With a flourish of his massive hands and long, muscular arms, Dorial Green-Beckham set the Mizzou faithful to dancin’ and broke the heart of thousands of Arkansas Razorback fans. When the #1 receiver recruit in the nation—and some say #1 overall recruit—donned the Mizzou hat in front of his high school and a national audience on ESPNU, he most likely set Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino’s national championship aspirations back several years as well.

Had Green-Beckham signed with Arkansas—one of his top four school choices—that would have put the Razorbacks on the map recruiting-wise. It would also have served notice to the nation that Bobby Petrino and his staff no longer had to take mostly 2- and 3-star recruits and “coach them up” to compete with the 4- and 5-star recruits of the SEC’s dominant powerhouses, Alabama and LSU.

Success with the #1 recruit would have kicked open the door to greater recruiting success in the future. That would have been a Razorback hat on national television and the ESPN website. Instead, Mizzou got the prize recruit, the prestige that goes with signing someone of that caliber and the free publicity.
Unfortunately for Arkansas, Green-Beckham chose Missouri. The best chance Petrino may ever have with such a high priority and high visibility recruit is gone. The Razorbacks swung for the fences and struck out. How often does this type opportunity come along? Not very. Arkansas has had two great seasons topped off by a Cotton Bowl victory and a #5 ranking in the final polls at the end of this season.

To have to settle for another run-of-the-mill class after so much success doesn’t exactly put Petrino in the upper echelon of the college football recruiting world. It may take years now for the Razorbacks to have another opportunity to sign a class with the prestige and ranking this one would have had with Green-Beckham in the fold. It’s not so much about the one player as it is about the rare opportunity lost.

Now, instead of a 6-6, 220-pound wide-out, they will sign several 6-footers with good speed but who probably won’t dominate games the way Green-Beckham is forecast to do. The other truly big and big-time receiver they sought, Courtney Gardner, opted for Oklahoma because of some academic deficiencies that gave the Sooners an edge over Arkansas. Strike two. They also missed out on a 6-3, 250 pound middle linebacker prospect—Dalton Santos of Van, Texas— who took a last-minute offer from Texas Longhorns. Strike three for the year.

Face it, arguably the top in-state recruit this year—Zac Brooks of Jonesboro—signed with Clemson. Next year’s most likely top recruit—Altee Tenpenny of North Little Rock—has already committed to Alabama (a double whammy). If you can’t win the in-state recruiting war, that doesn’t speak well for your program.

Yes, Arkansas will have a good recruiting class. Maybe even a top 25 class. Yes, Petrino will have a very good season next year, especially with games against Alabama and LSU at home. But competing for the national championship takes great coaching and great players. Let’s take Boise State as an example since they are the poster child for a program that wins with lower ranked recruits. Yes, Boise State wins a lot of games. But who do they play? If they had to take their lower ranked recruits and play Alabama and LSU (Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, etc) every year, very few people think they would be a top-tier team.

Petrino and his staff get the most out of their players. That’s why they were able to put together back-to-back 10-win seasons. But how did the Razorbacks fare against Alabama and LSU this year? No contest. They were dominated by both teams. You have to win both battles, coaching and recruiting, to compete on the national level, especially if you want to compete on that level consistently. So far, Petrino and his staff haven’t proven they can do that. Until they do, they will most likely have to take pride in being one of the top teams of the second tier of the SEC.`

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