IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
With the advent of the early signing period, December is an exciting time in recruiting. Fans get a peek into what their teams will become over the next 5 years. Hawk fans are enthusiastic every year regarding their in-coming recruits, so I thought I would take an objective look to see whether the excitement is warranted. After all, every fan base from Alabama to lowly Rutgers has recruits they are super excited about. How does Ferentz's class stack up?
1. MOMENTUM - We've done a good job at keeping the blue bloods away from our commits in recent weeks. Fighting off Michigan for one and Ohio State for another. As far as momentum goes, however, Iowa does not have a single commitment since October despite dozens of recruiting visits. Each of the 13 other Big 10 schools has received recent commits. We are going to get a slew of signing day commits.
2. CLASS SIZE - The Hawks currently have 16 commits. They are expected to take around 22. While Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State & Minnesota are all pretty much done with recruiting, the Hawk staff still has some work to do to fill out the class. Hopefully they close with a bang, landing some key JUCOs and flipping some Power 5 commits rather than going the low hanging fruit fallback MAC/UNI poaching route.
3. CLASS RANK - Regardless of where you stand on stars, Rivals ranks the current class 11th in the Big 10, and 48th nationally. They rank ahead of just Rutgers (1-11), Illinois (4-8), and Maryland (5-7) in the conference. 24/7 rates them 9th in the conference. While Hawk fans do not expect to see a top 20 recruiting class nationally, they do expect one of the highest paid staffs in the land to consistently bring in recruiting classes that are in the top 2/3 of their own conference.
4. BLUE CHIP DIFFERENCE MAKERS - The Hawks currently have commits from zero 4 star recruits (according to rivals). By comparison, Nebraska got seven 4****, Wisconsin got six 4****, Purdue got five 4****, and Minnesota got two 4**** recruits. Let's just hope the other coaches aren't also developmental program coaches (based on their background, however, they very much are developmental coaches).
5. NEEDS MET - Looking ahead a year or two in advance, we know we have immediate holes at positions like: LB, DT, OL, WR, P, and TE. We also know that we are pretty well loaded for years to come at: RB, QB, CB, S, K. So did the Hawks do at addressing upcoming needs? It's a mixed bag.
LB: Will lose upperclassmen: Hockaday & Welch. Bringing in: Jacobs, Campbell, and last minute Jeudy. Jacobs was the crown jewel of the class. He is only a 3 star, but could have gone anywhere, including OSU and Nebraska. Campbell was very productive playing Iowa HS football, although he didn't have much out of state interest. Jeudy had just 1 other power 5 offer in KSU, but he's a Florida kid who was coming on strong. NET GAIN.
DT: Will lose upperclassmen: Nelson, Brinks, Lattimore & Reiff. Bringing in: Jalen Hunt. Hunt was the 29th rated prospect out of Michigan, and had offers from Michigan State and Missouri. At 6'2, 262, he has potential to bulk up and be a run stuffer. Surprisingly, no other DTs recruited. Must have had some recruiting misses. NET LOSS.
OL: Will lose upperclassmen: Reynolds (2 star), Render, Fergeson (2 star) & the Paulsons. Bringing in: Endres & Miller. Two massive 6'6, 310 lb small-town Iowa farm boys without much interest outside Iowa. Also got Justin Britt, a highly touted kid out of Indiana. NET GAIN.
WR: Will lose upperclassmen: Easely & Groeneweg. Bringing in: Hutson, a 6'4 possession type receiver with ZERO Division 1 offers. Very frustrating that the staff continues to be incompetent recruiting WRs despite the constant need at the position year in and year out. All we lose are a couple of walk-ons from North Dakota, yet the WR corp actually gets worse next year. NET LOSS.
P: Will lose upperclassmen: Raestetter. Bringing in: N/A. No one's mourning the loss of Raestetter. He set the mark for futility. Does the staff have a plan going into next year? The lone scholarship punter on the roster has been unable to beat out Raestetter for two years straight (or any class 4A high school punter). He likely will not provide an instant improvement at the position. Will our highly paid special teams coach takes a break from designing trick passes from the holder to the backup defensive end, and starts making calls to some Big 10 caliber punters? NET LOSS.
TE: Will lose upperclassmen: Fant, Hock, Cook & Weiting. Bringing in Lee & Miaman. Replacing First Team all-Big 10 TEs is tough. However, the recruits are two of the most highly touted recruits we got. Both Lee & Miaman have offers from Michigan, Michigan State, etc. Neither is 4 star talent (per Rivals), even though I think Iowa should be able to lure 5 star TEs if they tried. However, both recruits have enough potential to carry on the TE U mantra. DRAW (Net gain based on recruiting stars, net loss knowing what we know about how Hock developed).
Overall, the staff beat out just 3 Big 10 schools in recruiting. Hawks filled some holes at linebacker. Adding athleticism to the position was key. On the other hand, the Hawks dropped the ball like no other staff could by failing for the 5th year in a row to fill the gaping hole at WR, and failing to fill the hole that cost Iowa four games this year in Punter. Coaching is not rocket science...the staff should know better on this.
1. MOMENTUM - We've done a good job at keeping the blue bloods away from our commits in recent weeks. Fighting off Michigan for one and Ohio State for another. As far as momentum goes, however, Iowa does not have a single commitment since October despite dozens of recruiting visits. Each of the 13 other Big 10 schools has received recent commits. We are going to get a slew of signing day commits.
2. CLASS SIZE - The Hawks currently have 16 commits. They are expected to take around 22. While Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State & Minnesota are all pretty much done with recruiting, the Hawk staff still has some work to do to fill out the class. Hopefully they close with a bang, landing some key JUCOs and flipping some Power 5 commits rather than going the low hanging fruit fallback MAC/UNI poaching route.
3. CLASS RANK - Regardless of where you stand on stars, Rivals ranks the current class 11th in the Big 10, and 48th nationally. They rank ahead of just Rutgers (1-11), Illinois (4-8), and Maryland (5-7) in the conference. 24/7 rates them 9th in the conference. While Hawk fans do not expect to see a top 20 recruiting class nationally, they do expect one of the highest paid staffs in the land to consistently bring in recruiting classes that are in the top 2/3 of their own conference.
4. BLUE CHIP DIFFERENCE MAKERS - The Hawks currently have commits from zero 4 star recruits (according to rivals). By comparison, Nebraska got seven 4****, Wisconsin got six 4****, Purdue got five 4****, and Minnesota got two 4**** recruits. Let's just hope the other coaches aren't also developmental program coaches (based on their background, however, they very much are developmental coaches).
5. NEEDS MET - Looking ahead a year or two in advance, we know we have immediate holes at positions like: LB, DT, OL, WR, P, and TE. We also know that we are pretty well loaded for years to come at: RB, QB, CB, S, K. So did the Hawks do at addressing upcoming needs? It's a mixed bag.
LB: Will lose upperclassmen: Hockaday & Welch. Bringing in: Jacobs, Campbell, and last minute Jeudy. Jacobs was the crown jewel of the class. He is only a 3 star, but could have gone anywhere, including OSU and Nebraska. Campbell was very productive playing Iowa HS football, although he didn't have much out of state interest. Jeudy had just 1 other power 5 offer in KSU, but he's a Florida kid who was coming on strong. NET GAIN.
DT: Will lose upperclassmen: Nelson, Brinks, Lattimore & Reiff. Bringing in: Jalen Hunt. Hunt was the 29th rated prospect out of Michigan, and had offers from Michigan State and Missouri. At 6'2, 262, he has potential to bulk up and be a run stuffer. Surprisingly, no other DTs recruited. Must have had some recruiting misses. NET LOSS.
OL: Will lose upperclassmen: Reynolds (2 star), Render, Fergeson (2 star) & the Paulsons. Bringing in: Endres & Miller. Two massive 6'6, 310 lb small-town Iowa farm boys without much interest outside Iowa. Also got Justin Britt, a highly touted kid out of Indiana. NET GAIN.
WR: Will lose upperclassmen: Easely & Groeneweg. Bringing in: Hutson, a 6'4 possession type receiver with ZERO Division 1 offers. Very frustrating that the staff continues to be incompetent recruiting WRs despite the constant need at the position year in and year out. All we lose are a couple of walk-ons from North Dakota, yet the WR corp actually gets worse next year. NET LOSS.
P: Will lose upperclassmen: Raestetter. Bringing in: N/A. No one's mourning the loss of Raestetter. He set the mark for futility. Does the staff have a plan going into next year? The lone scholarship punter on the roster has been unable to beat out Raestetter for two years straight (or any class 4A high school punter). He likely will not provide an instant improvement at the position. Will our highly paid special teams coach takes a break from designing trick passes from the holder to the backup defensive end, and starts making calls to some Big 10 caliber punters? NET LOSS.
TE: Will lose upperclassmen: Fant, Hock, Cook & Weiting. Bringing in Lee & Miaman. Replacing First Team all-Big 10 TEs is tough. However, the recruits are two of the most highly touted recruits we got. Both Lee & Miaman have offers from Michigan, Michigan State, etc. Neither is 4 star talent (per Rivals), even though I think Iowa should be able to lure 5 star TEs if they tried. However, both recruits have enough potential to carry on the TE U mantra. DRAW (Net gain based on recruiting stars, net loss knowing what we know about how Hock developed).
Overall, the staff beat out just 3 Big 10 schools in recruiting. Hawks filled some holes at linebacker. Adding athleticism to the position was key. On the other hand, the Hawks dropped the ball like no other staff could by failing for the 5th year in a row to fill the gaping hole at WR, and failing to fill the hole that cost Iowa four games this year in Punter. Coaching is not rocket science...the staff should know better on this.
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