Justin Hilliard

What does everybody think our real chances are at landing Justin Hilliard?

I would be all like

carlton-dance-o.gif
 
Some positives for Iowa are the hawks ability to train up and get linebackers drafted in the pros, his brother playing at Iowa, and he could be a multi year starter for a big ten team.

Some negatives are we are not of the pedigree of the other teams he is down to on his list, maybe he doesnt want to be with his brother, he may not like small town Iowa City.

If he wants to have a national championship ring then he should go to one of the other 4 teams. If his goals are team oriented and for his best development I would say Iowa can hold its own.

I would put our chances at 25%. Overall the Hawks have good academics, team environment, and a good record developing linebackers.
 
Some positives for Iowa are the hawks ability to train up and get linebackers drafted in the pros, his brother playing at Iowa, and he could be a multi year starter for a big ten team.

Some negatives are we are not of the pedigree of the other teams he is down to on his list, maybe he doesnt want to be with his brother, he may not like small town Iowa City.

If he wants to have a national championship ring then he should go to one of the other 4 teams. If his goals are team oriented and for his best development I would say Iowa can hold its own.

I would put our chances at 25%. Overall the Hawks have good academics, team environment, and a good record developing linebackers.
I agree with most of what you wrote. Putting a percentage on it is just so tough. I mean depending on how he looks at playing with his brother is what skews it. Because prestige and being a year in year out championship contender Iowa really can't sell like the other programs. But as far as playing time, facilities fan base, coaching staff chance at going to the next level, I really don't see any of that as coming in 2nd place to any of the others. Now if he grew up an OSU fan and loves the idea of being close to home Iowa can't beat that. We'll just have to see. I'd like to think the over all chances of him coming are better then 25% but without any insider info on him I have no better idea then the next guy.
 
Someone made reference in another post that there is speculation that CJ could move over to play db and that he and Justin could both start on defense. Hey, why not give it a shot? Don't know if CJ would want to or not, but if he was willing, that could be a big selling point.
 
Right now our chances are 1:5 or 20%. That is, if you think we have as good a chance as OSU, ND and Bama. If not, then our chances fall below 20%.
 
Would be excited to earn his commitment but not going to lose any sleep over it if we do not get it.

We have quite a bit to offer him but when stacked against the heaviest of hitters it is understandable why he would choose one of the others on his list before us. Either way we just keep moving forward with or without him.

Football recruiting has a lot of busts and/or highly rated players who cannot meet expectations. We wanted Sentreal Henderson pretty bad at one point and in hindsight that turned out great for us not to get that mess. We wanted Chris Leak and lost out to FLA. He turned out to be a marginal QB. Yes he won a title based on the talent around him but he was nothing special. There are many examples like these two from our recruiting adventures.

My point is I have learned that there are many good players who are overlooked that we can help mold into major contributors and sometimes draft picks. Sometimes going to a program that is not all about silver spoons does a young man a lot of good as well.
 
Right now our chances are 1:5 or 20%. That is, if you think we have as good a chance as OSU, ND and Bama. If not, then our chances fall below 20%.
Chance is indeed 1 in 5 of him selecting Iowa. Odds consider history or other factors. Sometimes these sort of things fall into natural distributions. Could be a 50% declining distribution for example. Fill in the blanks:

50%
25%
12%
6%
3%

4% variablility. If he is "leaning" to one school add the variablility in some manner to the top of the list, if he is truly undecided than it could be added near the bottom of the list or distributed amongst the others.

Odds contain chance against so there could be other factors in play like the obvious choice has some strike against it in his mind and he is looking for a reason to choose one of the others.

It would be interesting to find out how the "legacy" factor was used in the calculation when he commits.
 
My question is, would he be the highest rated recruit to ever choose Iowa? He’s a consensus top 20 player and the #1 OLB and #1 player in Ohio. 247 has him at #13 overall.
 
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My question is, would he be the highest rated recruit to ever choose Iowa? He’s a consensus top 20 player and the #1 OLB and #1 player in Ohio. 247 has him at #13 overall.

Willie Guy was the #1 recruit in his class when he chose Iowa.

To the OP's question - my answer is 20% chance.
 
My question is, would he be the highest rated recruit to ever choose Iowa? He’s a consensus top 20 player and the #1 OLB and #1 player in Ohio. 247 has him at #13 overall.

It would be comparable to Kyle Williams back in '04. Bonecrusher was Rival's #14 overall player, the #1 player in Illinois, and the #2 OLB in the '04 class. It would also be comparable to Iowa's signing of Dan McGwire, Willie Guy, and Blake Larsen.
 
It would be comparable to Kyle Williams back in '04. Bonecrusher was Rival's #14 overall player, the #1 player in Illinois, and the #2 OLB in the '04 class. It would also be comparable to Iowa's signing of Dan McGwire, Willie Guy, and Blake Larsen.

God, that track record is brutal. Maybe we're better off without getting Hilliard. ;)
 
If you can name a top flight prospect from Ohio that didn't go to OSU, I might think there is something to this.
 
Would be excited to earn his commitment but not going to lose any sleep over it if we do not get it.


My point is I have learned that there are many good players who are overlooked that we can help mold into major contributors and sometimes draft picks. Sometimes going to a program that is not all about silver spoons does a young man a lot of good as well.

After watching the spring game I think we have some diamond in the rough athletes at linebacker. There are some guys on the team who can fly around.

So I dont think this is a "we got to get Hilliard" type of thing. If he is really good we would love to have him,
 
It would be comparable to Kyle Williams back in '04. Bonecrusher was Rival's #14 overall player, the #1 player in Illinois, and the #2 OLB in the '04 class. It would also be comparable to Iowa's signing of Dan McGwire, Willie Guy, and Blake Larsen.

All of these are offensive players that have to have controlled skills.

I think a top linebacker like Hilliard, playing on defense, is easier to gauge and measure because it is more instinctive and reactionary; still need the football smarts.

I would have to think Larry Station was the last really highly rated LBKR to come to Iowa, is that correct?
 
I don't think it will be OSU because I think if he was really committed to staying in state then he would have already selected the Buckeyes. And for whatever reason, I don't see him selecting a rival to Iowa in the same conference. I don't think it will be Michigan either. Michigan under Brady Hoke is not the Michigan of old. It still gets good players ... but still not the same team. And with the kid being from OSU, well, not many Buckeyes head to Michigan (it has happened; just not that often). I don't think it will be Alabama ... no idea why I think that ... I just do ... I think he ends up selecting Notre Dame or Iowa ...

I think Iowa must be a serious contender otherwise, why include the Hawkeyes? Why make them in your Top 5? My gut feeling says we have a real shot at landing him ... Just my random two cents with having absolutely no inside knowledge ...
 
My question is, would he be the highest rated recruit to ever choose Iowa? He’s a consensus top 20 player and the #1 OLB and #1 player in Ohio. 247 has him at #13 overall.

In my opinion i think he would be the biggest fish we have ever landed. Hopefully the family ties pulls him in to being a Hawk
 
All of these are offensive players that have to have controlled skills.

I think a top linebacker like Hilliard, playing on defense, is easier to gauge and measure because it is more instinctive and reactionary; still need the football smarts.

I would have to think Larry Station was the last really highly rated LBKR to come to Iowa, is that correct?

Did you skip over the first part of his post? Your answer is right there.
 

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