How much do we consider JCs

longtimer

Well-Known Member
I bring this up for a couple of reasons. If you believe the Des Moines Register (and we all do) then Iowa State is recruiting the JCs and bringing in some big talent (they may be headed to the super bowl next year). But really there is talent out there in the JCs and we could sure use some of that talent at wide receiver, maybe defensive line and kicking game just to mention a couple. Does Ferentz and staff consider the JCs much or is it better to pick off High School talent from Mac commits and late bloomers?
 
I think it boils down to a few things:

1. JCs aren't a sure thing to get into a school like Iowa that has some academic standards. Most are at JCs because they couldn't qualify to begin with or because they did something to scare away everyone including the schools that routinely take character risks. There are exceptions of course. Iowa has had some success with JCs during the KF era. One of the top NFL QBs was a JC kid but for the most part, JC kids are at JCs for a reason and they usually aren't good.
2. Iowa is a "developmental" program. JCs have 2/3 years rather than the 4/5 for high school kids.
3. With JC kids, they often need summer classes to get themselves qualified. So you can put yourself in a tough situation by giving a kid a scholarship in Feb with with hope that he does his classwork for the spring semester and then the summer term(s) which keeps him from being at Iowa's summer conditioning program that high school kids are routinely at or even running into fall camp that begins at the beginning of August.
 
Iowa generally does not waive admitting criteria for JC players. It becomes very difficult to get them in. When Beckman was hired at Illinois he said they came up with over 200 JC players they thought could help right away and could be admitted. In the end Illinois would only allow less than 20 to be recruited as they were approved to be admitted. It came as a shock to him. He made statements about this. It is why coaches from a number of B10 schools do not go after the JC players very much- very few will be admitted. Now, Indiana and a couple of others have exceptions that allow these type players to be admitted much easier.
 
The whole big 12 is haven for JC players. Bill Snyder has done very well with them. The clowns think their jc players will take them to the promised land but it's continuous failure there. My mistake, wait till next year.
 
I think it boils down to a few things:

1. JCs aren't a sure thing to get into a school like Iowa that has some academic standards. Most are at JCs because they couldn't qualify to begin with or because they did something to scare away everyone including the schools that routinely take character risks. There are exceptions of course. Iowa has had some success with JCs during the KF era. One of the top NFL QBs was a JC kid but for the most part, JC kids are at JCs for a reason and they usually aren't good.
2. Iowa is a "developmental" program. JCs have 2/3 years rather than the 4/5 for high school kids.
3. With JC kids, they often need summer classes to get themselves qualified. So you can put yourself in a tough situation by giving a kid a scholarship in Feb with with hope that he does his classwork for the spring semester and then the summer term(s) which keeps him from being at Iowa's summer conditioning program that high school kids are routinely at or even running into fall camp that begins at the beginning of August.

I agree with 1 and 3. But for #2, developmental program is another way of saying that you can't recruit high level talent. So you have to toughen up the lower level recruits you can get.
 
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I think it boils down to a few things:

1. JCs aren't a sure thing to get into a school like Iowa that has some academic standards. Most are at JCs because they couldn't qualify to begin with or because they did something to scare away everyone including the schools that routinely take character risks. There are exceptions of course. Iowa has had some success with JCs during the KF era. One of the top NFL QBs was a JC kid but for the most part, JC kids are at JCs for a reason and they usually aren't good.
2. Iowa is a "developmental" program. JCs have 2/3 years rather than the 4/5 for high school kids.
3. With JC kids, they often need summer classes to get themselves qualified. So you can put yourself in a tough situation by giving a kid a scholarship in Feb with with hope that he does his classwork for the spring semester and then the summer term(s) which keeps him from being at Iowa's summer conditioning program that high school kids are routinely at or even running into fall camp that begins at the beginning of August.

While it's true Iowa has standards. Outside of Northwestern (and possibly Nebraska) they aren't really different than any other B1G program. Outside of the SEC most P5 conferences (plus Notre Dame) have similar admissions standards.
 
The big difference is MOST conferences and their schools make tons of exceptions to the admitting standards. Iowa does not. As noted by USA Today several times that Iowa State has right in their men's basketball and football coaches contract that no student athlete will be denied admission to ISU for academic reasons.
 
While it's true Iowa has standards. Outside of Northwestern (and possibly Nebraska) they aren't really different than any other B1G program. Outside of the SEC most P5 conferences (plus Notre Dame) have similar admissions standards.

Not true at all. Big Ten has much higher academic standards than the Big 12. Also, Michigan is easily the second best B1G school from an academic standpoint; Nebraska is probably the worst!

https://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/biggest-problem-big-12-academics

Notre Dame has more difficult standards than every Big Ten school, sans NW and maybe Michigan.
 
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