Crazy recruiting stat.

H

Hawkfnntn

Well-Known Member
Not many stats will trump Texas not having a single player drafted this last yr. They have had a top 10 recruiting class I'd bet for the last 10 plus yrs and rarely recruit 150 miles outside of Austin to do it.

Now I don't think this stat trumps it but how much sense does this make. Since 2007 Iowa has had more 3 star and lower rated kids drafted then Auburn has had period. I bet there are other big schools that fit in that category as well but Auburn was who was mentioned. Now during that time Auburn has won a National championship lost another and had a Heisman winner. Hard to make heads or tails of recruiting/winning and losing sometimes.
 
We hang our hats on making three stars good sometimes but what really matters is national championships and we don't have one...kind of sucks but whatever. I guess I'll go on cheering for conference titles.
 
ISUhawk said:
We hang our hats on making three stars good sometimes but what really matters is national championships and we don't have one...kind of sucks but whatever. I guess I'll go on cheering for conference titles.
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At least there is a chance now. Any year we win a conference title, there should be at least a 90% chance that we are in the 4 team playoff. We would have never even had a chance at a national title until now. A 1loss/undefeated SEC team would get picked over an undefeated Iowa probably every time. Now we have this playoff!
 
YWinston said:
If only football teams only needed Linebackers, Offensive tackles, and tight ends, we'd be Alabama.
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No doubt.....
I would like to think style of play has had some to do with it too... But that said Bamas style really isn't a whole lot different then Iowas. They run pro sets don't hurry up much at all. They prefer to pound it and play action you to get big plays in the passing game. They just have had WR play makers that made the most of their opportunities. (Julio Jones is a freak) As opposed to Iowa being more TE heavy. As much of a "game manager" as there QB Mr Webb was he did a solid job. I think Rudock is capable of playing to a similar level if his teamates can too. He's certainly smart enough to make good decisions out there. I think this year will be a major step up for him and this team. (Now do I think Rudock will improve enough to be drafted down the road? Who knows but I think for the sake of him helping Iowa win a lot of games absolutely he can)
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Not many stats will trump Texas not having a single player drafted this last yr. They have had a top 10 recruiting class I'd bet for the last 10 plus yrs and rarely recruit 150 miles outside of Austin to do it.

Now I don't think this stat trumps it but how much sense does this make. Since 2007 Iowa has had more 3 star and lower rated kids drafted then Auburn has had period. I bet there are other big schools that fit in that category as well but Auburn was who was mentioned. Now during that time Auburn has won a National championship lost another and had a Heisman winner. Hard to make heads or tails of recruiting/winning and losing sometimes.
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Yet everyone throws a fit if KF doesn't sign players with offers from Bama, FSU, OSU.....There is much more to football than how many stars a recruit has before they even finish high school.
 
YWinston said:
If only football teams only needed Linebackers, Offensive tackles, and tight ends, we'd be Alabama.
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DeVries, Kampmann, Clayborn, Ballard, Klug, Daniels, King, Babineaux, Robinson, Clauss, Roth, and Iwebema say, "Don't forget about us defensive linemen"
 
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The difference between Iowa and the big boys can be summed up in one word.....playmakers.

We've got the trenches part handled, no problem. We also typically have good to great linebackers. And occasionally we'll have a good/great corner or safety.

But those things will only get you 7-9 wins (maybe 10 if the ball bounces your way).

We need guys on the edges (on both sides of the ball) that can make plays when needed. We need more consistent playmakers in the backfield (both RB and QB) as well. The "big boys" typically have those and we typically don't.

And we can't seem to have it all in one year. In 2002 we had playmakers on offense between Banks, Russell, Jones, Clark, Brown, etc but leaked like a sieve in the defensive backfield. In 2008, we had a playmaker at RB, an unreal defense....but were too green at QB. 2009 is as close as we've come to having the total package team....but the injury to Stanzi left us too vulnerable.

In the end, to make the leap from average/good to great, we need playmakers....that's the only thing separating us from the top.
 
It's very hard to have all the pieces to the puzzle, very hard. Almost I missile to have them each and every year. Very very few program do. The fact that we were top ten four of eight years, pretty darn good run. Here's to our fifth top ten this year, third program revival
 
SpiderRico said:
The difference between Iowa and the big boys can be summed up in one word.....playmakers.

We've got the trenches part handled, no problem. We also typically have good to great linebackers. And occasionally we'll have a good/great corner or safety.

But those things will only get you 7-9 wins (maybe 10 if the ball bounces your way).

We need guys on the edges (on both sides of the ball) that can make plays when needed. We need more consistent playmakers in the backfield (both RB and QB) as well. The "big boys" typically have those and we typically don't.

And we can't seem to have it all in one year. In 2002 we had playmakers on offense between Banks, Russell, Jones, Clark, Brown, etc but leaked like a sieve in the defensive backfield. In 2008, we had a playmaker at RB, an unreal defense....but were too green at QB. 2009 is as close as we've come to having the total package team....but the injury to Stanzi left us too vulnerable.

In the end, to make the leap from average/good to great, we need playmakers....that's the only thing separating us from the top.
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I occasionally wondered "What if...?" with the 2009 season if Jake Christensen had not transferred and had been available when Stanzi went down against NW. He may not have passed us to victory, but I am sure he would have been a little more "ready" to step in against NW. Against O$U? I think JVB did as well as any of our QBs could have. QB wasn't our problem that game, it was dropped passes and missed opportunities.
 
SpiderRico said:
The difference between Iowa and the big boys can be summed up in one word.....playmakers.

We've got the trenches part handled, no problem. We also typically have good to great linebackers. And occasionally we'll have a good/great corner or safety.

But those things will only get you 7-9 wins (maybe 10 if the ball bounces your way).

We need guys on the edges (on both sides of the ball) that can make plays when needed. We need more consistent playmakers in the backfield (both RB and QB) as well. The "big boys" typically have those and we typically don't.

And we can't seem to have it all in one year. In 2002 we had playmakers on offense between Banks, Russell, Jones, Clark, Brown, etc but leaked like a sieve in the defensive backfield. In 2008, we had a playmaker at RB, an unreal defense....but were too green at QB. 2009 is as close as we've come to having the total package team....but the injury to Stanzi left us too vulnerable.

In the end, to make the leap from average/good to great, we need playmakers....that's the only thing separating us from the top.
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Hard to pick that apart. You can't hide your qb in college football. They don't have to be all world talent wise. But they do have to not be a liability. And make opportunistic big plays when they present themselves. The TD pass from Rudock to KMM against Nebraska after they went for a fake punt was huge. More plays like that where they go for the jugular would be huge. Now Iowa won despite Rudock against Michigan... That was as impressive a defensive effort as you'll see. But those types of efforts they just can't have from their qb. I think he'll be head and shoulders better this year because of a yrs worth of PT behind him plus this receiving corp should have a nice mix of deep threats intermediate and red zone targets. I include the TEs when I say that. Between KMM Smith Hillyer and the two wild cards Willes and Powell I like what they all bring to the table as a group cause they all are alittle different. Add in the schedule and it's hard to not think this group isn't worth the hype.. Although it seems to be pretty tempered so far but I think it'll build as the season gets started.
 
kmurp said:
This gets to the heart of it.
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You guys need to take a look at Bama's record since Bear Bryant died. They have had plenty of down years. And considering the amount of cheating they've been punished for, I wouldn't want us to be them.
 
alexzelada said:
You guys need to take a look at Bama's record since Bear Bryant died. They have had plenty of down years. And considering the amount of cheating they've been punished for, I wouldn't want us to be them.
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That's like saying I wouldn't want to be Tom Brady because he lost a bunch of Super Bowls.
 
The weaknesses in Iowa’s recruiting and development program are there. They are largely successful with their player development program, but consistently come up short in a few areas. Iowa’s player development strategy has been weakest at developing NFL quality wide receivers. For whatever reason Iowa has been below average at developing wide-outs. It’s perhaps the only area they are truly well below average at.

NFL quality defensive ends that are large, long armed, and fast are rather hard to find. Still, Iowa has developed its share of them in, Aaron Kampman, Jared DeVries, Adrian Clayborn, Kenny Iwebema and Derreck Robinson. Iowa’s system puts a premium on controlling the line of scrimmage over penetration into the backfield. All of the named players reflect that. DeVries could get into the backfield with the best of them. Other players like Roth were converted linebackers, or like Ballard converted interior linemen asked to play outside.


Iowa has done fairly well with quarterbacks but rarely gets the high level picks. Drew Tate was stolen from Texas A&M due to a coaching change. He was on the small side. Several quarterbacks came to Iowa the juco route. A number of Iowa’s quarterbacks have had either shortcomings or issues that lead to them being overlooked by elite teams.

Running Backs with a combination of speed and size are hard to come by if you’re a second tier team. The better backs at Iowa have usually been big backs with adequate speed who can read the blocks well. Aside Freddy Russell, Iowa can’t claim a lot of success with small quick backs. Most of the little guys end up being offered up to the turf monster AIRBHG.

Those have been the difficult areas where player development hasn’t compensated for lack of recruiting at a high level. The only other thing I would add is Iowa doesn’t have the depth that high level recruits will bring to a team. You would think Iowa could regularly land a few more blue chip players with the NFL pipeline combined with a fair amount of success on the field. Iowa doesn’t project itself as a sexy program, but over the years has had about as many big plays as anyone. You can sell recruits on style over substance. Just ask Ron Zook. Recruits are impressed by who plays the latest schemes, has the promising new coaching staff, and the newest look. You would think with Illinois and Purdue in a complete shambles, Iowa would have a few more recruits come in its direction.
 
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