Criswell’s commitment to Tar Heels isn’t any type of warning

Earlier this week, Jacolby Criswell of Morrilton gave Mack Brown at North Carolina his commitment … and many of the Razorbacks’ Lunatic Fringe went into orbit.

Relax and come back down to earth. It’ll be okay.

Some will complain that losing the top-rated quarterback in Arkansas is a warning sign. Nothing against Criswell, but life goes on and in this day and age that doesn’t mean he’s gone forever.

The way players transfer these days, who knows what’s going to happen over the next few years, especially since Criswell’s not the highest-rated quarterback committed to Brown.

Yes, Brown landed Vince Young and rode him to a national title, but he also couldn’t land some other highly-rated quarterbacks and all this transfer stuff started after he left the Longhorns.

In recruiting coaches win some and lose some. Every coach. At every school.

The days are gone that the Hogs are going to get every player in the state. The truth is they never have gotten every single player. Remember, Clyde Scott from Smackover went to the Naval Academy and Fayetteville looked a lot better when he met a girl from Lake Village.

Even Frank Broyles lost players out of state. Chuck Latourette from Jonesboro went to Rice in 1963 and was All-Southwest Conference and All-American as a defensive back and return specialist. He led the NFL in kickoff returns in 1968.

Ken Hatfield lost several players in 1984 and 1985, just months after taking the Arkansas job. Those included MarK Hutson out of Fort Smith Northside, Eric Mitchell from Pine Bluff and one Keith Jackson out of Little Rock Parkview.

The point of all this is, quite simply, no Arkansas coach is going to get every player in the state and never will. While fans think it’s an unforgivable sin for any Hogs’ coach to lose a player out of state, the fact of the matter is they keep the overwhelming majority of the best players in Arkansas every year.

Probably the only time there’s really room for criticism is if the Razorbacks don’t recruit a highly-touted player. That didn’t happen in a few cases during a time when some remarkably high academic requirements eliminated some pretty good players that went out of state and onto lucrative pro careers.

That wasn’t the case here.

Chad Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock recruited Criswell. He just made a decision to commit to North Carolina.

It’s not about the other players on campus. Brown earlier landed a commitment from four-star dual threat quarterback Malik Hornsby from Fort Bend Marshall in Missouri City, Texas. He will face competition in North Carolina.

Many think Chandler Morris will join his dad in Fayetteville when he finishes up his senior season at Highland Park, but that decision won’t come until later in the summer (according to Chandler in recent interviews).

They also have an offer to four-star quarterback Haynes King in Longview, Texas.

But remember, it’s a crowded quarterback room for the Hogs already. They have eight in there now with only room for a couple more.

Everybody has a lot of quarterbacks on the roster these days. Injuries are part of it because the numbers show you don’t go through a season with one quarterback healthy for all 12 games. Ask Nick Saban if he’s glad he had Jalen Hurts behind Tua Tagovaila last season.

Some will leave for whatever reason.

But right now Criswell won’t be coming to Fayetteville.

And we won’t know if that’s a big deal or not for a few years.