Arkansas coach Bret Bielema is no stranger to firing shots at rival schools, and he did that again on National Signing Day when talking about negative recruiting. And in a way, it was a backhanded compliment/insult hurled at both Florida and Ole Miss.
Bret Bielema hits Florida with some weirdly backhanded Signing Day praise
Leave it to Bielema to get a shot out on Signing Day.
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Transcribed:
“We’ve got a couple teams like Florida, kind of the new Ole Miss, they’re doing some things in recruiting that just kind of shock you a little bit.”
It’s unclear what Bielema is talking about, regarding either team. Usually, he has a motive for his antics, like when he took players to the house of an assistant coach who was leaving Arkansas.
Bielema says it was a compliment:
Hugh Freeze just told SI’s Signing Day show that Bret Bielema called him and said his earlier comments were meant to compliment Ole Miss.
— Zac Ellis (@ZacEllis) February 3, 2016
However, Florida has not seen the jump in recent years that Ole Miss has under Freeze. The Gators’ 2016 class ranks 10th nationally, according to the 247Sports composite ratings, and while that’s up from last year’s ranking of 21st, Florida has averaged the eighth-ranked recruiting class over the past eight years, so this year is really nothing special for Florida.
