I am officially concerned about the remaining portal signees

N

NorthKCHawk

Well-Known Member
When the rumors about McNamara got legs and came through, there was a lot of smoke from several sources indicating that we will lose a couple names in the portal (including a couple starters) but the fan base would be really happy with what we have coming in. The clear implication from these sources was that the coaches and the collective already had a strong line on quality players that would follow McNamara to Iowa. We have heard a number of names mentioned, but here we are the Tuesday after the first recruiting weekend and no one else has signed, and we have only had a couple visitors. I am fearing that the level of confidence as to how "in the boat" certain guys were was overstated.

There is no question we have lost 4-5 quality players/potential starters to the portal, on top the guys who exhausted eligibility. If we are swinging and missing on bigger names, do the coaches start looking for those diamonds in the rough? Sigh.

I know less than 10% of all portal guys have signed, so there is still plenty of opportunity to gather a great portal class. But, as Iowa fans we have been oversold on recruiting many many times over the last two decades. #HopeIAmWrong
 


Yeah I think this will be the week more decisions will be made. Most dudes that are in portal have been in a couple weeks and have gotten their offers and taken some visits. Due to how so many of them will not even have a chair to take when the music stops the good ones will be deciding pretty soon.
 


The portal now more than ever is a negotiation. Negotiations take longer. The new world we live in, we have to have good eye for talent in the portal so we don't make mistakes and we need to take our time with the portal because not everything in it is great and more than likely, there's a reason.

Of the 3000 kids in the portal, how many have committed to a P5 school? At this moment, I bet that # is very low. I would imagine less than 50, heck it could be less than 25. This is a 60 day sprint.... I would imagine you won't start seeing a wave of commits to any school til after the new year and that is fine with me. What's the hurry? Take your time, vet these guys and get guys who fit our program and don't just throw sit at the wall.

Iowa is recruiting a number of high profile portal guys, they are also going at some lower hanging fruit that likely won't seem sexy to a fan like you but will likely be solid contributors to our program...which is what Iowa is looking for. Supplemental help.
 


The contrary argument is that no one knows what values are real out there. There is also a wide disparity of money available from schools. If the kid is too patient, he might have his spot taken by another portal guy and may not get the same financial offer from other schools. This is like playing musical chairs blindfolded.

That said, the vast majority of kids have not signed yet. I was just hoping McNamara would turn into the Pied Piper and start leading 4 star guys into Iowa City.
 


InGoodCo said:
The portal now more than ever is a negotiation. Negotiations take longer. The new world we live in, we have to have good eye for talent in the portal so we don't make mistakes and we need to take our time with the portal because not everything in it is great and more than likely, there's a reason.

Of the 3000 kids in the portal, how many have committed to a P5 school? At this moment, I bet that # is very low. I would imagine less than 50, heck it could be less than 25. This is a 60 day sprint.... I would imagine you won't start seeing a wave of commits to any school til after the new year and that is fine with me. What's the hurry? Take your time, vet these guys and get guys who fit our program and don't just throw sit at the wall.

Iowa is recruiting a number of high profile portal guys, they are also going at some lower hanging fruit that likely won't seem sexy to a fan like you but will likely be solid contributors to our program...which is what Iowa is looking for. Supplemental help.
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Yes, many of these players are fishing, fishing for a deal and if they don't get one you will see many announce they are staying put. I just heard that Western Kentucky apparently has this high profile QB who now announced he is staying at W Kentucky. The portal has a small % of legit guys that it is worth taking, a ton of guys who are searching for PT and would be a push or lateral get and a ton of guys just wishing or fishing for a deal. It's a racket.
 


NorthKCHawk said:
The contrary argument is that no one knows what values are real out there. There is also a wide disparity of money available from schools. If the kid is too patient, he might have his spot taken by another portal guy and may not get the same financial offer from other schools. This is like playing musical chairs blindfolded.

That said, the vast majority of kids have not signed yet. I was just hoping McNamara would turn into the Pied Piper and start leading 4 star guys into Iowa City.
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He's trying anyway. That's exactly what it sounds like he's doing. How successful will he be? I say give him a couple weeks and we'll see.
 


Recruiting has always played a key role but with the faster moving portal recruiting it would seem to be on even more important skill set to have on your staff. Iowa's approach has always been grow the relationships early, put little pressure on decision making, promote the blue collar culture, be patient, encourage looking at other programs, etc.

A lot of those approaches don't seem like a good fit in the portal world. I think the slick salesman style will lure many in the portal's shorter window............promised playing time, $$$, pressured decisions, more negative recruiting, etc.

I remain in the glass half full camp with our possibilities so far but you can't ignore that some of our top targets have committed elsewhere or remain undecided. We're now going deeper into the cookie jar in some instances to fill needs.
 


NorthKCHawk said:
When the rumors about McNamara got legs and came through, there was a lot of smoke from several sources indicating that we will lose a couple names in the portal (including a couple starters) but the fan base would be really happy with what we have coming in. The clear implication from these sources was that the coaches and the collective already had a strong line on quality players that would follow McNamara to Iowa. We have heard a number of names mentioned, but here we are the Tuesday after the first recruiting weekend and no one else has signed, and we have only had a couple visitors. I am fearing that the level of confidence as to how "in the boat" certain guys were was overstated.

There is no question we have lost 4-5 quality players/potential starters to the portal, on top the guys who exhausted eligibility. If we are swinging and missing on bigger names, do the coaches start looking for those diamonds in the rough? Sigh.

I know less than 10% of all portal guys have signed, so there is still plenty of opportunity to gather a great portal class. But, as Iowa fans we have been oversold on recruiting many many times over the last two decades. #HopeIAmWrong
Click to expand...

The Iowa name carries with it a lot of negativity after the last two years. I think we all know that. I would not be surprised if recruits are a bit leery about coming to a place that will not make changes to staff given recent (and longer term) history.
 


NCHawker said:
The Iowa name carries with it a lot of negativity after the last two years. I think we all know that. I would not be surprised if recruits are a bit leery about coming to a place that will not make changes to staff given recent (and longer term) history.
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Nope.
 


HuckFinn said:
Nope.
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I am not so sure he doesn't have a point in that the better offensive players are likely going to want to show their skills like Charlie did. This portal crap is not going to benefit Iowa's type of offense. To truly compete it going cost you $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Also how does Iowa go from trying to do things the right way (honest, clean program) to basically a bidding war mentality? I am not saying it can't be done, but it won't happen overnight. Certain people making the decisions may have to move on, including some of the most conservative, but wealthy boosters. You know the ones that are happy with 7-5 records as long as the captain is steering the ship. He could stay around for another 15 years and never win a damn thing and these ultra conservative pricks wouldn't give a damn. They like the captain and the image he portrays and winning anything BIG is just a bonus but not required.

Fryowa has said it many times. The big money boosters like the captain and their the ones making the decisions to keep him around. It has been since 2004 since we won a Big Ten title. Going on 19 years. So what does that say about what really matters to the boosters who are making the decisions? Now these same guys are going to pony up millions of dollars to big up a program to make it successful. Well, I guess if you like living in a dream world then this is the place.
 


NCHawker said:
The Iowa name carries with it a lot of negativity after the last two years. I think we all know that. I would not be surprised if recruits are a bit leery about coming to a place that will not make changes to staff given recent (and longer term) history.
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If the Iowa reputation for OL play is still valid, Iowa should be able go to the portal for some immediate help to fill some glaring shortcomings on the OL.
Same for defensive talent, as needed.
Unfortunately, that same reputation may work against us in attracting, and retaining, the WR and QB talent we so desperately need.
 






NCHawker said:
The Iowa name carries with it a lot of negativity after the last two years. I think we all know that. I would not be surprised if recruits are a bit leery about coming to a place that will not make changes to staff given recent (and longer term) history.
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I don't think the Iowa name is as negative nationally as it is with certain members of this Board. Outside of the elite 5-7 blue bloods, every team has issues.

Any quality defensive player should have no negative views of Iowa. It has been a consistent Top 10 D for a long while now.

As for offense, the unit has sucked, but if you are a portal TE or OL, and you see how many first rounders Iowa has put into the league, you can't scoff at considering Iowa. As for next year, we already have a legit QB, a legit RB, good TEs, and a lot of returners on the OL (and the number one recruit in the nation coming in). We just need to buy some WRs. Just buy them. We don't have any good story to tell a WR. Just write a couple fucking checks and get a couple dudes in here.
 


ohhawk said:
Recruiting has always played a key role but with the faster moving portal recruiting it would seem to be on even more important skill set to have on your staff. Iowa's approach has always been grow the relationships early, put little pressure on decision making, promote the blue collar culture, be patient, encourage looking at other programs, etc.

A lot of those approaches don't seem like a good fit in the portal world. I think the slick salesman style will lure many in the portal's shorter window............promised playing time, $$$, pressured decisions, more negative recruiting, etc.

I remain in the glass half full camp with our possibilities so far but you can't ignore that some of our top targets have committed elsewhere or remain undecided. We're now going deeper into the cookie jar in some instances to fill needs.
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Yea, I made similar comments in posts some time back. You will now be seeing college programs putting an emphasis on hiring coaches who can handle this NIL and portal mess better as it is a very fluid situation and teams can improve with decent roster moves on a yearly basis.

This is getting about as important as a good X's and O's coach. Programs aren't going to have the time to be "developmental" now. Players are just going to hop around and if a program spends the time developing players (which they will because that is what they do), the players may end up leaving anyway.

You really need a great used car salesman as coaches now. Boy, think about Ron Zook in this landscape now. Maybe he will make a return! lol.
 
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NCHawker said:
The Iowa name carries with it a lot of negativity after the last two years. I think we all know that. I would not be surprised if recruits are a bit leery about coming to a place that will not make changes to staff given recent (and longer term) history.
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Hopefully there are a few of them and they know of each other and band together. That might make their decision a bit easier if they think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Iowa, luckily, has been a solid program by history so hopefully they put that into perspective and trust the coaches are going to make changes to improve. All college programs go thru these cycles for various reasons. Hopefully McNamara can sell it to some other position guys. I think he can from what I've heard he is saying on some podcasts.
 


BigD said:
I am not so sure he doesn't have a point in that the better offensive players are likely going to want to show their skills like Charlie did. This portal crap is not going to benefit Iowa's type of offense. To truly compete it going cost you $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Also how does Iowa go from trying to do things the right way (honest, clean program) to basically a bidding war mentality? I am not saying it can't be done, but it won't happen overnight. Certain people making the decisions may have to move on, including some of the most conservative, but wealthy boosters. You know the ones that are happy with 7-5 records as long as the captain is steering the ship. He could stay around for another 15 years and never win a damn thing and these ultra conservative pricks wouldn't give a damn. They like the captain and the image he portrays and winning anything BIG is just a bonus but not required.

Fryowa has said it many times. The big money boosters like the captain and their the ones making the decisions to keep him around. It has been since 2004 since we won a Big Ten title. Going on 19 years. So what does that say about what really matters to the boosters who are making the decisions? Now these same guys are going to pony up millions of dollars to big up a program to make it successful. Well, I guess if you like living in a dream world then this is the place.
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To the bold, as much as KF doesn't like it, they don't really have a choice at this point. They are going to have to hop on that train and learn to manage that, as much as it pains them. KF may not like that train he's on, but he's going to have to take it.
 


SCHawkeye2 said:
If the Iowa reputation for OL play is still valid, Iowa should be able go to the portal for some immediate help to fill some glaring shortcomings on the OL.
Same for defensive talent, as needed.
Unfortunately, that same reputation may work against us in attracting, and retaining, the WR and QB talent we so desperately need.
Click to expand...
I was listening to a POD yesterday with that David Eicholt on it and he didn't think Iowa would be going after many if any Olineman... He thinks that the staff is good with who they have and hoping they develop still.....

I think that's the wrong way to go. Most of the Oline we have has 2 yrs of tape on them and almost none of it is good. If there's a chance to bring in a body or 2 preferably upperclassmen that'd be ideal. I can't help but think that a part of what we have an issue with is talent not just lack of experience. This oline the last couple games of this season were no better then they were at the beginning of last yr. They should have improved... Can anyone point to me where that's happened? Especially the right side of the Oline holy crap they were straight up bad.
 




Hawkfnntn said:
I was listening to a POD yesterday with that David Eicholt on it and he didn't think Iowa would be going after many if any Olineman... He thinks that the staff is good with who they have and hoping they develop still.....

I think that's the wrong way to go. Most of the Oline we have has 2 yrs of tape on them and almost none of it is good. If there's a chance to bring in a body or 2 preferably upperclassmen that'd be ideal. I can't help but think that a part of what we have an issue with is talent not just lack of experience. This oline the last couple games of this season were no better then they were at the beginning of last yr. They should have improved... Can anyone point to me where that's happened? Especially the right side of the Oline holy crap they were straight up bad.
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Their pass pro, especially with blitzes was/is really a problem. They are going to have to get that straightened out, especially with McNamara coming in who needs to be protected to keep him upright and healthy.

I think their run blocking came around a little better and they will be very veteran next season, so I think the run game should be fine. But, they need to get a complimentary pass game to keep the D honest.
 


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