Today is National Signing Day in college football, in case for whatever reason you were unaware. Those who pay attention to this day know to expect the unexpected, and tempers can sometimes flare out of nowhere base don the decisions a number of high school football players are making regarding their futures.
Recruiting is serious business, and sometimes the burn of losing a player to a rival school can leave a mark. Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema has never been one to hold back his feelings, and he did not disappoint on Wednesday by spitting some alleged fire in the direction of the Florida Gators and Ole Miss Rebels.
“Florida is kind of the new Ole Miss,” he said on ESPN’s signing day coverage. “They’re doing some things in recruiting that kind of shock you a little bit.”
Bielema’s comments, taken out of context, suggest the head coach of the Razorbacks is accusing his Florida counterpart, Jim McElwain, of getting involved in some shady recruiting tactics. Given that Ole Miss just recently received a notice of allegations from the NCAA offices in Indianapolis for some potential violations of NCAA rules, you can see why this might be a bit of a sensitive subject around the Ole Miss program.
After being made aware of his comment spreading the college football landscape as quickly and harshly as it has, Bielema wasted little time in trying to clarify he was actually paying Florida, and by extension Ole Miss, a compliment.
Bret Bielema: I was paying a compliment to UF. This past week, we were competing vs. them for a lot of guys, and we hadn’t seen that before.
— Bo Mattingly (@SportandStoryBo) February 3, 2016
Hugh Freeze just told SI’s Signing Day show that Bret Bielema called him and said his earlier comments were meant to compliment Ole Miss.
— Zac E. (@rzacellis) February 3, 2016
On signing day, Florida scored a nice flip with four-star defensive lineman Shavar Manuel opting for the Gators on signing day over Florida State. Manuel had flipped to Florida earlier in January, but now the move became official. As of this moment, the Gators are ranked 12th in the Class of 2016 team rankings according to 247 Sports. Arkansas, for the record, is 25th.
Ole Miss has been recruiting on a high level since the hiring of current head coach Hugh Freeze. The sudden rise of the Ole Miss program in recruiting has led many to suspect some interesting recruiting tactics coming into play, and the investigation involving Laremy Tunsil helped support that suspicion.
Bielema has been known to ruffle some feathers in the SEC, and even some out of the SEC since his departure from the Big Ten and Wisconsin. Odds are we will hear from Bielema again.
