I can think of no better way to use my 50,000th post than to tell you all that Alex Collins has officially signed his LOI (and dad too).
Weird that the timing for a personal milestone (50K) worked out to where I would get to use it to announce a bigger milestone for the University of Arkansas and all of you. The Alex Collins commitment a few days ago marked the first time that I have covered this team (10 years) that Arkansas got a kid out of Florida - a great kid - who could have gone to Florida, Florida State, Miami or anywhere in between and beyond.
We've seen the Hogs come in second so often or never get a visit. There are a lot of quality schools between Miami and Fayetteville. We've seen coaching staffs emphasize Florida and pull back out of Florida because it wasn't working time and again. It's no secret that not only has Arkansas failed to land the big fish in that state, the lesser recruited players they have signed have rarely panned out and typically have left the team early (not you Michael Smith, you did well). To follow that up, after Collins committed we found out the ball was still rolling and Denver Kirkland signed on, which was just as big. There will be more to come in the years ahead, I believe.
Alex will pan out, and he's more than just a great high school football player. I really believe this kid is the kind of person Bret Bielema was talking about when he said 'we will recruit unusual men to Fayetteville.' Kid is a jack of all trades and is easy to like. You can tell everyone does.
--------------
I'm coming up on my 10-year anniversary with this site. It has been a pleasure serving you all and I look forward to another 50,000 posts and another 10 years. As hectic as this job gets sometimes, and even though the doors never seem to actually close, I wouldn't trade it for the world. A friend of mine used to tell me I'm the only guy he knows who is doing for a living exactly what he wants to do. In actuality I'd rather be a pro golfer, but I can't complain. We've been blessed for sure. Watching this site grow over the last 10 years has been amazing.
On a personal note, my wife is due with our daughter on Feb. 20...I know, not bad timing (btwn signing day and spring ball). She has good timing like her dad
Been a weird couple of years for us. We had a tragedy a little over two years ago that is still tough to think about but definitely looking forward to starting something new with this baby. We moved into a new house and basically started over with a lot of things (furnishing and all). And have been doing this pregnancy thing for 9 months now... So I also want to thank Danny in picking up any slack for me. He's done a great job for this site the last couple years.
From here, people always say 'take a break. 'take your time...but we just never do that. Obviously with the baby I'll not be around quite as much for a couple weeks...but Arkansas just offered 35 juniors yesterday, and spring ball starts March 10 and should be very interesting.
Here's to another 10 years, and thank you all for your loyalty to this site. Thank you all for making this site what it is.
12:35 Update: The fax is in and Arkansas has the paperwork.
This post was edited on 2/7 12:35 PM by Trey Biddy
This post was edited on 2/7 12:39 PM by Trey Biddy
Weird that the timing for a personal milestone (50K) worked out to where I would get to use it to announce a bigger milestone for the University of Arkansas and all of you. The Alex Collins commitment a few days ago marked the first time that I have covered this team (10 years) that Arkansas got a kid out of Florida - a great kid - who could have gone to Florida, Florida State, Miami or anywhere in between and beyond.
We've seen the Hogs come in second so often or never get a visit. There are a lot of quality schools between Miami and Fayetteville. We've seen coaching staffs emphasize Florida and pull back out of Florida because it wasn't working time and again. It's no secret that not only has Arkansas failed to land the big fish in that state, the lesser recruited players they have signed have rarely panned out and typically have left the team early (not you Michael Smith, you did well). To follow that up, after Collins committed we found out the ball was still rolling and Denver Kirkland signed on, which was just as big. There will be more to come in the years ahead, I believe.
Alex will pan out, and he's more than just a great high school football player. I really believe this kid is the kind of person Bret Bielema was talking about when he said 'we will recruit unusual men to Fayetteville.' Kid is a jack of all trades and is easy to like. You can tell everyone does.
--------------
I'm coming up on my 10-year anniversary with this site. It has been a pleasure serving you all and I look forward to another 50,000 posts and another 10 years. As hectic as this job gets sometimes, and even though the doors never seem to actually close, I wouldn't trade it for the world. A friend of mine used to tell me I'm the only guy he knows who is doing for a living exactly what he wants to do. In actuality I'd rather be a pro golfer, but I can't complain. We've been blessed for sure. Watching this site grow over the last 10 years has been amazing.
On a personal note, my wife is due with our daughter on Feb. 20...I know, not bad timing (btwn signing day and spring ball). She has good timing like her dad
Been a weird couple of years for us. We had a tragedy a little over two years ago that is still tough to think about but definitely looking forward to starting something new with this baby. We moved into a new house and basically started over with a lot of things (furnishing and all). And have been doing this pregnancy thing for 9 months now... So I also want to thank Danny in picking up any slack for me. He's done a great job for this site the last couple years.From here, people always say 'take a break. 'take your time...but we just never do that. Obviously with the baby I'll not be around quite as much for a couple weeks...but Arkansas just offered 35 juniors yesterday, and spring ball starts March 10 and should be very interesting.
Here's to another 10 years, and thank you all for your loyalty to this site. Thank you all for making this site what it is.
12:35 Update: The fax is in and Arkansas has the paperwork.
This post was edited on 2/7 12:35 PM by Trey Biddy
This post was edited on 2/7 12:39 PM by Trey Biddy
