New late 2011 commit!

[DesMoinesHawki]

I liked the fact how his coach kept going on about this kid's hard work. That is half the battle. Doyle will get him ready from a physical standpoint. This staff has been doing this long enough to know a Big 10 player. Welcome Dean!

 

[NeilDiamond]

Wow, what a life changer for that guy. He has to be pumped. 1 second you are heading to a prep school, the next you have a full ride offer to Iowa? Happy for him.

Did this guy have a single D1 offer? He looks like the standard "diamond in the rough" candidate. I hope it works out.

 

[CAARHawk]

Hmmm? I don't see it, but I am not a college football coach. Couple years ago Iowa committed scholarships to a couple of guys with similar size and measurements and they haven't sniffed the field. If he ran 4.7, I could see him at end. But at his measurements, looks like he is only suited to plug in the middle guy. Thought we were past the undersized DT phase. Have to believe that if the staff's first look was last year at a camp, they would have done the wait and see thing.

Really seems like a right timing thing for this kid. Good for him. Hope he comes and works his butt off and is a great teammate.

 

[1st]

5.33 in the 40? Was he timed running in sand?

 

[BALDIES7980]

I would have to think this is a situation that you can't tell what the kid has until you see him in person. The pubilshed stats on this kid can't be right otherwise Iowa would never have made an offer to him. Especially with most of the recruiting class on campus already.

 

[FrozenMadman]

5.33 in the 40? Was he timed running in sand?

........... Quicksand

At first glance this appears to me to be a poor choice of high school athlete to expend a football athletic scholarship on. He may be a great kid and all, I am not saying that he isn't. And maybe there is more going on here than meets the eye - perhaps we are after someone else from his school next year? I don't know. But there are only a certain number of things you can do with an average athlete. You can teach a kid technique, make him stronger, but speed - no way. Its natural or it isn't there. 5.33 is damn slow on a BIG level. Juco or community college seems more appropriate.

I sincerely hope he proves skeptics like me wrong. Otherwise, he will only be good at holding tackling dummies in practice, get ****** off at the whole experience, leave school and leave a hole in the program that could have been filled better.

Frankly, I would have given the 'ship to a current deserving walk-on or else an in-state kid who was just as deserving of taking such a long shot on.

 

[DexterMorgan]

You can teach speed.

 

[FrozenMadman]

Sorry, you can't turn a 5.33 into a 4.6. Ain't no way. 5.33 is way too slow for Big Ten football.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Sorry, you can't turn a 5.33 into a 4.6. Ain't no way. 5.33 is way too slow for Big Ten football.

He doesn't need to run a 4.6. Kid will probably never run 40 yards on the field in his career at Iowa. 40 time is the #1 most over rated metric in football. Quickness can be worked on. Being a hard worker, THAT you can't teach.

 

[MJSCK]

He doesn't need to run a 4.6. Kid will probably never run 40 yards on the field in his career at Iowa. 40 time is the #1 most over rated metric in football. Quickness can be worked on. Being a hard worker, THAT you can't teach.

You guys are nuts for dogging this kid. He's the exact kind of kid you take a flyer on with an extra scholly laying around. He's got the height and frame to be Doylized. By all accounts, his motor does not quit. If he is the kind of kid who is capable of getting the absolute most out of his physical capacity, he very well will have a chance to play on the interior of the d-line. He'll redshirt and have time to develop his weight and strength. It sounds like he's technically trained already.

At 220 pounds or more now, he's totally capable of putting on 70-80 pounds. It's been done. We're not talking about getting him on the NFL All-Pro Team. We're talking about a player that may see the field but could potentially be a team leader. Who thought Brett Greenwood would be a multi-year starter and contributor.

There are certain guys out there that are capable of pushing themselves to the absolute limit. This may be that guy. If so, he's very capable of being a mudder in the Big Ten exchanging blows with fat offensive linemen from Wisky.

And then again maybe not. But it's why we love college football and love the Hawks!

 

[DexterMorgan]

You guys are nuts for dogging this kid. He's the exact kind of kid you take a flyer on with an extra scholly laying around. He's got the height and frame to be Doylized. By all accounts, his motor does not quit. If he is the kind of kid who is capable of getting the absolute most out of his physical capacity, he very well will have a chance to play on the interior of the d-line. He'll redshirt and have time to develop his weight and strength. It sounds like he's technically trained already.

At 220 pounds or more now, he's totally capable of putting on 70-80 pounds. It's been done. We're not talking about getting him on the NFL All-Pro Team. We're talking about a player that may see the field but could potentially be a team leader. Who thought Brett Greenwood would be a multi-year starter and contributor.

There are certain guys out there that are capable of pushing themselves to the absolute limit. This may be that guy. If so, he's very capable of being a mudder in the Big Ten exchanging blows with fat offensive linemen from Wisky.

And then again maybe not. But it's why we love college football and love the Hawks!

I'm not dogging him.

 

[scourt]

........... Quicksand

At first glance this appears to me to be a poor choice of high school athlete to expend a football athletic scholarship on. He may be a great kid and all, I am not saying that he isn't. And maybe there is more going on here than meets the eye - perhaps we are after someone else from his school next year? I don't know. But there are only a certain number of things you can do with an average athlete. You can teach a kid technique, make him stronger, but speed - no way. Its natural or it isn't there. 5.33 is damn slow on a BIG level. Juco or community college seems more appropriate.

I sincerely hope he proves skeptics like me wrong. Otherwise, he will only be good at holding tackling dummies in practice, get ****** off at the whole experience, leave school and leave a hole in the program that could have been filled better.

Frankly, I would have given the 'ship to a current deserving walk-on or else an in-state kid who was just as deserving of taking such a long shot on.

So when did you evaluate his game tapes? And you evidently have seen him in camp because you seem to know how this kid plays already.
You can't judge a player by stats alone. There's something else called heart and desire that you can't measure or put a stop watch on. You're a skeptic? You don't have an inkling about this young man. Please go away until you can bring something fruitful to the table. Yeesh!

 

[alexzelada]

........... Quicksand

At first glance this appears to me to be a poor choice of high school athlete to expend a football athletic scholarship on. He may be a great kid and all, I am not saying that he isn't. And maybe there is more going on here than meets the eye - perhaps we are after someone else from his school next year? I don't know. But there are only a certain number of things you can do with an average athlete. You can teach a kid technique, make him stronger, but speed - no way. Its natural or it isn't there. 5.33 is damn slow on a BIG level. Juco or community college seems more appropriate.

I sincerely hope he proves skeptics like me wrong. Otherwise, he will only be good at holding tackling dummies in practice, get ****** off at the whole experience, leave school and leave a hole in the program that could have been filled better.

Frankly, I would have given the 'ship to a current deserving walk-on or else an in-state kid who was just as deserving of taking such a long shot on.

State wrestling champion and 2 time all-state football player = avg athlete?

 

[gohawkz]

Awesome, Hope this turns into one of those diamond in the rough stories for Iowa.

What I keep wondering, what was this kid gonna do if Iowa didn't offer? Was he planning on going to a small school?

 

[JugadorHawk]

^^^^^^^^^^
Prep School

 

[BabcockIC]

Another article of interest.
Red Zone Torrington's Tsopanides going to Iowa

I would have screamed and he is upt to 240 on his own. Doyle should have fun wth a work ethic like his. I like his attitude of earning a spot this year.

 

[CAARHawk]

Hopkins and Covert, redux?

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

Hopkins and Covert, redux?

Or a Klug, King, Kroul, or Geary redux?

 

[CAARHawk]

Or a Klug, King, Kroul, or Geary redux?

I don't put Klug in the same camp. His frame is just bigger. I think King and Kroul are the models. But I really think those guys benefitted from playing a bunch of years on down Iowa teams. They got rolled for a couple of years and then learned technique enough to succeed as upper-classmen. But if you are banking on that, you are in trouble. Geary was listed, but never really made an impact on the field. Seems more like a guy who had a good effort the coaches wanted to reward.

My hope is that Iowa can recruit guys that just don't require such developmental years.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I don't put Klug in the same camp. His frame is just bigger. I think King and Kroul are the models. But I really think those guys benefitted from playing a bunch of years on down Iowa teams. They got rolled for a couple of years and then learned technique enough to succeed as upper-classmen. But if you are banking on that, you are in trouble. Geary was listed, but never really made an impact on the field. Seems more like a guy who had a good effort the coaches wanted to reward.

My hope is that Iowa can recruit guys that just don't require such developmental years.

First off:

- Mitch King was 6-1 and change. He was a LB/FB coming out of high school and weighed in the ball-park of the 220s. When he was first getting reps as a RS FR he was in the 240s. I know that you like to mention how King didn't even get drafted .... however, lest you forget, King was such a disruptive force that he was recognized as being the B10 defensive player of the year! That is no small honor. King was left undrafted not due to lack of talent, but rather because he was physically viewed as a tweener.

- Karl Klug was 6-3 coming out of high school and had a FB/DE background. Right when he first hit campus he was just a tad bit over 200 lbs. In other words, Klug had to physically develop big-time before he was ready to be a legit contributor. While Klug was a bit of a tweener, his added height and reach also made NFL scouts confident that he could play DE too.


As for your remark about Geary ... to put it bluntly, you're incorrect. Geary got the start for Clayborn in '08 against Wisky when Clayborn was injured. He also started another game that year. Furthermore, throughout that season he saw some decent action. He saw some quality reps in '07 too.

Anyhow, if you look at Tsopanides, here is his starting point:

height = 6-2 and change
weight = roughly 240
positional background = OL/DL (i.e. he's already familiar with trench warfare and the importance of technique)

Furthermore, Tsopanides has a background of already being a bit undersized in the trenches, so he's NOT one of those guys who was used to being man amongst boys there. However, he learned to use technique and a tenacious motor in order to be successful.

To further compound the above remarks, Tsopanides also has the background of a wrestler who excelled. Thus, he appreciates the importance of leverage, technique, and quickness .... and, more importantly, he knows how to use them to his advantage.

Perhaps the ONLY factor where I presume King and Klug were "better" than Tsopanides coming out of high school is that both Mitch and Karl were faster guys.