LITTLE ROCK —Stretching a point to include Lane Kiffin, three men with Arkansas ties are part of a coincidental alliance that will make it even more difficult for the Razorbacks and others to mine the abundance of high school athletes in Florida.

Kiffin, Butch Davis, and Charlie Strong are fresh faces in a state where Jimbo Fisher, Mark Richt, and Jim McElwain are enhancing their impressive credentials and Scott Frost is off to a good start.

Although they recruit independently, a fence around the “Sunshine State” is under construction.

Kiffin was 2 in 1977 when dad Monte started a three-year stint as Arkansas’ defensive coordinator under Lou Holtz. Davis played at Arkansas in the early 1970s, coached at Fayetteville High School for a year, and has lived in Springdale. Strong grew up in Batesville, played at the University of Central Arkansas, and has a Master’s degree from Henderson State University.

At a minimum, two of them have a more impressive reputation than their predecessors — Kiffin betters Charlie Partridge at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and Davis trumps Ron Turner at Florida International in Miami

At South Florida in Tampa, Strong is no worse than on par with Willie Taggert, who has been hired by Oregon.

Consider the selling points of the seven:

• Kiffin, a brilliant player caller who modernized the Alabama offense, might have two national championship rings before departing Tuscaloosa.

• Davis won nine or more in four of his six years at Miami, was more successful than most coaching the Cleveland Browns, and won eight games three of four years at North Carolina.

• Strong was 37-15 at Louisville, including 23-3 his last two years, before leaving for the prestigious Texas job.

• Fisher won a national championship with 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and his Seminoles are a fixture in the preseason Top 10.

• Richt was 8-4 his first year at Miami, after winning nine games 11 or more times at Georgia.

• McElwain has been to the SEC championship game both of his years in Gainesville and worked wonders at Colorado State.

• Frost, who worked under Chip Kelly at Oregon, was 6-6 his first year with a team that was winless in 2015.

In a state unquestioned as fertile ground for athletes, the seven coaches make the same closing argument to recruits — remain in state where family and friends can see you play at least six times a year.

In 2014, a survey showed that from 2007-14, Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and Ohio accounted for almost 52 percent of the Division 1 prospects signed. Texas was first with an average of 377 per year and Florida was second at 333.

Recently, somebody else used consensus rankings to determine that almost 30 percent of the blue-chip players from 2013-17 have come from Florida and Texas.

Arkansas was not among the top 25 states.

The Razorbacks’ 2016 roster lists more than 10 who played high school football in Florida, a number that will be difficult to maintain in the future.

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Before slapping a disparaging label on Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey or LSU’s Leonard Fournette for passing upcoming bowl games, recall the plight of Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith.

Projected to be among the top five taken in the 2016 NFL draft, Smith was pushed from behind in the Fiesta Bowl vs. Ohio State, tore ligaments in his knee, and suffered nerve damage. Eventually, he was drafted in the second round by Dallas and signed a contract with $4.4 million guaranteed, but he has not even practiced this year.

By comparison, Georgia’s Leonard Floyd was the first linebacker taken in the 2016 draft. Picked ninth by the Chicago Bears, he signed a four-year deal worth almost $15.8 million, including a signing bonus of almost $9.7 million.

Both McCaffrey and Fournette are projected as first-round picks in April. They are not quitters; they are young men trying to make the best possible impression at their first job interview.

Harry King is sports columnist for GateHouse Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. Email: hleonk42@gmail.com.