Orville Henry: Taking another look at Hogs' recruit scenario

The debates continue over whether Houston Nutt's second class of Razorbacks can be considered the school's best-ever .

Waste of time.

They don't have to, can't play any of the recruits of the past. They can, will be compared on the fields against this February's recruits who will wear the uniforms of their opponents in the next four or five years.

That's what will tell us what we can't know for sure now.

Meantime, when you sign a running back like Cedric Cobbs and a receiver like Richard Smith, just to start with, you know you've done better than most folks did.

The fact Georgia may have recruited the best 20-odd players of the Southeastern Conference teams is of interest. When Arkansas goes to Kentucky this fall, it will have completed its swing through the East rotator opponents it doesn't play annually (as is the case against South Carolina and Tennessee).

So, in 2000, the Hogs resume against Georgia, which they met in their first two years in the SEC, 1992-93. The Bulldogs, never in the Georgia Dome for an SEC championship game, have gotten saltier under Jim Donnan and expect to become a league power again (if they can ever beat Tennessee).

Arkansas is 1-1 against Georgia, 2-0 over Vandy, 0-2 against Florida, and 1-0 against Kentucky, 4-3 overall.

It is 4-3 over South Carolina, 1-6 against Tennessee thus, 9-12 against the East.

So, how significant is it that ballyhooed Ramapo, N. J., quarterback Chris Simms, son of former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, signed with Texas, after making a strong commitment to the Vols' Phil Fulmer ?

The loss of Simms probably isn't as hurtful to Tennessee as its failure to attract a single noted wide receiver.

The Vols got the big plays they had to have against Arkansas, Mississippi State and Florida State from home run catches by Peerless Price, the last of the great wideouts attracted by the presence of Peyton Manning.

Well, UT only needs one (or two or three) who can get open deep as long as its stress will be on great, great running backs quarterback Tee Martin and tailbacks Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and Travis Stephens.

If the other team has to gang up tight on defense to stop that, the one main receiver can get the single coverage he needs to get open deep (a la Cotton Speyrer in the Texas Wishbone, 1968-70).

Besides, Fulmer won Tennessee's first national title with hard-nosed running and a tough runner at quarterback, along with excellent defense against the run. He can't be unhappy with more of that. Besides, the Vols did sign a top quarterback out of Georgia, A. J. Scruggs.

Arkansas will not see much of Simms, if at all. The Razorbacks have traded letters of agreement (contracts to be finalized in the next year) to play Texas on Sept. 13, 2003, in Austin, and Sept. 11, 2004, in Fayetteville. (Those are not in the so-called 12th game category the NCAA is working out for years when the calendars permit one extra game under certain conditions.)

Before then, expect Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas to resume the dominant roles.

Bob Stoops, key to the great defenses at Kansas State and Florida, should end the confusion at Oklahoma and Mack Brown already has Texas back to snuff.

Carl Reese, whose departure from LSU might have left the Bayou Bengals in a state of defensive despair, tells what he found and what he corrected as the new defensive head man under the charismatic Brown:

"We were soft, weren't very tough, and couldn't tackle," he said of the team that gave up 36, 49, and 48 points in its first three games. "We were bad in the early spring and the early fall because we were playing some guys who really didn't like to play football."