IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
Up until the past week, there had been a lot of enthusiasm with the way Iowa recruiting had been going. Many have called this class potentially the best in Kirk's 20+ years on campus. Rivals has recently had them rated in the nation's top 10.
With that said, I am noticing a discouraging demographic trend with the commitment list. 15 of Iowa's 16 recruits are from within 1 hour of the Iowa border. Most are white and from small towns or affluent suburbs. Zero recruits come from talent rich Texas, Florida, NJ, or Georgia, where the staff had been attempting to build a pipeline. None from Michigan or Pennsylvania either. Just a whole bunch of corn fed midwestern boys.
Does that mean they can't play football? Of course not. But it's notable.
Homers might cite COVID to excuse the staff's complacency. But glance at what our peers are doing. Minnesota has their best recruiting class in decades. They've got kids from Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Wisconsin's got commits from NJ, TN, FL, CA. They also came in and poached one of the top recruits in Iowa. Even lowly Nebraska's got commits from CA, GA, FL, and Utah.
Others might argue this year's crop of Iowa high school athletes is so talented that Iowa can ignore other regions (although the state's top 2 high school prospects this year are likely going elsewhere). The staff is going to have to work twice as hard, given the racial debacle going on right now to close out the recruiting class and keep it in the Top 40 / Top half of the Big 10 when all is said and done.
With that said, I am noticing a discouraging demographic trend with the commitment list. 15 of Iowa's 16 recruits are from within 1 hour of the Iowa border. Most are white and from small towns or affluent suburbs. Zero recruits come from talent rich Texas, Florida, NJ, or Georgia, where the staff had been attempting to build a pipeline. None from Michigan or Pennsylvania either. Just a whole bunch of corn fed midwestern boys.
Does that mean they can't play football? Of course not. But it's notable.
Homers might cite COVID to excuse the staff's complacency. But glance at what our peers are doing. Minnesota has their best recruiting class in decades. They've got kids from Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Wisconsin's got commits from NJ, TN, FL, CA. They also came in and poached one of the top recruits in Iowa. Even lowly Nebraska's got commits from CA, GA, FL, and Utah.
Others might argue this year's crop of Iowa high school athletes is so talented that Iowa can ignore other regions (although the state's top 2 high school prospects this year are likely going elsewhere). The staff is going to have to work twice as hard, given the racial debacle going on right now to close out the recruiting class and keep it in the Top 40 / Top half of the Big 10 when all is said and done.
