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Bohannon’s choice doesn’t slow down Hogs’ recruiting

Andy Hodges
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Gerry Bohannon has made his choice and it’s not Arkansas.

The Earle quarterback picked the Bears over the Razorbacks on Tuesday afternoon in a press conference at the high school in Earle.

In the last few days it had become increasingly clear from people who follow the world of college football recruiting closely that he was leaning in that direction.

To be honest, the response should be, quite simply, okay. Good luck and goodbye.

The Hogs weren’t putting all their eggs in Bohannon’s recruitment, mainly because they don’t have to.

Signing Bohannon would have been nice, but in my opinion Connor Noland is more capable of stepping in and running the new offense sooner and it’s about 99 percent that he’s coming to Fayetteville.

It would be a shocker, according to people who are extremely knowledgeable about such things, if he’s drafted high enough to consider an immediate leap to play pro baseball.

Some fans are already getting on the Debbie Downer group that Chad Morris isn’t able to recruit. If you’re thinking that you don’t know enough to be giving it a second thought.

With less than two weeks on the job, Morris has tried to build a relationship equivalent of one or two years in about 20 minutes. In some cases, he’s made progress.

Losing Bohannon a day after Sean Michael Flanagan of Charleston chose Oklahoma State certainly isn’t great news, but it’s not even a warning sign.

Not after 12 days as the Hogs coach.

Baylor had been on Bohannon for some time. According to his coaches in Earle, Arkansas really didn’t push that hard.

No, don’t blame Morris for this one … or Flanagan, either.

The negative being used against Arkansas right now on the recruiting trail is the lack of a defensive staff. While that may indeed be the case, it’s only going to affect the early signing date.

That is the major culprit here.

Nobody knew what would happen this first year with that new date, but you knew anybody making a coaching change probably wasn’t going to do well in that early signing period.

Let’s see how it plays out through February.

If things haven’t improved by then, well, we’ll address it at that time.

But Bohannon’s decision won’t slow Morris down one bit.

Razorbacks start season ranked third in nation

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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TUCSON, Ariz. — Arkansas is ranked No. 3 in Collegiate Baseball Magazine’s NCAA Division I Preseason Poll released on Tuesday.

Fresh off a 45-win season and the 28th NCAA Regional appearance in school history, the Razorbacks enter their 16th season under the guidance of head coach Dave Van Horn as one of the most highly touted teams in the nation. It’s the highest preseason ranking for Arkansas since being ranked No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball in 2013.

Offensively, the Hogs return a potent lineup that includes six of its top eight hitters from a year ago. Shortstop Jax Biggers is back after hitting .338 with four home runs and 37 RBIs, as he was the first Razorback primary shortstop to hit over .300 in a season since Scott Hode in 2005.

Arkansas also returns the services of seniors Luke Bonfield and Carson Shaddy, who both combined for 17 home runs and 89 RBIs last year, as well as catcher Grant Koch, who is coming off a summer playing with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.

Captaining the outfield is freshman All-American Dominic Fletcher. Fletcher was, arguably, the best freshman hitter in the SEC last year with a .291 average, 12 home runs, and 37 RBIs. His 12 long balls was just one off from tying the Arkansas freshman record set by Zack Cox back in 2009, but were the most among all freshman in the SEC.

On the mound, Arkansas returns the heart of its pitching staff in preseason All-American Blaine Knight along with redshirt sophomore Isaiah Campbell, junior Kacey Murphy, and junior Jake Reindl. Entering his second year as the Arkansas pitching coach, Wes Johnson hopes to continue seeing the pitching success the Razorbacks had last year, which combined for a 3.61 team ERA and a school-record 619 strikeouts.

13 teams ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Top 40 are on the Arkansas schedule, seven from the top 25. Top-ranked and defending national champion Florida will go up against the Hogs on March 23-25 in Gainesville, while Texas Tech (No. 5), Kentucky (No. 8), South Carolina (No. 19), and Missouri State (No. 22) will all visit Baum Stadium during the year. Other notable road trips include games at LSU (No. 10), Mississippi State (No. 13), and Ole Miss (No. 38).

Chad Morris Interview

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Chad Morris Interview

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday

Morning Rush Hour 2

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 1

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Hogs lose Charleston commit to Oklahoma State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas lost a commitment Monday night when Charleston’s Sean Michael Flanagan flipped and announced he was signing with Oklahoma State.

He committed to Arkansas on June 3 under the former coaching staff.

According to reports, Flanagan said Sunday at the conclusion of his Arkansas visit that he was still committed to Arkansas, but also considering Oklahoma State.

He did express some concern about not knowing who would be the defensive coordinator at Arkansas, according to Otis Kirk at Hawgs247.com:

“Probably on the defensive side of the ball, but they don’t have a DC. It’d be nice to know who it will be, but we’ll wait and see.”

Reports say he will sign with the Cowboys at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Charleston Gymnasium.

Indications are Bohannon expected to pick Baylor

Andy Hodges
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Don’t be surprised if Earle quarterback Gerry Bohannon announces Tuesday he’s going to Baylor instead of Arkansas.

Richard Davenport of Recruiting Thursday and WholeHogSports.com said on Bo Mattingly’s radio show Monday that’s what he was thinking.

It’s also what we’ve heard over the weekend.

After spending several hours over the weekend looking at film on some of the recruits, I’m not too concerned about Bohannon going to Baylor.

While he has a lot of upside potential, he’s not going to come in and set the world on fire and he hasn’t exactly played against the highest level of competition. That’s not his fault, but Class 2A doesn’t have the same level of athletes the higher levels do.

Just to see if I was missing something, I talked with someone who has spent decades making a living evaluating high school players.

“When you watch his games, he hasn’t exactly jumped out to me as being that much better than everyone else on the field,” he said. “When you watch players like Darren McFadden, you don’t even have to look at a roster to know who you’re looking at. I didn’t get that with Bohannon.”

Bohannon may turn out to be a great college player, but it’s not something Razorback fans should be too worried about.

As new coach Chad Morris has said, he’s been trying to establish a one or two-year relationship with players in 20 minutes. A lot of this urgency has been created with the new signing period.

But, if the Hogs lose Bohannon to Baylor, put that one on the previous coaching staff’s doorstep. They had several years to build the relationship and nothing Bohannon has said since Bret Bielema was fired has indicated any dropoff due to the coaching change.

Of course, right now it’s all speculation.

There have been bigger surprises on signing day … good and bad.

Anderson on win over Troy, playing ORU Tuesday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Mike Anderson met with the media Monday and talked about Saturday’s win over Troy and the game upcoming Tuesday night against Oral Roberts.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

Morning Rush Hour 3

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 3

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