Is Iowa recruiting smarter players?

guffus

guffus

Well-Known Member
https://www.landof10.com/iowa/iowa-safety-dallas-craddieth-football-engineer

I have been noticing a pattern lately, maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe my imagination.

But it seems like there are many stories lately of Iowa recruiting players with really good grades. Not going to look it up. But Brandon Smith, Tracy from Indiana, and now Dallas Craddieth come to mind.

Is Iowa intentionally going after smart players? Or is there something about Iowa that appeals to smart players? Or am I just crazy?
 
guffus said:
https://www.landof10.com/iowa/iowa-safety-dallas-craddieth-football-engineer

I have been noticing a pattern lately, maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe my imagination.

But it seems like there are many stories lately of Iowa recruiting players with really good grades. Not going to look it up. But Brandon Smith, Tracy from Indiana, and now Dallas Craddieth come to mind.

Is Iowa intentionally going after smart players? Or is there something about Iowa that appeals to smart players? Or am I just crazy?
Click to expand...
I don't know about purposely recruiting smart players, but the idiot thug types that make up the SEC/Big 12 probably know that they can't get away with slinging dope and robbing people at Iowa like they do down there. I know that everyone here has a gigantic boner for Bob Stoops but Joe Mixon would have gotten dropped off at the bus station before breakfast if he'd been on camera hitting a girl in Iowa City.

I think that type just avoid schools like Iowa rather than Iowa recruiting smarter kids.
 
My guess is that Kirk doubled down on getting higher character kids after what happened several years ago with a couple of guys involved with the law-can't remember their names now. Along with good character usually comes better grades and such.
 
I do not follow football recruiting too much, but I do pay attention to items like the graduation rate and those that achieve academic honors. I'm not able to remember names, but Iowa has had a number of COSIDA All Americans recently. Also a number of former players have gone on to the professions like medical, dental, and legal. You can go down the list of players and their declared majors to get an idea of their academic abilities.

While Iowa does not have the highest entrance requirements of Big Ten universities, the sports programs do have to recruit athletes that meet those standards with limited allowances for one case per year. Many of the recruits exceed the minimum entrance requirements.

I know some retired ISU admission employees and when Pollard became AD at ISU he got the university to lower the entrance requirements for ISU recruits in order to compete in the Big XII. You see a higher level of attrition at ISU, some due to the frequent coaching changes.
 
Yeah, I think a shift to higher character has been in the cards more so than previous years. I'm all for it if it translates into more wins / more consistency. It's admirable in many respects but I think it puts Iowa in a position of swimming upstream vs. those programs that are much less discriminate. I think it's all a part of further defining "fit" for Kirk & staff.

Good if it works but need to give it some time to see if it really affects outcome on the field.
 
Fryowa said:
I don't know about purposely recruiting smart players, but the idiot thug types that make up the SEC/Big 12 probably know that they can't get away with slinging dope and robbing people at Iowa like they do down there. I know that everyone here has a gigantic boner for Bob Stoops but Joe Mixon would have gotten dropped off at the bus station before breakfast if he'd been on camera hitting a girl in Iowa City.

I think that type just avoid schools like Iowa rather than Iowa recruiting smarter kids.
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IC prolly ain't perceived as good town for getting one's thug on...
 
SteveGarvey1 said:
My guess is that Kirk doubled down on getting higher character kids after what happened several years ago with a couple of guys involved with the law-can't remember their names now. Along with good character usually comes better grades and such.
Click to expand...

Grades do matter along with work ethic, reliability, emotional stability, and fitting into a college environment. On the minimum level, having plenty of guys that can easily clear academic requirements and keep their grades up makes things a lot easier from a planning standpoint. Smarter kids generally have fewer behavioral issues on average. Kids who flunk out or get kicked off the team create roster holes. Potential roster holes are less of an issue at a school that attracts plenty of high level recruits. Most places don't have the luxury of having a deep recruiting pipeline.

Obviously the kids have to be football players first and foremost. They will still take a few chances on a project especially if what is gained is difficult to obtain otherwise.

On he other end of the scale, they do regularly have their share of academically high achieving students in the mix. It hasn't hurt the program a bit.
 
SteveGarvey1 said:
My guess is that Kirk doubled down on getting higher character kids after what happened several years ago with a couple of guys involved with the law-can't remember their names now. Along with good character usually comes better grades and such.
Click to expand...

Yup after Douglas and Solomon, et al, there was a noticeable change in the quality of recruit (character) that Iowa went after. But I also think that there was a drop-off in athletic talent for a whiile.
 
Hawk90 said:
Yup after Douglas and Solomon, et al, there was a noticeable change in the quality of recruit (character) that Iowa went after. But I also think that there was a drop-off in athletic talent for a whiile.
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I don't think there was a general drop off after Douglas and Solomon. There was a pretty good group of guys that came up in 2007 & 2008. It paid off in 2009, but was a disappointment in 2010. I think recruitment generally dropped off in 2008 through 2011. Ferentz was super busy raising money and coaching the players that were already here. Norm Parker was dying. Lady luck wasn't kind in 2010. Then there was the rhabdo thing and some more issues with players. The team lost its edge and more holes started to appear in team depth.

Kirk Ferentz conservative approach and ball control playing style played into the problems. Skill players at wide receiver and to a lesser degree tailbacks found Iowa's offense boring. (Hell the fans found Iowa's offense boring.)

Than Greg Davis happened. That is a chapter unto itself.
 
I try not to have a glass house when it comes to things like this. I'm not deep enough into the Iowa program or any program for that matter to know who does what and the character makeup of the teams. I'm sort of cynical so I assume "shady" things happen almost everywhere on some level. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like if we were to take the collective character of each roster in major college football (I'm not even sure how to measure such a thing) that most teams would end up far closer to the median than to the fringes either way.
 
guffus said:
https://www.landof10.com/iowa/iowa-safety-dallas-craddieth-football-engineer

I have been noticing a pattern lately, maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe my imagination.

But it seems like there are many stories lately of Iowa recruiting players with really good grades. Not going to look it up. But Brandon Smith, Tracy from Indiana, and now Dallas Craddieth come to mind.

Is Iowa intentionally going after smart players? Or is there something about Iowa that appeals to smart players? Or am I just crazy?
Click to expand...

It's Kirk Ferentz's new strategy to keep them away from NW, now his biggest rival.
 
eyekwah said:
I do not follow football recruiting too much, but I do pay attention to items like the graduation rate and those that achieve academic honors. I'm not able to remember names, but Iowa has had a number of COSIDA All Americans recently. Also a number of former players have gone on to the professions like medical, dental, and legal. You can go down the list of players and their declared majors to get an idea of their academic abilities.

While Iowa does not have the highest entrance requirements of Big Ten universities, the sports programs do have to recruit athletes that meet those standards with limited allowances for one case per year. Many of the recruits exceed the minimum entrance requirements.

I know some retired ISU admission employees and when Pollard became AD at ISU he got the university to lower the entrance requirements for ISU recruits in order to compete in the Big XII. You see a higher level of attrition at ISU, some due to the frequent coaching changes.
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Explains why we are sucking on the field so much, WE ARE GETTING A BUNCH OF NERDS!!
 
MelroseHawkins said:
It's Kirk Ferentz's new strategy to keep them away from NW, now his biggest rival.
Click to expand...

I'll take that as somewhat tongue in cheek. I don't think Iowa has quite the same academic opportunities as Northwestern, although we are talking undergraduate athletes so I'm not sure the opportunities available are that much different. I'm not too worried about the Iowa football team turning into a bunch of nerds. All other things being equal I'm sure they prefer students in good standing. Poor students are a pain in the ass. You have to worry about them clearing academic requirements to get on the team. Many won't make through their freshman year. Poor quality students get in trouble more often, feel like they don't fit into a college atmosphere, and end up getting homesick more often. It isn't a singular emphasis though. It's part of the larger picture.
 
AreWeThereYet said:
I'll take that as somewhat tongue in cheek. I don't think Iowa has quite the same academic opportunities as Northwestern, although we are talking undergraduate athletes so I'm not sure the opportunities available are that much different. I'm not too worried about the Iowa football team turning into a bunch of nerds. All other things being equal I'm sure they prefer students in good standing. Poor students are a pain in the ass. You have to worry about them clearing academic requirements to get on the team. Many won't make through their freshman year. Poor quality students get in trouble more often, feel like they don't fit into a college atmosphere, and end up getting homesick more often. It isn't a singular emphasis though. It's part of the larger picture.
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I'd add, they and their parents tend to place blame/play victim more than those with a little commitment...
 
I think the coaching overhaul the last few years has led to a better focus on what the Hawks are looking for in their recruits. possibly the part that hurt the most with Greg Davis and his WR coach (can't remember his name), I never felt like they clearly identified good fits for the offense they wanted to run, which translated to high attrition at times.
 
It seems as if Iowa has shifted to higher character recruiting since the DJK saga to me. It’s also essential to a developmental program to recruit higher IQ players with better character and less personal baggage. To develop a player like Josey jewell or josh Jackson, you have to have a high character individual willing to work.
 
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