Arkansas Razorbacks Recruiting Coordinator E.K. Franks Gives Insight to Behind the Scenes Process

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Life as a recruiting coordinator for any given athletic program seems to be a tireless journey spanning 365 days a year filled with a lot of second guessers around every corner. Regardless of the program and the overall success of any given class, there are always a couple of players that got away or a few recruits the fan base really wanted the program to sign but did not land for whatever reason. For E.K. Franks, the Arkansas Razorbacks recruiting coordinator for the football program, from the outside in the job maybe fun and rewarding but also presents its fair share of challenges.

Ernest Franks, better known as E.K. Franks, just wrapped up his third recruiting class with the Hogs and one can certainly see his influence over the players signed. The Kansas native has ties all over the south which includes years coaching and recruiting in the state of Louisiana and years coaching and recruiting in the state of Texas.

When Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema wrapped his first recruiting class with Arkansas in 2013, he stuck to his Wisconsin model trying to lure Florida kids to his program without success in Louisiana. The Florida haul was impressive at the top with offensive lineman Denver Kirkland, a three-year starter, and running back Alex Collins, a three-time 1,000-yard rusher, both early NFL Draft entries in 2016, along with defensive back De’Andre Coley and defensive tackle Ke’tyrus Marks. Three Texas recruits were signed, running back Denzell Evans along with defensive backs Melvinson Hartfield and D.J. Dean.

Jump to the 2016 recruiting class signed on Feb. 3, the Razorbacks signed four from the Lone Star State which included Top 5 running back Devwah Whaley, defensive end Jonathan Marshall, wide receiver Kofi Boateng, and defensive back Micahh Smith. With Franks’ influence, the Hogs signed four highly sought after players from the Sportsman’s Paradise state that included defensive tackle Briston Guidry, linebackers Giovanni LaFrance and Dejon Harris, and quarterback Cole Kelley.

Recruiting rankings are for the fans and do not necessarily always paint a picture of future success for a given program. For example, USC is a perennial Top 10-15 ranked team in recruiting with as many 5-star recruits as Alabama, but has not won a Pac-12 Conference title since 2008.

Arkansas is always a Top 30 ranked team in recruiting showing signs of building a SEC West Conference title winner. In 2014, the Hogs went 7-6 overall, 2-6 in conference play, but gave every team they lost to a run for their money while scoring wins over then No. 20 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss. The 2015 squad had high preseason expectations. The group stumbled out of the gate but morphed into an 8-5 unit that was one of the best teams in the nation by season’s end, certainly a team no-one wanted to play.

The progress forward for Arkansas in wins and product on the field is an overall staff effort in evaluating recruits at the high school and junior college levels and then molding that talent within the team schemes over time.

All diehard fans play recruiting coordinator at the minimum in their collective heads, on average around the water cooler, and sometimes at worst on message boards. But how does the recruiting process for the Arkansas Razorbacks work from beginning to end? In a Recruiting News Guru exclusive interview, I sat down with E.K. Franks covering his early beginnings in football while getting the inside scoop on how Arkansas recruits each and every player from interest to offer to a faxed National Letter of Intent.

Interview

E.K., before we get started into the nuts and bolts of the recruiting process the Hogs execute in a given season, I’d like to find out about your beginnings in football. You’re from Kansas correct?

“Yes, I’m from Wellington, Kansas. I was an All-State running back for Wellington getting recruited by all the Kansas schools. I was the No. 2 wrestler my senior year and choose wrestling over football. I signed with the University of Oklahoma but after a couple of years I was missing football. I transferred, and started playing football again at Missouri State.

“After Missouri State, I came back to Oklahoma City and started working for my strength coach from OU. I started training athletes at St. Anthony’s Sports Science Center. That was my first adult job (laughs). I was around athletes, training them, and then started coaching at Heritage Hall (1996-2000). Wes Welker (WR – Texas Tech, New England Patriots and Denver Broncos) was there. It was interesting to me, at that time, going through that recruiting process with him. That was the first time I understood the whole recruiting process. I always thought there is a better way to do this. Technology has changed a lot of the process since then.

“I left Heritage Hall for Kansas State working as a strength coach (2000-01). While I was there, I volunteered on the football side. Any spare moment I had, I was with the football team. Michael Smith (Arkansas wide receivers coach) and Bret Bielema were all there at Kansas State at that time. Coach (Bill) Snyder helped me get my first college coaching job at Texas State (2003) as their defensive line coach. (Laughs) I had never coached defensive linemen before. At the high school level I coached defensive backs and running backs. The next year Coach B (Bret Bielema) went to Wisconsin and asked me to be a graduate assistant on the staff (2004-05).

“I left Wisconsin and got out of coaching for a couple of years and then got back into it with Delta State (2010-11). Ron Roberts was the defensive coordinator at Texas State when I was there. He finally convinced me to come down and join him. I was there for two years and went with him to Southeastern Louisiana where I was the associate head coach and running backs coach. The recruiting coordinator position opened up at Arkansas. I had a relationship with Coach Bielema, and the other coaches on staff. It was a natural fit for me to come here.”

You have a nice long history with Coach Bielema. While at Southeastern Louisiana, what was your recruiting process like there?

“The beautiful thing – I had all of New Orleans and Florida as well. At that level you don’t have the budget to go out to the far places. A lot of it was building relationships with the high school coaches and convincing them to bring kids to our camps so we can see them. With Bret, I helped him recruit that area in Florida while he was at Wisconsin. I built those relationships. Back at Southeastern, I kept those relationships. Those relationships with coaches spread out. A handful of coaches you know well, will help lead you in the right direction. In Texas, I had four or five coaches that spread out all over the south Texas area and in Houston. So, I had relationships down there as well.

“I skipped a part. Let me go back a little. When I was at Texas State, the beautiful thing there, I had cousins who were young coaches. I recruited Dallas and Houston a lot and I stayed in contact with those guys through the years. I felt I had great relationships in the Kansas JCs (junior colleges), great relationships in Oklahoma City, in Dallas and the Houston area, and in Florida. I kept relationships everywhere.

“I am a people person. I stay in contact with people and helped people however I could. Coaches would call to ask if I could help them with kids at different levels. There are kids I recruited at Southeastern, I would call my buddies at other schools to help those young men try to achieve their dreams. Those relationships have paid off in recruiting.

“At Southeastern with the New Orleans area, I was down there as much as I could be watching high school games and talking to coaches. We were 45 minutes away from New Orleans. I cultivated and built relationships with all those coaches in that area. For me, it’s been a good time with recruiting. Recruiting a typical kid, we use recruiting services, use film, or coaches are calling to tell you about kids form other schools. Every time I talked to a coach I would ask, “Who else in your conference should I be looking at?” You’d be amazed at the feedback you get.

“The good thing here at Arkansas, Michael Smith is from Louisiana. He has recruited there his whole career. That is a target area. When I took the job here, one of the first things I did was meet with Coach B about our recruiting model in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. We are centrally located to a lot of those areas. If we can get the bulk of our classes from those areas, that will help in the long run.

“At Arkansas, it’s getting kids here multiple times to see the campus. Kids, parents, and coaches have a stereotype of our campus, but it’s not like that stereotype. When they get here they say, “Wow.” Ninety percent of the time the feedback we get was, “Wow, this is not what I expected. It’s so nice here.” If we keep getting them back, we have a better shot at winning some of those races.

“Recruiting here at Arkansas, Coach B does not look at stars. What is the fit for what we are trying to do? We are different than a lot of teams out there. We run a pro-style offense and a pro-style defense. The things we do are different than a lot of teams out there.”

Now that the 2016 class has been signed, what are your overall thoughts on the class?

“First, overall it was a great class. I tell people we met everything we needed for this year’s class. We started off with 13 senior but we had some players declare early. It worked out where we could get 20 recruits. It was awesome. Starting out I thought we would only have 13 kids in the 2016 class. I thought, oh my God! But it worked out great. Two of the players are already here and they are doing a great job.

“I’m excited to see some of the young guys come in. I’m ready to see which ones will help this year and which ones will redshirt. One of the things people don’t understand, the thing we are building here with academics. We have a 3.5 year plan. We are graduating players and they are still able to have their dreams come true. We want to sign those caliber of kids. We want kids that will have an immediate impact on our program.”

All things being equal, which recruits are you expecting or thinking will make an impact during their true freshman season from the 2016 class?

“Every kid gets a chance to start. We don’t decide on that stuff until a week or 10 days before first game. We have wide open competitions. There are no predeterminations.”

What are the recruiting slots per position Arkansas is hoping to fill in 2017 class?

“We just met on that. The beautiful thing for us, we have 19 seniors this year, so I feel like we will sign a class from 20 to 23 kids. We will always sign two to three offensive linemen a year, one quarterback a year, one running back a year, and those type of things are in general every year – a tight end in every class. Coach B prides himself on our running back, tight end, and offensive line play from what we’ve done in the past. We had a Mackey Award winner last year (TE Hunter Henry) and we think we have another one with (Jeremy) Sprinkle this year. We feel that we can get great tight ends in our system.

“At least one running back a year depending on what the need is that year. At offensive line, two to three, maybe four. At wide receiver, it depends who we have graduating. This year we have every wide receiver coming back from last year plus Keyon Hatcher returning. He was hurt early. He got a medical redshirt so he’s coming back for another year. We will sign three receivers next year because of our need at that position. At defensive line, we’ll sign three to four. We did a good job this year along the defensive line. We signed four freshman linebackers this year. What we do next year depends on how they play this year. One or two there, probably three in the back end.”

What is the recruiting process at Arkansas? What are the steps taken with each recruit?

“We have a position coach, an area coach, and a coordinator. So film can come in to any coach. Let’s say a coach might get a name of a recruit. He can start the initial evaluation on the kid. We use a software program that shoots an email to next coach along the line. I can start a kid, my assistant can, our head coach, any of the coaches can start the process.

“When it gets in there, I get an alert that a kid has been started. I will follow up and look at him. I do my own evaluation as it goes through the process. Let’s say Michael Smith is the area coach recruiting a defensive back out of Louisiana. He does the initial evaluation and then that kicks over to defensive backs coach. Then he does an evaluation and then that kicks to the defensive coordinator. Once all of that has finished, it kicks back to the recruiting department and then we determine each recruit by our own rankings. The ranking determines whether it goes to the head coach or not.”

What are some of the things that goes into the rankings?

“Athletic ability, academics, and attitude all goes into the rankings. I call it the “Three A’s.” We also do a search on social media covering their social behavior. All of those things goes through us before going to the head coach. There is an evaluation from each area. The coaches give the athletics, we give the academic and attitude. We want to know, what type of person is he. Once the head coach gets it, he not only gets the film but he sees all of our notes, GPA, test scores, copy of the evaluation, and an academic evaluation. There are different rankings for every part. The head coach is the only one who can give an offer to a kid. We go over all the players as a staff. Everyone is watched and ranked. Coach B likes to see every kid before we offer, that’s what we try to do. We make sure someone has laid their eyes on them.”

How often does that meeting take place going over the recruits?

“It depends. Sometimes we go over 15 to 20 recruits per day and some days it might be 30. Some days it might be five recruits. We cover recruiting in every staff meeting we have.”

I understand this next question is a difficult one for you because there are so many positions and so many different things that can go into the evaluation at each position, but by and large, in the evaluation process for a recruit, does Arkansas look more at athleticism or technique?

“That’s not black and white. In recruiting, with a high school kid, how good is the coaching? Some of those guys have great technique but might have peaked, or is he raw? Maybe the one that is raw can’t be coached? If he has technique, can he become more athletic? We take all that into account.”

Do you have any words of wisdom to recruits out there?

“I think, No. 1, we talk to our guys when they are transferring to the NFL. We let them know that your body is your brand. You are your own brand. The things you start doing now effects how colleges look at you and how good you will become. Start developing good workout and study habits. How much water you are drinking each day? All of those things help you develop your brand.

“How do you treat the teachers at your school? What type of student are they and what kind of person are they outside the classroom? We ask all those questions. All those factors help high school kids get scholarships. They have to understand we are making a $100,000 investment in them.

“Also, when kids are out there doing camps, make sure they are doing them at different levels (D-I, D-I AA, D-II). You don’t know what level you will get recruited to play. Don’t get discouraged. Workout at all levels. Also don’t judge coaches or programs, you never know where a coach will be. I was at a JUCO, D-II, and now I’m at a SEC school. Kids we recruited my first year at Arkansas, I saw them from days at Southeastern. Treat everyone great. Make sure you are getting different looks. Play every play. Highlight tape gets us to evaluate them but we look at two to three games on a kid. Film does not lie.”

Do you have any pet peeves in regards to recruiting reels?

“You see it all, but nothing bothers you. Honestly, we will sit and watch a complete game anyway. The thing here, we’ll see the highlights and then cut two to three games. We cut every play. I want the coaches to see what you are doing away from the ball. What are you doing when the ball is not in your hands?

The answer can be more than one thing, but what has been one of the things you’re are extremely proud of as a coach?

“Well, I go back to high school. I went to a private school that did not win that many ball games in the three to four previous years before we got there. We turned Heritage Hall into a powerhouse. Now they are winning state title after state title.

“With Wes Welker, if his high school team does not win state, most people would have overlooked him. He was being overlooked but we got him to the next level. That changed his life and his family’s life. For me, I remember the day I received my first college scholarship offer. The relief on my grandmother’s face – I will always remember that. Sports help make dreams come true.”

Same question but as a recruiting coordinator?

“Well, again, the thing here you are helping coaches now. Being a recruiting coordinator at this level, you are almost like a general manager in the NFL. You are also helping coaches to understand their area. You are finding the kids that they do not know about. You are finding a kid in their area no one is talking about yet.

“Also, you want to make sure the kids are having the best visit and at the best time available. You want them to have all the information they need to go make a decision on our school. Academics, campus, city, staff, schemes, or whatever it is they need to know you’ve given it to them. When they walk away, I want parents to say this is the best trip we have ever been on.

“I think here at the University of Arkansas, we are not always the first to offer, but we will get to know the athletes all the way through. Once we offer, we stick with that kid. Once we throw out an offer we stay on board with you. We do all our homework before we offer. If one of the A’s is not there we need to understand it better. If one of the A’s is messed up, we will get to know them better before offering.

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“Between me working as a high school coach, covering academics, working in the strength program at Kansas State, and being a college coach working with small and big schools, all of that has prepared me to recruit at this level.”

Last question, what is your dream position?

“The way I look at that, if I do a great job here, everyone will recognize it and that will take care of itself. That’s how I look at that.”

E.K., thanks for your time today. There are so many more questions I would like to ask you. All that you have shared has been great and very informative. Thank you.

“Thank you.”

Photo credit: twitter.com; E.K. Franks (left) with Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema.

Photo credit: Kelley family; Cole Kelley at Arkansas with coaching staff and family.