Andrews rise in rankings doesn't debunk theory of ratings agenda

His Brad Beal Elite team is currently 9-2 this summer and holds a one game lead in its division. 

The state of Arkansas recently produced No. 1 overall prospect Nick Smith, Jr., but he wasn't always near the top.

Smith spent a lot of his development at the prep level around No. 17 to No. 25 until he committed to Arkansas and coach Eric Musselman Sept. of 2021, according to 247sports.

Within a month, Smith continued his ascent into the Top 10 overall after total domination of Nike EYBL competition by averaging 22 points, five rebounds and four assists a game for Brad Beal Elite.

His best performance was at the prestigious Peach Jam championship game when he dropped 31 points on 10-of-18 from the field despite his team coming up short.

Once the 2022 class rankings was finalized, Smith was the overall No. 1 prospect in the nation, and the Razorbacks received plenty of headlines throughout the offseason and into the regular season.

Musselman opened up the door for Arkansas to the national recruiting landscape when he took over the Razorbacks in 2019.

His relevance at the college level, combined with extensive experience in the NBA, blew the door wide open for Arkansas to sign the likes of not only Smith, but Anthony Black, Jordan Walsh and Moses Moody.

Now, Arkansas is thriving on the national scene with coach John Calipari at the helm as he positions the Razorbacks to remain near the top in recruiting due to his hall of fame career.

The same can't be said for the Razorbacks' recruiting on the football side of things as fans have witnessed unfavorable rankings slides over multiple classes, a case that needs to be studied.

This most recently happened with 4-star linebacker signee Tavion Wallace, who pledged to the Razorbacks while ranked No. 36 nationally.

His stock took a sharp descent after his commitment until he signed as the No. 185 overall prospect, No. 16 among linebackers. 

Quite a few recruits are judged more off what they do without pads in controlled environments but that is no supplement for the large sample size the players provide on the field.

Wallace was dominant on both sides of the ball for his Georgia 2A Appling County team which finished 10-3 overall with a semifinals appearance in the playoffs

He totaled 49 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, two interceptions, one forced fumble, one pass break-up and a blocked extra point.

Offensively, he recorded 56 carries for 506 rushing yards and three touchdowns at running back.

While he did play at a lower level of ball in Georgia, Wallace chose the Razorbacks over many of the top programs in the nation such as Florida State, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Michigan, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, UCF, USC and many others.

While there may not be a rhyme or reason to why this seems to happen frequently with Arkansas signees, players tanking in rankings seems to happen at least once per class.

When former tight end Luke Hasz committed to Arkansas over Alabama, Michigan, Oklahoma and many others, he was ranked as the No. 1 tight end prospect in the 2023 class.

Hasz hovered around the Top 100 throughout the early stages of his recruitment, but once he pledged to Arkansas in June of 2022, he dropped over 60 spots from No. 87 overall to No. 158 in a matter of two weeks.

By December's early national signing day, Hasz was No. 182 overall, but slid further in the final refresh of the rankings to No. 197.

His slide is oddly suspicious given his domination of his competition at Bixby High School with 67 receptions for 1,165 yards and 11 touchdowns in his final two seasons at the varsity level.

Warren Lumberjacks great Treylon Burks is a classic case of someone whose ranking suffered because of his lack of interest in attending camps.

When the 2019 class rankings were first assembled, Burks was ranked No. 32 nationally, which is just on the edge of 5-star status, but committed to Arkansas just outside the Top 100 at No. 111.

His slide continued as he signed with the Razorbacks as the No. 129 overall prospect in the country despite recording 151 receptions for 3,403 yards and 43 touchdowns.

There may never be a study completely focused on Razorback football recruits seeing their rating negatively impacted, but plenty of substance can be found.