their state, if they get the opportunity to go back and play one of them, it just means more to them."
Beating Texas and Texas A&M on game day will help Arkansas in head-to-head recruiting battles against the Longhorns and Aggies.
"Arkansas' recruiting went to another level in 1960 when Arkansas beat Texas in Austin," Schaeffer said. "That opened doors for coach [Frank] Broyles and his staff to go into Texas and get players they have never gotten. So the fact Arkansas is playing in Texas again, I think helps."
Schaeffer praised Broyles' forward thinking in leaving the Southwest Conference for the SEC.
"It shows the absolute brilliance of Frank Broyles because he was the first to know that college athletics was going to change," Schaeffer said.
Schools like Georgia Tech and Tulane left the SEC to be independents before joining the ACC and Conference USA, which then became the American Athletic Conference.
"I believe we were the first to go from one league to another," Schaeffer said. "He saw a lot of this coming because they saw the economics of playing in the league with Texas and half the schools having trouble drawing fans."
With Arkansas' recent struggles in football, the Hogs would not have been an appealing candidate to join today's SEC.
"He got Arkansas in when Arkansas had just won two Southwest Conference championships in football and Arkansas was dominating everywhere in sports," Schaeffer said. "You go back to '88 and '89, Arkansas was winning everything in the Southwest Conference. Today, Arkansas would not be an attractive team for the SEC, so the fact he got Arkansas in before all this stuff started was absolutely brilliant."
David Lee was considered an excellent recruiter for the Hogs when he worked for Hatfield from 1984-88 and Nutt in 2001-02 and 2007 while serving as an offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks and fullbacks coach during his stints in Fayetteville.
The addition of Texas and Oklahoma makes the SEC even more appealing to top prospects, said Lee.
"It's going to be such a dominant conference, and so many young people are going to want to play in that conference because it is so dominant," he said. "I can't put into words, but it's such a dynamic recruiting tool to be in that conference."
Lee lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and is entering his third year as a quarterback consultant for the Miami Dolphins after coaching 30 years in college and 14 in the NFL. While landing top talent from beyond the borders of Arkansas is important, Lee believes the Hogs must make in-state recruiting a priority like Hatfield and Nutt did.
"At least when I was there, there was going to be two or three really great football players in the state, sometimes just two," Lee said. "Ken Hatfield and Houston Nutt both understood that, 'Hey, we're still going to take five or six or seven more, but we have to develop them.' It's not going to be like going to Texas where a whole bunch of kids can impact your team fairly early. A lot of them have to be developed."
The Hogs have 17 commitments for the 2022 class with eight being from the Natural State. Lee recruited former Razorbacks defensive tackle and NFL great Wayne Martin from Cherry Valley. Martin weighed 215 pounds when he inked with the Hogs. He went on to become an Associated Press All-American in 1988 and a first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints.
Lee said Pittman knows the importance of recruiting Arkansas kids who want to be Razorbacks.
"I think Sam understands that," Lee said. "We got to win the state of Arkansas. These kids grew up following the Razorbacks. They have to come play for us when we come knocking and do our part of putting a team out there that's still dominant of Arkansas kids because they're good players. That's what coaching is all about: developing good players."
A recruiting class heavy with in-state talent lessens the need to rely on out-of-state prospects.
"If there were eight [Arkansas] kids we felt like really had a chance to play in the SEC, we are going to have a banner year in recruiting," Allen said. "We just had to get the rest of them from the bordering states."
Finding and developing prospects from high school programs with lesser facilities and funding can pay huge dividends. Allen cited Peters -- who has been a nine-time All-Pro selection in his 17-year NFL career, and just signed Saturday with the Chicago Bears, according to his agent -- as a prime example of development.
"You take a guy like Jason Peters, he never touched a weight," said Allen, who signed Peters out of Queen City, Texas. "Everything he ever did was all natural. So you give him a chance to get into the weight room and a year-round program and start to develop. That's how the east Texas kids were. You looked at them on film and look at what they could do, I just felt like boy these guys have a lot of upside."
With college athletes being able to make money off their name, image and likeness, being part of a super conference like the SEC is even more important.
"What's going to happen is the Southeast Conference kids will make more money than everyone else," Lemming said. "Money always helps. The great players have always gotten under the table money and now they're getting above the table money and then they'll compile it with under the table money."