By Jim Johnson
SouthernPigskin.com

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Bret Bielemas program is a welcome reminder of all of the positive things that college football, and collegiate athletics in general, can represent.

Swine are known for rolling around in the mud. The same could be said for a good chunk of SEC programs. Ironically, the Razorbacks do not fit that description. These Hogs are clean.

Given the countrys current political and social climate, which has been on full display at an SEC Media Days that has seemed more CNN than ESPN, Bret Bielemas program is a welcome reminder of all of the positive things that college football, and collegiate athletics in general, can represent.

Bielema shared a few anecdotes about the three student athletes he brought with the media during his opening statements, this morning.

He spoke of a turning point he helped Jeremy Sprinkle, a preseason Mackey Award frontrunner, navigate. cI remember the crossroad his sophomore year when he wasn’t doing what I wanted him to do in the classroom, off the field, A to Z,d Coach Bielema began, cSo I did the simple thing. I called his dad and asked if we can have a meeting. We sat down with his dad and talked with him about where he wanted to be, if he wanted to do it. From that point forward, he’s been a different guy.d

He helped star defensive lineman Deatrich Wise avoid spreading himself too thin. cWhen I got there, he just redshirted. He was also thrown on the track team. He was also heavily involved in his fraternity, was doing a lot of different things. To me he had a lot of really good things going, but he didn’t have a GPA. He didn’t have a lot of things going in the right direction.d

cI sat him down and just simply: Hey, do you want to be just involved in a lot of different things or do you want to be great at a few things? We talked about taking a few things off his plate. We had conversations with his parents. We took track out of his life until he got a better GPA.d

He shared reverently, er, as reverently as Bielema is capable of, about Brooks Ellis, cI sat in that home. He is sitting there with his mom and dad. There was a grandma that talked about her husband who is Brooks’ grandfather who played at the University of Arkansas, and the whole room got quiet when she talked about who he is and what he represented to the family.d

cBrooks made a lot of tackles, did a lot of good things. He probably at one point didn’t think he would be as good of a player as he is today. A guy that’s up for the most elite awards for linebacker play, a four-year starter, but he’s also a pre-med student, did an internship in Belize, did so many different things that did not pertain to football that will give him success forever.d

Wise and Sprinkle will enter the season, each with a diploma already under their respective belts, furthering their education towards a graduate degree. Ellis, a pre-med major, is not far behind.

One of Bielemas first matters of business when he arrived at Arkansas was to ask for grade sheets. c I wanted a grade report on all 120 players in the program. And it became very clear that we could make huge strides in a very short fashion in that department,d Bielema stated.

cIf you have a smart player off the field, youre probably going to have a smart player off the field,d is one his mantras.

In the head coachs three seasons at Arkansas thus far, cweve had 100 Academic All-SEC players. Thats the most in this conference. Theres a couple schools, during that time, in the SEC West that have had half that number.d

Not only are the Razorbacks excelling in the classroom, but also are staying on the straight and narrow, off the field.

While Dan Mullen, Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn and Kirby Smart, among others, have spent the week answering questions about gun laws, domestic violence, and the like, Bret Bielema has had the luxury of just talking football.

cWe went from a ratio of X number of days every player had been arrested before I got there,d Bielema stated, cto I believe we went through an almost 18-month window without any player having any significant trouble, and I’ve only had a handfulxa6d

Not that he isnt one to toot his own horn, but Bielema acknowledged some of the great mentors that instilled in him the same values that he has injected into the Arkansas football program — Alvarez, Snyder, Frye.

cI believe in Karma and there’s things that come back.d Bielema continued, cI learned a very valuable lesson from Coach Frye, and he always said you recruit your own problems. When we were recruiting, I was going down to recruit in certain areas. I had Chicago, Minnesota, South Florida, and he would always remind me of that, Bret, 8you recruit your own problems, you recruit your own problems, and I’ve always taken that to heart but I have taken into account we still have a roster in the senior class are ones that I didn’t recruit, they’ve been great, great. It’s a methodology.d

In the two years before he moved to Fayetteville, eleven of his Wisconsin players were arrested. Since then, only four in as many years. Arkansas has cleansed Bret Bielema as much as hes returned the favor.

Before leaving the main room to be loud and boisterous and charming, in the sort of way that Wilbur is charming in Charlottes Web, in the various other rooms, here at SEC Media Days, he wrapped up his session saying, cThe more we continue to create (clean images) in our league and across the country, and the more good influences our guys can be, I think the world will be a better place.d

Clean Hogs…