National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
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1. Arkansas will not win an SEC game this season. Â
Farrell's take: FACT. Ole Miss was the Razorbacks' best chance and Arkansas has not looked good so far early in the season. What SEC team would they beat? Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Texas A&M are unlikely, which leaves Kentucky, Mississippi State and Missouri. Mississippi State could be an interesting game, and Kentucky lost its starting quarterback, so those are two opportunities. But right now I don't see Arkansas winning a game in the SEC, which could hurt the very good recruiting done by the staff.
Gorney’s take: FACT. I watch Chad Morris press conferences. I don’t know why I do it, but I like them for some reason and so I find myself on YouTube each week listening to him. And I was excited about this Arkansas team to start the season and thought it could surprise some people, especially with such a good recruiting class coming in. And then splat. The Razorbacks barely beat Portland State and then lost by two touchdowns to Ole Miss. The rest of the SEC schedule is brutal and I just don’t see this Arkansas team getting good enough to win those games. They could be in it against Kentucky and maybe Missouri late in the season, but I doubt it.
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2. Rondale Moore is the most electric player in college football. Â
Farrell's take: FACT. Everyone who plays against Purdue game plans against Moore and they tries to account for him on each snap and he still can't be stopped. There are some dynamic playmakers in college football this year as with any other year, but I dare you to find someone who gets people out of their seats like Moore does. He'd be getting even more national attention had he stuck with his initial commitment to Texas, but even at a program like Purdue where its usually regional attention only, he has the nation enthralled.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Please, Farrell. Stop trying to placate all your West Lafayette buddies. Moore is an exciting player to watch but he’s not the most electric - and I don’t even think he’s the most electric receiver. Have you seen Tylan Wallace at Oklahoma State? That kid is really fun to watch. Jerry Jeudy is pretty electric. Don’t forget how exciting it is to watch Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate when his coaches let him play his game. Moore is a fantastic player with a lot of spark, but there are many others who stand out to me more.
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3. Lynn Swann resigning is good for Clay Helton.
Farrell's take: FICTION. This is an interesting one because the firing and/or resignation of an athletic director is usually never good news for standing coaches, but an argument could be made that the bar for Helton was extra high with Swann in charge despite the latter's unwavering support of him. Swann would have been under pressure for his own job if Helton didn't win the Pac-12 and nothing less would likely do.
Now? Maybe a new AD comes in and lowers that bar a little bit and will give Helton a chance if major improvements are made, but the Trojans still fall short in the Pac-12. But that's very unlikely. Every new AD wants to bring in his own guy and there's now even a chance that Helton wins the Pac-12 but falls short of the college football playoff and is still gone. At least with Swann, he had a chance to save his job. Now? Not so much.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Swann’s resignation is not good news for Helton because new athletic directors always want to hire their own coaches - and the new USC AD will want to put his own stamp on the program and bring in a big-name coach.
But I’m a little tired of hearing about Helton being on the hot seat. This is a guy who won the Rose Bowl in his first full season, then took his team to the Cotton Bowl and then had one bad season and everybody wants to get rid of him. He just walloped Stanford by 25 points and still nobody is happy.
USC brought in prima donna coaches with prima donna recruits during the Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian regimes and look how that turned out. Helton needs to recruit at a more elite level, but that’s nearly impossible when every other day there is talk about him being on the hot seat. So many USC fans are still stuck in the Pete Carroll age that no other coach will do.
