guess homer just presented to much detail and to many facts to continue
MultipleDundie is definitely correct insofar that Illinois has a lot to "sell" with regard to the success of Thomas and Mendenhall in the league. It's also a nice selling point about where both Mendenhall and LeShoure landed in the draft. Those points definite cannot be disputed.
I would just argue that Iowa has A LOT to offer to a prospective RB too.
- Albert Young many not have had tremendous success YET in the NFL ... however, he's still been able to consistently cash a NFL check. Furthermore, Young was an absolutely tremendous college football player. Were it not for so many leg/knee injuries ... I'd bet that AY's NFL career would be at higher heights today. However, as it is, Young still has a chance to "take off" ... he just will need to take advantage of all the opportunities he gets. It's kinda tough now considering that he's behind Peterson.
- Shonn Greene ... both his college and NFL success already are able to speak for themselves.
- Ladell Betts has already had a long NFL career and a reasonably productive one too. He was a great college player ... and he continues to cash a NFL paycheck.
- Since '08, Iowa's OL continues to be where it should be. It plays at a higher level than most other units in the nation ... and it does so pretty consistently. Furthermore, the group is manned with the personnel to remain ELITE through the coming years too. It's nice for a RB to know that he's having future NFLers blocking for him.
- I'm also willing to bet that the fact that Iowa's current RB, Marcus Coker, feels like a kid in a candy-store won't hurt either. Coker absolutely loves it at Iowa and his enthusiasm will invariably rub off on RB recruits who visit.
- Lester Erb has done a truly remarkable job "coaching up" Iowa's exceptionally young and inexperienced RBs. Iowa has been stuck having freshman starters in each of the past 2 years ... and those young starters have really done a pretty impressive job all things considered. I really think that that reflects well on both Iowa's OL and Erb's coaching.
- The fact that Coe wasn't eligible immediately implies that Iowa won't have a really big-name recruit on the roster at RB. Often, when you have such a big-name guy ... that can sometimes scare off recruits in following classes. Given that Coe currently isn't "on board" at Iowa ... that likely will probably provide the perception that Iowa has plenty of opportunity to offer. I'm pretty convinced that Coker and McCall will do a tremendous job of manning Iowa's RB spots ... however, currently, Coker is the ONLY guy Iowa has with any legit experience.
