Darby decommitting

Hawkfnntn said:
I assume he'd be ok with Redshirting since most WRs at Iowa do.
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Per a New Jersey sports website:

"He qualified and got his SAT score where it needed to be, but the Iowa coaches wanted him to attend a prep school for a semester for some academic seasoning," Hampton said. "Frank didn’t want that, though. He wants to play right away and he felt that after watching the Iowa spring game, that he could help the team out this season."

Doesn't sound like redshirting is in his plans either.

Full article here
 
And what exactly is academic seasoning?

C'mon, let's stop playing the PC card long enough to accurately state the courses a lot of these guys take aren't exactly astro-physics. If they can learn a rather complicated football playbook, they can get through rhetoric.

And yes, they get tutors tied to their hip.

There must be some real red flags here.
 
I'm sure he'll be an All-American by 2019.

Sounds like they wanted to send him to their AAA team for a year cause they already have talent at his position, so to speak.
 
I don't know by how much the kid qualified. And we're only getting it from the coach, so I'm not going to judge how Iowa views his academics. It has access to his transcripts and test scores. While there are easier classes and majors here, they're going to be quite a bit more difficult at a Big Ten school then they will be at a high school in Jersey City. We don't know the courses he took in high school or the results from those courses.

I see no reason for Iowa to turn down a kid at a position of need that they offered and received a commitment from before his senior year if they felt the best course to success was to let him come in and see if he can cut it academically at a Big Ten school. His football stock went up as a senior, not down.
 
Was really looking forward to this kid actually. Can't believe some only had him as a 2*. From what I saw he had everything you'd want in a receiver, also played with a ton of moxie that we don't see in many players here.
 
ShemHawk said:
Per a New Jersey sports website:

"He qualified and got his SAT score where it needed to be, but the Iowa coaches wanted him to attend a prep school for a semester for some academic seasoning," Hampton said. "Frank didn’t want that, though. He wants to play right away and he felt that after watching the Iowa spring game, that he could help the team out this season."

Doesn't sound like redshirting is in his plans either.

Full article here
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Every single skill positioned player says/feels that way. Sure doesn't always end up happening though... There are so many unknowns with our receiving corp that it couldn't be ruled out 100%. Not many kids change their mind in football about where they want to attend based on if they RS or not. That didn't seem or sound like the over arching issue here but maybe it would have been if it came down to it.. Be interesting to see what happens to him and where he ends up and if he plays right away...
 
We have only heard one side of this whole story. I know we have a lot of experts on this board who have the ability to break down an entire player by watching a 5-10 min highlight video, so I'm torn on who to trust here. Genius internet poster, or a coaching staff who is so stubborn that they would rather lose than bring in a real play-maker.
 
deanvogs said:
We have only heard one side of this whole story. I know we have a lot of experts on this board who have the ability to break down an entire player by watching a 5-10 min highlight video, so I'm torn on who to trust here. Genius internet poster, or a coaching staff who is so stubborn that they would rather lose than bring in a real play-maker.
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Everyone is guilty of this come NBA draft everyone is an expert on European ball players. However, I get where you are going with the sarcasm. You can second guess this without being some conspiracy nut.
 
IF he comes in as a freshman...THEN gets flagged...it might start the clock, so to speak. Going to prep school doesn't start the clock.

Seems like his coach is more understanding than 90% of this board.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
IF he comes in as a freshman...THEN gets flagged...it might start the clock, so to speak. Going to prep school doesn't start the clock.

Seems like his coach is more understanding than 90% of this board.
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i am with you; however, 90% of the people on this board aren't journalist so i got no problem with people speculating(within reason) about what went down.
 
RobHowe said:
I don't know by how much the kid qualified. And we're only getting it from the coach, so I'm not going to judge how Iowa views his academics. It has access to his transcripts and test scores. While there are easier classes and majors here, they're going to be quite a bit more difficult at a Big Ten school then they will be at a high school in Jersey City. We don't know the courses he took in high school or the results from those courses.

I see no reason for Iowa to turn down a kid at a position of need that they offered and received a commitment from before his senior year if they felt the best course to success was to let him come in and see if he can cut it academically at a Big Ten school. His football stock went up as a senior, not down.
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This is why this seems like an incomplete story. Iowa was ready to allow him to sign in February if he had achieved an eligible ACT score. Now, after it taking less than 3 months for Darby to secure that ACT score, Iowa wants him to go to a prep school (reported) for just 1 semester? This is not logical, if the story has been fully told. This kid could have (potentially) helped us at a position of need with his superior talents and abilities.
 
JonDMiller said:
Just me guessing...scholarships are at a premium for this coming class (2017). They are having high level success in recruiting this year, for Iowa. They feel they have a good enough group of WR's to work with, and they would rather not tie up another ride with someone who 'might' still not be out of the woods academically...that doesn't mean not qualifying, but for some, qualifying is just part of the challenge.
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I think Jon is right, as usual. It's simply a case of the coaching staff hedging its bets. They want another scholly for '17 and are feel the reward for that is better than the risk that the Darby situation would actually turn out OK for Iowa.
 
The primary information we don't have is exactly how iffy his academic standing is. His willingness to redshirt seems to be an issue of secondary importance unless he is being adamant about it. We have no real indication that is the case, other than a single statement.

As I stated earlier there are a lot of candidates as receivers, but only one or two proven targets. The team doesn't look to be in desperate straits at receiver, but I'm not sure anyone can say a whole lot more than that.

I am certainly not going to second guess the coaches on either count. No information and no qualification on my part.
 
RobHowe said:
I talked to Frank and the coach at the game yesterday. They were disappointed. The coach is supposed to call me tonight.

On the surface, it seems like Iowa is passing on a really good player at a position of need. But we are only hearing one side if the story. Perhaps the coaches don't feel confident about him handling things academically right now and want to see how he'll handle things at prep school first. I'm speculating but I'm sure there's a reason.
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This is what I am thinking. I think Iowa realizes there is a risk for the reward with this young man, and when he let them know he wasn't interested in prep school, they both decided to go separate ways. Probably good for both. It happens. Also, I think Iowa realizes they have some quality recruiting options now. Maybe Iowa can be a bit more selective than in recent past.
 
He was not asked to redshirt… It was suggested prep school. Big difference, people!! Since we only have one side of the story here, and there's not a whole lot of smoke, I'm going to trust the coaches on this one.
 
SteveGarvey1 said:
I think Jon is right, as usual. It's simply a case of the coaching staff hedging its bets. They want another scholly for '17 and are feel the reward for that is better than the risk that the Darby situation would actually turn out OK for Iowa.
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That'd sure be a schrewd thing to do... That sure doesn't sit well with me if I'm the kid though. He shut his recruitment down a long time ago when I bet he was told that once he gets a qualifying score on his ACT he's good to go.. Well he held up his end of the bargain and now Iowa seems to have changed theirs... Think about that. He WANTED to be a Hawkeye. And now they won't let him unless he goes to a prep school... That's crazy to me the more I think about it. Forget the fact he plays a position of need for us and all that for a second. The message this sends is just not right unless there's more to the story.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
That'd sure be a schrewd thing to do... That sure doesn't sit well with me if I'm the kid though. He shut his recruitment down a long time ago when I bet he was told that once he gets a qualifying score on his ACT he's good to go.. Well he held up his end of the bargain and now Iowa seems to have changed theirs... Think about that. He WANTED to be a Hawkeye. And now they won't let him unless he goes to a prep school... That's crazy to me the more I think about it. Forget the fact he plays a position of need for us and all that for a second. The message this sends is just not right unless there's more to the story.
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You haven't heard anything from the coaches at all on this and never will, so yeah, there is more to the story.
 
I really don't get what we had to lose. The kid has talent. We wanted him bad enough to offer him a scholarship a year ago. He blew up in high school. He plays a position of need. And most importantly, HE QUALIFIED. Beggars cannot be choosy, esp. at WR position, where we have struck out countless times in recruiting. Worst case, the guy comes in, doesn't play, and drops out of school at the end of the year. So what? Then we offer another kid next year.
 
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