Depth at LB: a Microcosm of Ferentz's Failure to Plan Ahead With JUCOs

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iowalaw

Banned
Last year at this time, I started a post about the need to mine the JUCOs for LB talent. At the time, we had three senior LBs and virtually no one else saw playing time at the position. We had not been recruiting the position very well in recent years, and we needed to go after a JUCO that we could plug in and hit the ground running. Rather than doing that, Kirk failed to plan ahead, brought in a second scholarship punter from JUCO, then did some recruiting in Cedar Rapids.

Now, in big ten play, we are starting Josey Jewel...a guy who, by all accounts, is a hard worker and a good kid. But he is also a guy who, two years ago, was playing small-town Iowa high school football and did not sniff a scholarship offer from a single D1 school. We didn't even have to beat out the MAC or Arkansas State for this guy. Because we whiffed on so many other guys, Josey got an offer to come to Iowa. Is he athletic and talented enough to go toe to toe with running backs from Nebraska and Wisconsin? Or is he more suited, at this point in his career, for bringing down the RB with 5.3 speed from Lin-Mar?

Next year, we are going to have some more big holes to fill. Our OL and DL graduate several kids. Are we going to put our heads in the sand and allow the next freshmen walk-on to fill their roles, or are we going to go out and actively recruit guys who can come in and play right away? We have zero JUCO commits so far, and I don't even think we are in on any? Good strategy?
 








Good thing our DT depth is actually good. In fact three of our highest rated recruits of the last couple years all play DT (talk about resource allocation).

But, generally, I agree with you. If there was ever a time to look for JUCO players - this past signing period was the time to look for JUCO LBs. No returning player had significant game reps. Only Perry and Alston even had significant practice repetitions. And Perry is still is not good enough to play. And I question whether Alston really should even be playing (although there is nobody to play instead).

You'd think we could find an athletic LB somewhere in JUCO that could come in a compete with Spearman, Jewell, and Bower.
 


thetrza said:
Is this the proper use of the word microcosm?
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I wouldn't bet my life savings on it, but yeah, I think it is.

At least he didnt say something had "peaked" his interest - jfc I have seen that one a bunch lately! It's "piqued" - French for "pricked", not " peaked" as in the time in 8th grade PE you spotted a cute girl for pushups and then couldn't stand up because you had "peaked" your sweatpants.
 


Meh....they would sit on the bench anyway.

Powell was the best juco receiver in the land, yet he has been wasted for the first 1 1/2 years of his eligibility (so far).
 


drew003 said:
Good thing our DT depth is actually good. In fact three of our highest rated recruits of the last couple years all play DT (talk about resource allocation).

But, generally, I agree with you. If there was ever a time to look for JUCO players - this past signing period was the time to look for JUCO LBs. No returning player had significant game reps. Only Perry and Alston even had significant practice repetitions. And Perry is still is not good enough to play. And I question whether Alston really should even be playing (although there is nobody to play instead).

You'd think we could find an athletic LB somewhere in JUCO that could come in a compete with Spearman, Jewell, and Bower.
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We really should have tried to get JUCO LB's in both the 2013 and 2014 classes. Potentially a guy could have redshirted 2013 which would have been optimum. Nebraska got Randy Gregory from a Juco and he might be their best defensive player.
 


83Hawk said:
Meh....they would sit on the bench anyway.

Powell was the best juco receiver in the land, yet he has been wasted for the first 1 1/2 years of his eligibility (so far).
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You may think that, but I contend he is a big reason Bullock is wide open for those all important 3 yd gains on 3rd & 17.
 


OP is exactly right. We had three great linebackers the same age, and somehow didn’t develop one more during the 3 years those guys played together. Same deal with not getting Torey Hendrick and Treyvon Young in Black and Gold this year. Its a failure.
 


Benddontbreak said:
OP is exactly right. We had three great linebackers the same age, and somehow didn’t develop one more during the 3 years those guys played together. Same deal with not getting Torey Hendrick and Treyvon Young in Black and Gold this year. Its a failure.
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Torey Hendrick's issue is academic. It has nothing to do with a failure on Iowa's part.
 






How poorly the young guys on this team are failing to progress is alarming. I look at next season and see pain and sorrow.
 


hawkinn3 said:
How poorly the young guys on this team are failing to progress is alarming. I look at next season and see pain and sorrow.
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This makes no sense. We return a lot of people next year. Only Sherff and Donnal graduate without players behind them who have game reps. I think we are letting the negativity go a bit too far.

With out talent level, we simply to need to execute the passing game at a higher level. And we need to fix our run fits. But we don't have the level on offense or defense where we can win without executing the passing game at a high level.
 




Iowa should actually have a good Dline next year. Darian Cooper, Drew Ott, Jaleel Johnson, Faith Ekakitie, Meier. LB's should be better and the corners and safetys will have more experience. Iowa SHOULD have a good team, but like this year, it comes down to the guys on the sideline running the show.
 


Jucos are risky....look at Hendricks. I agree that maybe a lber would have made sense last recruiting season, but that would be declaring that guys like Perry, Bowers, Jewell, Fisher, Alston,Spearman,Kenney etc...as busts. Maybe they are, but going juco with 4 yr guys in place could be hard on chemistry.

Our d-line should be solid next year. If we are going juco, lets get a WR....
 


John Kenny is one heck of a football player too. If he moves back to LB next year he could make a big impact at that position.
 


eveningnewsteam said:
LB's should be better...
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Who's gonna play in the middle? We will be breaking in another brand new player at the position. The last two times that's happened have not gone very well.

...and the corners and safetys will have more experience.
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Going to have another BRAND NEW player starting at one safety. Neither of the backups are getting much PT this year.

Iowa SHOULD have a good team
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That is certainly up for debate. Major question mark at QB. No experienced options at RB (Canzeri kind of is, but has had very little production so far in his career). Receiver corps is still very questionable. Two brand new OTs with virtually zero game experience, while the interior of the line has been a major weakness this year. Huge questionmarks at kicker and punter.

Next year's team will have a TON of holes on paper.
 


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