College Football in February comes in the form of National Signing Day, and yesterday brought the Hogs twenty-three signatures from young men who want to be Razorbacks. I give them all a big "Woo Pig Sooie" welcome. Before going into further details about them, I would like to say that if I were a highly touted wide receiver from Arkansas and had a chance to play for the Razorbacks, even though I had offers from Missouri, Texas, and OU, I would have gone with the team I grew up supporting, even though it might not be the best team on the block. That's what I would imagine I would do, so I can understand the home state pull. And if Missouri over there in the East can use DGB to knock-off an SEC West team, all the better for the Hogs. It isn't like we lost him to LSU, Auburn, or Alabama. But enough with the one that got away, let's look at those recruits who smiled back.

RANKINGS: What did the national people think of the class? Rivals puts the class at 31. Scout has them at 21. 247 has them at 27. We didn't make ESPN's top 25. If you average all of that out, Arkansas's 2012 class was ahead of only Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Kentucky.

STARS: In terms of stars, according to Rivals, the Hogs picked up 0 - 5 stars, 2 - 4 stars, 20 - 3 stars, and 1 - 2 star recruit.

GEOGRAPHY: Arkansas got most of its recruits from Texas, with six players. Arkansas gave the team five players. Three were snatched from OU/OSU country in Oklahoma. The state that gave us Dylan Breeding, Alabama, gave us two additional players this year. Tennessee also contributed two. Then Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Jersey all contributed one each. That equals eleven different states.

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Dorial Green-Beckham announced his decision just a short while ago. Oh well - it would have been great to see him in Razorback red, but we wish him the best of luck.

We hope to have more thoughts later but in the meantime, let us know your reaction.

The winds of change, from what I can tell, appear to be blowing over War Memorial Stadium in connection to the Hogs' tradition of playing LSU there every other year on the Friday after Thanksgiving. You might have noticed that when Jeff Long and company put out next year's football schedule that locations were omitted. It just says "Home." Count me amongst those who would miss seeing LSU in Little Rock. And, yes, I am a ticket holder for the Little Rock games. But if a change is to be made, as it seems like it will be, which team would we want to have in Little Rock in place of LSU? That is the subject of today's poll question. And I am even adding the option of "None - Move Them All to Campus" just to see how many of you lean in that direction. I don't count myself amongst you, but I do acknowledge you and your arguments.

Tis the season for NFL try-out games. I always enjoy seeing that Razorback helmet out there amongst the scattering of other helmets, so I thought you too might want to know where you can find our seniors this year as they try to impress the scouts. Count me already impressed with all of them! One post-national championship game has already been played. You might have missed ( I did) seeing Broderick Green put on a Razorback helmet one more time at the Casino Del Sol College All Star Game, which was in Tucson on January the 16th. If anybody caught that and saw Broderick, please give us a report. Here are the other games and which Hogs are scheduled to suit up for them.

EAST WEST SHRINE GAME: January 21st in St. Petersburg, Florida, 4 PM Eastern on the NFL Network. Greg Childs, Jerry Franklin, and Jarius Wright.

BATTLE OF FLORIDA: January 21st in Baco Raton, Florida, 8 PM Eastern on Fox College Sports. No Hogs in this one. If there were any, I am sure some SEC ref would blow a call to make one of our players look bad. I haven't forgotten our last battle in Florida. No, sir. But Stephen Winning Garcia will be there. I wonder if they let him use his South Carolina helmet?

SENIOR BOWL: January 28th in Mobile, Alabama, 4 PM Eastern on the NFL Network. Joe Adams and Jake Bequette are scheduled to appear in this one. Some SEC players that I think we are all happy to see move on are appearing as well. Marquis Maze, Courtney Upshaw, Mark Barron, and DeQuan Menzie will be in attendance. This game by far has the largest number of former SEC players at twenty-three.

Quarterback Tyler Wilson announced today that he will return to the Razorbacks in 2012. This is great, great news. I don't know about you but I wasn't quite ready to see the Brandon Mitchell Era begin.

"I have decided to stay at Arkansas for the 2012 season because I am extremely excited for what this team has the opportunity to accomplish and to finish earning my degree," Wilson said in a statement released by the university. "After the feedback I received, the decision was extremely difficult to make. Ultimately, the chance to complete my academics and play one more season as a Razorback were compelling reasons for me to remain in Fayetteville.

"This past year was great for us with 11 wins and a top-five finish and we want to build on that," Wilson added. "The group of players we have returning has high expectations and wants to work hard to compete for championships. Although my goal is to play in the NFL, I believe I can benefit greatly from another year of working with Coach (Bobby) Petrino and Coach Paul Petrino. I am excited to be able to spend one more season at a university where the leadership shows a tremendous amount of support and the passion of the fans is the best in the country."

The news about Wilson follows closely on the heels of Knile Davis' announcement that he too will return to Arkansas in 2012.

For more on Wilson's announcement, visit AS360, WholeHogSports.com (note: subscription required to view link) and ESPN.com.

Razorback fans, your team just finished the 2011 season in both the AP and Coaches polls ranked No. Five in the nation. Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma State, and Oregon finished ahead of us. That's two BSC bowl winners and the two teams that just played in the National Championship Game. That's rarefied air, right there, elite company. Go back and think about Bobby Petrino's first season here in 2008 when the team finished 5-7 and had some pretty ugly losses during that season. Thanks in large part to Petrino's leadership and a dedicated class of seniors, three short years later and the Hogs have won two bowl games, increased their win total each year, seen players win national awards, been to a BCS bowl, and finished the season ranked in the Top Ten two years in a row. If this isn't a program on the rise, I don't know what else you could call it? The next step has to be an SEC West Championship and the program's first overall SEC Championship. And these days, an SEC Championship is a ticket to the National Championship game. And why not take that step in 2012? Here's a quick (off the top of my head) look at both the positives and the negatives in relation to the Hogs winning it all in 2012.

POSITIVE: Knile Davis and most likely Tyler Wilson (can't see him leaving with just one year as a starter) are coming back for the 2012 campaign.

NEGATIVE: The Hogs are losing play-makers such as Childs, Wright, and Adams in the receiving corps and Broderick Green on the ground.

POSITIVE: Alabama and LSU are at home (wherever home is for the LSU game, but in the state of Arkansas still). Overall, the schedule sets ups nicely. The Hogs might finally get a classic, bad, Kentucky team, for example. But one still wonders which team will be selected for the fourth out of conference opponent. Hmmm?????

NEGATIVE: We still have to play Alabama and LSU! haha. Both will still be formidable foes. Alabama, I think, more so than LSU.

POSITIVE: If all goes right this year, no off-season injury, Alabama should have to face Knile Davis in the running game. If we can get a running game going against the Tide, I give the Hogs a very good chance of beating Alabama in Fayetteville. After seeing last night's performance, I know that is a big "IF" there. But also keep in mind that Arkansas's 14 point effort against Alabama was more than LSU scored on Alabama combined in two attempts! A Petrino coached quarterback will never look as bad as Jordan Jefferson looked last night.

NEGATIVE: SEC fatigue. Last night's game did not endear the nation to the SEC. Already many didn't like the fact of the rematch. The lack of it really being a game with any excitement made the resentment, worse, I am sure. This sixth win in a row will likely have the national pundits, writers, voters, all looking for an excuse not to invite an SEC team to Miami in January 2013. If the Hogs have a slip up along the way, a loss of any kind, they might not get the benefit of the doubt that past SEC teams have gotten simply because the nation is tired of the SEC.

POSITIVE: The coming out of Chris Gragg as a dangerous weapon at the tight end position. He made the loss of D.J. Williams much easier to take with his clutch catches on third down all season.

NEGATIVE: If the Hogs get by the beasts in the West, Alabama and LSU, they'll likely face Georgia in the Georgia Dome for the SEC Title. It will be Hostile with a capital "H." Of course, South Carolina, also stands a good chance next year of winning the East, but I think the Hogs still have to worry about Georgia and the Georgia fan base standing in the way of an SEC title again like they did in 2002. And the Bobby Petrino factor will bring out an extra dose of hate come early December of 2012.

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Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News Bureau has this summary of the situation.

If you're not up for clinking the link, here's the upshot: Former Razorback running back Michael Smith, who now works for KTHV in Little Rock, tweeted Monday night that Knile will return. Davis later retweeted Smith's tweet.

The Hogs defeated Kansas State last night to the tune of an odd looking score (29-16 - who had that in the office pool?) and at the same time broke with a bad history of losing Cotton Bowls. Of our bowl losses, nearly a third have been in the Cotton Bowl. But thanks to a stellar defensive performance, a Joe Adams punt return, and just enough offense, the Hogs got their 11th win of the season and the program's 4th Cotton Bowl victory. With the season ending on a good note for the third time under Petrino, it is now 238 days until Kickoff 2012. What in the world will we do with our time until then? Discuss the Hogs, of course! haha. And let's begin that discussion by looking back at that bright and shining Cotton Bowl 2012 that we all have images of running back and forth in our heads this morning.

PREGAME THOUGHTS:

* Shouldn't this game still be on New Year's Day? I know we were told by the media to celebrate the fact that we would be the only bowl game on come Friday night. But the weight of seventy some years of playing the game on New Year's Day was pressing down on the game last night, it seemed to me. The venue, certainly keep that. But I do miss the New Year's Day aspect of the game.

* I was wearing for the game the Cotton Bowl shirt (thanks, mom!) I got for Christmas. What would I do with the shirt if the Hogs lost? I don't think I could have kept wearing it. Probably would have given it to Goodwill. But now it is a treasured keepsake!

* I made a little Hog shrine out of my television set. I put a recently found copy of the 1976 Cotton Bowl program under the television for good luck. We beat Georgia in that one, good vibes there. I put my Ancient Greek coin with a boar on it next to the tv, and I swear to you, the moment after I added my Lou Holtz doll (trying to bring forth the Spirit of 77) to the mix, Joe Adams scored on that punt return.

* Except for both analysts picking K-State (Uggh), I thought Fox's pre-game coverage to be pretty good at getting us ready for the game. Loved the old Cotton Bowl footage at the beginning. But ESPN has so gotten into my head, that it doesn't seem like a college game without a Corso and crew appearance at some point. After the game, typically, ESPN didn't give it much notice. Of course, they are also in NFL playoff mode right now.

* I like the simplicity of putting a wildcat and a hog on the coin for the coin toss. But I still heard the announcer get confused about who had won the coin toss, haha.

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