FAYETTEVILLE — Bret Bielema doesn’t pretend. He never has. He never will.

One doesn’t even have to scroll on the Google Images page after a search of his name to discover Bielema is probably a fun-loving guy. Then there’s his on-the-field stuff.

Bielema had eight offensive linemen drafted to the NFL in seven seasons as head coach at Wisconsin. He let an offensive guard throw a touchdown pass last season at Arkansas.

Throw.

Not run for.

Not lead block.

Not even catch.

Throw.

The belief Bielema carries and has seemingly always carried is simple. He is an in-the-trenches sort. There is a firm conviction the front line is the most important unit on the field. Bielema was that way at Wisconsin. He is that way at Arkansas.

Sebastian Tretola is a preseason All-SEC pick, the starting left guard and the man who threw the touchdown pass last season. He is miniature Bielema – always chuckling, going off on tangents and generally just being a swell dude to be around.

“Obviously everybody knows coach B (Bielema) is heavy into his O-line,” Tretola said. full well knowing the pun. “He treats us first-class. It’s a fantastic feeling. It makes us feel the importance and it’s great for recruiting.”

And there’s the biggest thing. Bielema has had to restock the entire Arkansas roster. It was abysmal upon his arrival December 2012. The 2012 Razorbacks had won four games the season before. In Bielema’s first year in Fayetteville, they won three. Then last year, seven.

The talent is beginning to shift. If it isn’t elite – and at Arkansas is almost never has been – it is coming back to life, anyway.

It isn’t that Arkansas can’t get good players. The Razorbacks most certainly do get good players. They get much better ones than Bielema got at Wisconsin. Arkansas is almost always has a top 40 recruiting class ranking, regardless the coach, regardless the record. Bielema usually ranked about 50th in Madison.

And it’s heard in his voice. He thinks this year’s team, the one that still has players from those 4-8 and 3-9 seasons on it, is perhaps the most talented team he has ever fielded. Accordingly, as he builds, most of that begins along the line.

NFL scouts have darted in and out of Fayetteville all autumn. There are a couple possible senior draftees, but it’s clear the pros are looking younger. It’s against the rules, however, for those scouts to talk about the younger players with Bielema or offensive coordinator Dan Enos or defensive coordinator Robb Smith or anyone except the team for which they’re employed.

But Bielema said Thursday, in his last availability before the Razorbacks open game-week preparations for UTEP on Monday, it was clear where they were looking.

It wasn’t, mostly, at seniors.

Tretola and Mitch Smothers are two seniors along the line. And they’re probably the fourth- and fifth-best pro prospects among the starting lineup there. Dan Skipper, 6-foot-10, receives the most national hype, thanks in large part to that size and his ruthless on-field attitude. Guard-turned-left tackle Denver Kirkland is the most collegiately polished and a second-team All-SEC selection by both the media and coaches.

It’s sophomore right guard Frank Ragnow that draws the most positive head shakes from the staff, though. Ragnow played center last year, will play guard this year (and reserve center) and is almost certainly going out to tackle if/when Kirkland and Skipper leave. Bielema believes Ragnow has first-round draft pick written all over him.

And, of course, Bielema is one who would know. He brought them to Wisconsin, cold, wet, snowy Wisconsin, and went to three straight Rose Bowls with them.

With the big guys on the front of the media guide, released before SEC Media Days this summer, it’s clear that’s his goal in Arkansas.