I hate recruiting. Absolutely hate it.

I do enjoy knowing who my favorite teams are looking at, what those guys stats are and what kind of players they are and all that. However, there are two things I really don't care about:

1. Where they are from
2. Who the recruit is dating

Much of the media attention around this state has been centered around Mitch Mustain, the All-Everything wunderkind from Springdale (more on that town and a UCA wide receiver from there later). I'm not going into the details, because everybody reading this knows who he is and the particulars of the situation. What kills me is the intense scrutiny placed on the kid's every move, with conspiracy theorists everywhere coming up with about 234098230923 things that each statement or sneeze could mean. Everybody has a source, everybody has an opinion, and everybody needs to settle down.

When Otis Kirk is on the radio reasoning that since Mitch is involved with Gus Malzahn's daughter, he'll come to Arkansas — it's just gotten downright pathetic. You have grown men on the radio essentially groveling for this kid to play his college football at Arkansas. I understand to a point. Great talent you want to keep at home and bring your program out of the horrible abyss it's in. But to have the mood of your day/week/month/life swing with each rumor you read on the internets might be a little overkill. To get down on your knees and beg and plead might be a bit much, unless you're the coach.

For all the people who think that if Mustain heads somewhere other than Arkansas for his college career then the world is coming to an end, well for you I hope that is the case. Please, just end it all and make the world a better place for the rest of us. We won't have to listen to you at games, read your incessant drivel on the internet, or hear your nonsenical calls on the radio shows.

There are other quarterbacks — the Ryan Malletts and Kodi Burns of the world — who can come in the next year and be The Savior. Remember Gary Brashears? He was Next. And, he didn't last. You never know what you're going to get, so stop teetering on the brink of insanity on what Mustain decides to do. If I were him, I'd go far, far away just to get away from all the crazies.

Now, speaking of Springdale products, there was a pretty solid receiver from up there who just finished up a good career as a Bear. That'd be none other than Ben Faires, who is in the Top 10 in school history in a couple categories and might've been more productive had he not been around with a bunch of the best receivers of all time at UCA. Or, maybe he benefitted from having them around. Regardless, the point here is that he is from Springdale, which is in NW Arkansas (there's ya a senior-level geography lesson).

Another favorite topic for all the Recruitniks is locale. Where the players are from sometimes trumps the talent of the players, and that makes absolutely no sense to me. Obviously, you want to get the most talented players from nearby as much as you can. But, when it gets right to the heart of things you just want to get talented players.

It seems that after a season in which the Bears won 11 games, made the national quarterfinals, and finished No. 6 in the land, people have to find something to complain about. Since there wasn't much, this year's theme is Conque Doesn't Know How To Recruit.

Obviously not, since there's not a lick of talent on his roster.

But seriously, it seems folks are bristling at the fact there's not enough done in Northwest Arkansas as far as recruiting goes while too much attention is paid to Louisiana, Texas, and so forth. Well, seems to me the current plan is working out okay. The staff that is on hand has ties all over those fertile grounds, so why not utilize those to the fullest? Let's be honest — there's a dearth of legitimate talent in Arkansas relative to Texas and Louisiana so there's only so much talent to be had in the first place. In recent history, UCA has been on relatively equal footing with UAM, SAU, HSU, OBU, HU, and ATU when it comes to recruiting. DII school, plays in the GSC, located in Arkansas, etc. etc. Now obviously, UCA offers many things that places like UAM doesn't, but it's still grouped together.

But because of this, what talent there is in the state gets spread out amongst all the GSC teams. Tech takes some, Henderson grabs a couple, and so on and so on. With the Bears transitioning up to I-AA, it might just give them a more clearly-defined upper hand on a lot of those guys and you will see a greater NWA (and all of Arkansas) influence on the roster.

However, at some point you stop taking the best local kids and go after the best you can get, period. And, it may be that those kids come from somewhere else. So what? Once the kids get here, the fans aren't going to care if the guy is from Springdale, Fayetteville, Van Buren or Waco, Baton Rouge, or Mansfield as long as they are playing well and the team is winning. Or at least, they shouldn't.

Before the season, who had heard of Gerald Norman? Where in the world is he from? Tyler, Texas. If you're in the recruiting process and you only get one, do you take him or Stephen Green — the nationally-recognized stud from Little Rock? Obviously, you would've taken Green. How about now? For one reason or another, Green didn't show a whole lot this year but Norman was able to work his way up and earn a starting job. Does it mean he's better? Not necessarily, but there's no evidence to the contrary.

It's a crapshoot. You evaluate talent the best you can, evaluate the likelihood of having a real shot at the player, then get after it. Where the kid is from should rarely play a large role. You want to build pipelines, and that's usually within the state, but if you have as much sucess building a pipeline elsewhere, then you certainly don't shun that in favor of trying to establish a different one. One in the hand is worth two in the bush, or whatever.

So then the question turns to why it would be easier to get the out-of-state guys? Well, Conque and many of his assistants know people and have long-standing ties in the other states. And maybe, for one reason or another, relations with high school coaches in some places around Arkansas aren't the greatest. I don't know that to be the case for sure, but let's just pretend and say that's one reason. It works both ways ... maybe UCA ignores the local kids, or maybe the local coaches don't promote UCA because the head coach isn't a local. Maybe coaches would rather funnel their players to a place where the coach has more Arkansas ties.

Or maybe there's something going on in the Good Ol Boy Network. It could be that former UCA head coach Harold Horton has some sort of issue with Conque and/or the school, and doesn't want to see any success. Heck, if Conque were to win a national championship or string together too many successful seasons in a row, people might forget just how good Horton's teams were. Double H is an involved fella, and he is a vice president of the Razorback Foundation, so he probably knows some influential, connected people. If he were to have an agenda against UCA and/or Conque, it wouldn't be tough to get in people's ears.

I'm not saying any of that is the case, or even close. The two could be golfing buddies. But, it's stuff like that and countless other things that can affect what goes on in recruiting. Things that people don't see and don't think about. And, it's fun to think about — especially for the imaginative conspiracy theorists. It might sound ridiculous, but then again, it also sounds ridiculous to rip the recruiting philosophies of a coach who has proven to have a pretty good eye for talent and to think coaches don't try to get the best players possible.

And, again, it goes back to the competition. There are a bunch of D-II schools in Arkansas, and there's even competition recruiting at the I-AA level, although not nearly as much. One thing Conque has said on record is that they hope to hit the home state first, but to also expand their efforts in Louisiana, Texas, and also Oklahoma. There aren't I-AA schools in Oklahoma. You've got the big boys, and small guys. Not a lot of in-between. If the staff sees they are having considerable success pulling talent out of Oklahoma, then they should keep it up.

It'd probably give them a good opportunity to see some NWA talent on the way.