Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas' shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night in Little Rock is still being felt in the recruiting circles.

The Class of 2013 won't be known until Wednesday, Feb. 6, and by then who knows what the class will look like. At this point, the Razorbacks don't even know who will be the head coach who walks into the Miller Room that day to announce the class.

Arkansas knew the day Bobby Petrino was fired in April that recruiting would likely be a challenge this fall. John L. Smith was hired to replace Petrino, but was only given a 10-month contract, thus not assuring recruits he would be here any longer than the current season.

Surprisingly, at least to a degree, Arkansas' recruiting was off to a reasonably fast start. Arkansas approximately 15 commitments prior to the ULM game. The uncertainty on the number stems from the fact Navarro (Texas) Junior College offensive guard Mitchell Bell (6-foot- 4, 330 pounds) committed to Arkansas on Sept. 7 when Arkansas assistant Bobby Allen went to Navarro to check out offensive tackle Zach Fondal (6-6, 295) and a few others.

Arkansas is likely to accept Bell's commitment, but preferred he take a visit to Fayetteville before making anything official. On Wednesday, Fondal also pledged to the Hogs via Twitter. He would make 16 if he and Bell counted as commitments.

While Fondal is good news, some of the other news since the stunning loss hasn't been as good. Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College linebacker Kenny Flowers has an open date Sept. 22 and Texas A&M had been recruiting him hard to visit College Station that weekend, but Flowers was leaning toward an official visit to Fayetteville.

Following Arkansas' loss to ULM, Flowers, expressing concern about Arkansas, announced Wednesday he would indeed visit Texas A&M on Sept. 22. That doesn't necessarily mean Flowers won't visit Arkansas or even sign with the Razorbacks, but there's also the possibility that Flowers pulls the trigger and commits to Texas A&M while there and doesn't take any more visits.

Arkansas' program will be fine eventually with or without Flowers, but that illustration shows what the current staff is against the rest of the season if the losses start piling up. Many of the current commitments chose Arkansas because it was considered among the elite in the SEC after winning 21 games the past two seasons.

With the loss to ULM, other recruiters will now come after the Arkansas commitments harder than they already were before the loss. What happens in instances like this is each school that calls or talks to a commitment or potential recruit preaches the uncertainty at Arkansas. That can be mind boggling for a young man already faced with making the toughest decision of his life. He isn't just hearing negatives about Arkansas from one recruiter, but basically each one he speaks with.

LSU was already coming hard after Patterson (La.) 3-star tight end Deondre Skinner (6-4, 225). Skinner attended LSU's victory over Washington last week and will be in Fayetteville on Saturday to watch the Razorbacks face Alabama. Skinner committed to Arkansas last May, but now that appears shaky.

Arkansas does have a good core of state commitments with Pulaski Academy 4-star tight end Hunter Henry (6-6, 245), Forrest City 3-star defensive end Tevin Beachum (6-4, 233) and the Fayetteville trio of 4-star quarterback Austin Allen, 3-star linebacker Brooks Ellis and 3-star safety Alex Brignoni. Schools will obviously still come after them, but if the Razorbacks can hold onto that group and possibly pull North Little Rock 4-star running back Altee Tenpenny away from Alabama that would be a nice haul inside the state in February.

The coaches at Arkansas knew it would be a challenge to recruit well and win at the level they and fans expected. The Razorbacks entered the season No. 10 in the polls, but moved to No. 8 in the AP Poll last week following an opening victory against Jacksonville State.