Central Arkansas prep prospects weren't always shoo-ins to be Arkansas Razorbacks, but it seemed the Hogs usually got a large majority of them. But on Tuesday night, both the football and basketball Hogs got bad news from high school players they were seeing in the Little Rock area.

Baylor gained a commitment from Little Rock Hall point guard A.J. Walton who rates along with Fayetteville's Fred Gulley as one-two (depending on the style you like) in terms of best player in Arkansas in 2008-09.

And word has hit the recruiting and message boards that Pulaski Academy wide receiver Neil Barlow, the lanky 6-6 target, has chosen Kansas over the Hogs and other offers. A month ago, it was whispered around Pulaski Academy that Kansas was out of the picture. Bad whispers, it seems. It also looked favorable for Arkansas to gain the commitment from the son of former North Carolina basketball guard Jeb Barlow. Alas, another in-state setback for first-year Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino, who hasn't coached his first game yet.

Of course, these commitments are non-binding until the players actually sign national letters of intent. For basketball, that starts in November. Football signing day is the first Wednesday in February.

Until last season's surprising 12-1 season, Kansas under massive head coach Mark Mangino had been mediocre, and the Jayhawks were simply a basketball school for the longest. Considering the basketball program won the national championship, they may still be, but it still seems odd that Arkansas would be losing an in-state prospect to the likes of Kansas if the Hogs actually were making a big rush for the receiver. Remember that Arkansas is expected to actually show a modern college football passing game this fall under Petrino and would seem to be an ideal destination for a prep receiver.

That's why the "experts" who cover it and the coaches who work it always refer to recruiting as an inexact science, trying to figure out what a 17-year-old is even thinking when he makes his college choice, then trying to project if that player can even produce in the big step to the next level.