• Simply Superlative. Chris Low, ESPN's indefatigable SEC blogger, recently weighed in on the football Hogs' strongest and weakest positions. No real surprises here. According to Low, the team's strongest position is receiver/tight end, and the weakest is linebacker.
Says Low: "Nobody else in the league can touch the Hogs when it comes to talent, production and depth at the receiver/tight end positions."
Toto, we're definitely not in the Houston Nutt era anymore.
• Non-Scholar Athletes. In a recent interview with Little Rock's 103.7 The Buzz, John Pelphrey claimed that 12 Razorback basketball players were academically ineligible after the 2007 spring semester. (Pelphrey became the Arkansas coach in April 2007.)
Those dozen players then became eligible for the following season during summer school, he said. Pelphrey made the comments as a way of illustrating the poor shape that the program was supposedly in when he took the Arkansas job. You can listen to the entire interview here.
• Big Man Cometh? A 6'10" Minnesota prep star is reportedly considering joining Pelphrey's 2010 class of recruits. His name is Kevin Noreen, and he originally signed with Boston College, but he's now looking at other schools after BC coach Al Skinner got canned. The Hogs desperately need some size and skill in the frontcourt, and Jim Harris' article suggests Noreen could be a nice addition to the program, both on and off the court.
• Shock the World. Nolan Richardson will make his WNBA coaching debut this Saturday night when his Tulsa Shock open their 2010 season. Would you believe that one of his players is disgraced track star and former jailbird Marion Jones? We kid you not. As Hog fans, though, we're used to pulling for athletes who've spent some time in the pokey, so we have no hesitation in wishing Nolan and Marion and the rest of the Shock a wildly successful season. Go Shock!