ESPN's Bruce Feldman gives props to 2000 class

[HawkeyeRyno]

This was on ESPN Insider so unless you are a member you wouldn't see this so I pasted it for all of you. Feldman put together a 'top recruiting classes of the decade' article and this reader pointed out the 2000 Iowa class. Pretty cool considering this class was committing to Iowa when they were in transition from Fry to Ferentz and struggling to win games:

From Josh in Bradenton, FL: You have to remember the Iowa Hawkeye recruiting class of 2000 -- S Bob Sanders, DT Jonathan Babineaux, S Sean Considine, K Nate Kaeding, TE Tony Jackson, DE Derreck Robinson, CB Benny Sapp -- but remember the supposed best in the class, Jermelle Lewis? He would have been taken in the first three rounds at running back if not for 2 ACL surgeries.

Great point. I missed that class and it deserved consideration in the top 10 of the decade. You have so many guys in this class who weren't highly touted (Sanders was a Pennsylvania kid who Penn State didn't want) and they proved to be stars. I also thought it was surprising to see that in the 2000 Iowa class, they signed kids from 10 different states, ranging from Alabama to Michigan to Connecticut to Texas and Mississippi. Seeing Iowa taking kids from Florida and Texas was expected but so many places was not.

 

[HawkeyeRyno]

Here is the FULL class of 2000. Really interesting to see some of these names:

IOWA: Michael Allen, 6-3, 320, OL, Northwest Mississippi JC; Jonathan Babineaux, 6-2, 235, FB, Lincoln (Port Arthur, Texas); Kelvin Bell, 6-2, 310, DT, Olive Branch, (Miss.); Charlie Bodiford, 6-2, 225, LB, South Dade (Miami); Aramis Haralson, 6-3, 185, DB, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Warren Holloway, 5-10, 175, WR, Homewood-Floosmoor (Homewood, Ill.); Tony Jackson, 6-3, 248, TE, Willow Run (Ypsilanti, Mich.); Jhante Jones, 6-2, 170, WR, Piper (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Nate Kaeding, 6-0, 165, PK-P, West (Iowa City); George Lewis, 6-2, 230, LB, Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Jermelle Lewis, 5-11, 175, RB, Bloomfield (Conn.); Aaron Mickens, 5-10, 235, FB-DE, Copperas Cove (Texas); Derrick Pickens, 6-2, 280, DL, Kilgore (Texas) JC; Derreck Robinson, 6-5, 260, DE, DeLaSalle (Minneapolis); Fred Russell, 5-9, 170, RB, Milford (Conn.) Academy; Demond Sanders, 5-8, 200, DB, Cathedral Prep (Erie, Pa.); Benny Sapp, 5-10, 175, DB, Boyd Anderson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Andy Thorn, 6-5, 255, TE, Mott (Waterford, Mich.); Scott Webb, 6-2, 280, DL, Iowa Central CC; Kevin Worthy, 6-2, 240, LB, Etowah (Attalla, Ala.).

 

[HawkeyeShane]

Are you just testing Jon's assertion that we can't "copy and paste" from "insider" articles? We're only supposed to paraphrase what we read...

 

[Cyclones17]

Jermelle Lewis was awesome. It was unfortunate he had those knee injuries otherwise he would have had a fantastic career