Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino is considered one of the top offensive minds in college football and his offenses at Arkansas have been virtually unstoppable at times.

Petrino is now recruiting on a national scale trying to stockpile talent in hopes of becoming a consistent force in the SEC and nationally. Last year, the Razorbacks went 10-3 and landed in the Sugar Bowl opposite Ohio State. Even though the Razorbacks lost a heartbreaking game to the Buckeyes, they made their mark on college football. Even with the loss of quarterback Ryan Mallett, tight end D.J. Williams and both starting offensive tackles, most consider Arkansas one of the teams to beat in the SEC next season and no opposing coach doubts Arkansas' offense will once again be a high-powered one.

Arkansas will lose all three of its starting wide receivers after next season, so Petrino and his staff are trying to sign some elite talent there. The Razorbacks added some quality receivers in the recent Class of 2011, but in Petrino's system a team can't have too many playmakers at receiver. One of the wide receivers on everyone's wish list is Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest's Dorial Beckham-Green, 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, 4.43 in the 40-yard dash. Rivals.com's Barry Every saw Beckham-Green play this past fall and left full of praise for possibly the top recruit nationally in the Class of 2012.

"He is a huge receiver that can make a play on balls most receivers couldn't even dream of catching, and he also has the speed to be a serious deep threat while making yards after the catch," Every said. "Green-Beckham is in his own ZIP code as far as talent as a receiver."

Hillcrest Coach John Beckham is Green-Beckham's legal guardian and told Rivals.com's Adam Gorney he is trying to keep the recruiting pressure at a minimum at this time.

"Dorial is not really focused on recruiting and what's happening right now," Beckham said. "People find that surprising, but right now I'm trying to do the best I can - it's not that easy - to create a little barrier in front of him, kind of be a gatekeeper. There's just so much. I want to make sure he stays focused on academics at school, and he has basketball. He's really just being a pretty typical 17-year-old right now.

"There are a lot of great schools that have offered him. He has a lot of great opportunities. You just have to find that one that fits him. It's important to find a good fit academically. That's the most important aspect of it all. The football aspect will take care of itself. If it's not a good academic fit, it's not going to make sense. It doesn't matter how many BCS bowls you go to, if it's not a good academic fit for him then it's not a good fit."

Green-Beckham has offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Miami, Alabama, Missouri and basically every other school in the nation. Fayetteville is a reasonably close drive from Springfield, and the talented wide receiver has been to the UA on an unofficial visit a couple of times, including the Arkansas-Alabama game last fall.

In addition to Green-Beckham and some other top out-of-state receivers, the state of Arkansas also has some talented recruits any quarterback would love to have as targets. Jonesboro's Zac Brooks (6-2, 185, 4.45) and Warren's Jalen Cobb (6-2, 185, 4.6) also hold offers to the Razorbacks. Cobb committed to the Razorbacks the Thursday after National Signing Day and hopes to follow in the footsteps of the trio of Lumberjacks (Greg Childs, Jarius Wright and Chris Gragg) on Arkansas' team right now.

"They were a big influence on me going to Arkansas," Cobb said. "I wanted to stay in my home state and play football, plus my mom wanted me to be a Razorback."

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Petrino's offense is always going to prepare quarterbacks for the NFL. Mallett is expected to be drafted in the first or second round of the draft coming up, and Petrino is now searching the nation for another blue-chip prospect to add at quarterback.

Edgewood (Ky.) Dixie Heights' Zeke Pike (6-5, 230, 4.7) is approaching 40 scholarship offers and is expected to start narrowing his list soon. The Razorbacks will be in the group that Pike narrows it to whether that is 10 or 15 schools. Pike has been impressed with Petrino since his days at Louisville and also watched Mallett have a lot of success in Arkansas' offense the past two seasons after Mallett transferred to the UA from Michigan.

"(Coach Petrino) has a great offensive mind for the game," Pike said. "He's almost too smart to be coaching (offense) in the NFL. The NFL guys don't take to coaching like a college athlete does. I could definitely see Coach Petrino coaching me."

As a junior, Pike carried 181 times for 1,072 yards and 18 touchdowns while completing 136 of 235 passes for 2,218 yards and 18 touchdowns. While Pike rushed for more than a 1,000 yards as a junior, it isn't his running that he feels that has netted him offers from all over the nation.