Entering his 15th season covering the Razorbacks with HawgSports.com after starting in 2003, Trey can also be heard daily at 5:05 pm on DriveTime Sports on KABZ 103.7 The Buzz and affiliate stations.
Arkansas has hired Kansas running backs coach Reggie Mitchell.
HawgSports.com's Danny West first identified Mitchell as a prime candidate on Wednesday. If all comes to fruition, Mitchell will fill the position left vacant by Jemal Singleton when he took the same job with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. Singleton was at Arkansas just one year after replacing Joel Thomas, who took the same job with the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
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What the bio doesn't say is that Mitchell is regarded as a great recruiter. As an example, Mitchell served as the assistant head coach and running backs coach at Illinois from 2005-09 under Ron Zook. In 2007 and 2008 the Illini hauled in two top-25 recruiting classes (something that has not bee achieved since) and almost did it again the next year. Mitchell was huge for Illinois those years.
He was also was the primary recruiter for 5-star DE Martez Wilson in the 2007 class. In the next class, he was instrumental in landing Hialeah (Fla.) 4-star defensive tackle Corey Liuget. He has held the recruiting coordinator title at Kansas for five years and has served under three head coaches, not including any interim coaches.
Kansas is simply a different type of job. Coaches have to be evaluators there because the program simply does not attract elite prospects and never has. So a quick glance at Kansas recruiting rankings is going to reveal classes that annually rank in the bottom half of college football.
In fact the only highly rated recruit to sign with Kansas the last three recruiting cycles is four-star running back Traevohn Wrench - who was Mitchell target.
Mitchell never coached alongside Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema offensive coordinator Dan Enos, but they all would have crossed paths several times when they were all coaching in the Big 10. Much of Enos' coaching background stems from Michigan State (coach and player) and Central Michigan (head coach). Mitchell played at Central Michigan and was a GA there (long before Enos), and he also coached at Michigan State after Enos was a player there and before he was a coach there.
The video below is four years old but offers a good look at Mitchell and his philosophies.
