Agree with the slow play comment but certainly a fine line considering no other Power 5 offered early, early offers were from level 2 programs. He has been a late bloomer and few, if any, saw it coming. Now it's in Iowa's hands to put forth their best sales efforts but they have lost some leverage I believe. Oliver has now been exposed to many more pretty girls at the dance...........but geography usually wins out in a close race. I'd predict Iowa in the end as well.
Oliver Martin offered by Oregon
- Thread starter Realistic
- Start date
Agree with the slow play comment but certainly a fine line considering no other Power 5 offered early, early offers were from level 2 programs. He has been a late bloomer and few, if any, saw it coming. Now it's in Iowa's hands to put forth their best sales efforts but they have lost some leverage I believe. Oliver has now been exposed to many more pretty girls at the dance...........but geography usually wins out in a close race. I'd predict Iowa in the end as well.
Yes French is who I was thinking of. They moved him to DE.
FreddyHawk
Well-Known Member
Wow! He was a four star as I recall, and now he's s db?! See, Martin? Don't let that happen to you - come to Iowa!
I saw him at a camp. He is super athletic. Quick, fast, strong, conditioned (from being a competitive swimmer himself). He ran the stations better than anyone at the camp. In position drills, he ran great routes and has sure hands. I think the "slow play" was silly and this will be his last season in Iowa City.
HawkeyeFan57
Well-Known Member
Christian French was a 4 star player who I believe played sparingly at Oregon. Another slap at the star rating...or a kudos to KF for letting him leave the state.
FreddyHawk
Well-Known Member
Christian French was a 4 star player who I believe played sparingly at Oregon. Another slap at the star rating...or a kudos to KF for letting him leave the state.
I'm pretty sure Kirkboffered him, actually. I may be wrong...
Oliver....
While he was there he's been behind two first round NFL draft picks both drafted by the 49ers the last 2 yrs... I can't remember if French has another year to play or not I think he does. And yes Iowa wanted him he was a TE/WR/DE prospect. Built kinda like that outside linebacker that played for the 49ers and did so good. Now he's suspended with the Raiders I can't even say his name. Played at Mizzu I think.Christian French was a 4 star player who I believe played sparingly at Oregon. Another slap at the star rating...or a kudos to KF for letting him leave the state.
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
Oliver will have his pick of anyone in the nation before this is over. Iowa has a battle on their hands here, but hopefully the Iowa ties keep him in Iowa City.
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
If/when Harbaugh's spotted at Oliver's house, we'll know our hopes are dashed.
DP5555
Well-Known Member
This Oliver situation is kind of a crazy one to me. I will admit it's pretty frustrating. Most of you know I'm an avid Ferentz supporter. Always have been. Now let me preface this by saying I realize they still have plenty of time to reel Oliver in, and if they do all will be forgotten. However, I can't help but feel like they missed the boat on this one. It's frustrating because Ferentz and his staff have always been known for their ability to find diamonds in the rough. They've been known for their ability to spot talent. This kid lives within minutes of campus. I realize he has blown up in the past year, but usually a Ferentz staff would notice someone like this before it gets to this point. At the very least Iowa should have been the first Power 5 school to offer him. Had they got out in front of it that may have helped secure his commitment. Unfortunately, the kid probably has a "ohhh now you want to offer" attitude when it comes to the Iowa offer. "Once several of your rivals offer me you come calling. Before that happened I wasn't on your radar...". To put it simply... I'm sure the way Iowa handled things didn't make him feel all that wanted, and like it or not, feeling wanted is important to these young recruits.
Again, I am and still will be an ardent Ferentz supporter. In the grand scheme of things this is far from a big deal. The Hawks are still putting together an incredible class. I think this is fair criticism though. WR is a huge position of need for the Hawks. They need talent badly at WR. They should have been on this kid earlier. There's not really any excuses.
Again, I am and still will be an ardent Ferentz supporter. In the grand scheme of things this is far from a big deal. The Hawks are still putting together an incredible class. I think this is fair criticism though. WR is a huge position of need for the Hawks. They need talent badly at WR. They should have been on this kid earlier. There's not really any excuses.
Couldn't agree more all the way around.. They thought they had a diamond in the rough they could stash till signing day possibly as a walk on or last min scholly depending on how things played out. I'd compare him to a Brandon Myers in that regard. I think they wanted Myers to come to Iowa but he was a last resort type of recruit that just didn't have a scholly open.. Till it was on signing day and history is what it is. But this kid has went from a 2 star nobody (that like you said Iowa more then knew all about) to a 4 star with 10 or so D1 big time offers over a couple of months... And nothing has changed his tape was out there since last fall/winter. Only thing that has changed is him attending camps (which is evidently means more to most teams then tape and this kids tape is really impressive too)
Christian French was a 4 star player who I believe played sparingly at Oregon. Another slap at the star rating...or a kudos to KF for letting him leave the state.
He signed with the Seahawks as an UDFA and I believe he led the team in sacks as a junior
mopkins
King Kong
I don't agree with this at all. Iowa had offers out to a bunch of highly talented WR's that they thought they had legit chances of landing. Some of them they did land and others they didn't. Oliver burst on the scene late in the game after Iowa already had a bunch of offers out to other WR's. Oliver had zero P5 offers until recently when he really started getting noticed at various camps.
Kids are kids. Maybe he perceives it as a slight and goes to a different school and maybe he goes to Iowa to live out his childhood dream. It could go either way but to blame Iowa or KF for not immediately jumping in with an offer when they were days/weeks away from other targets announcing their school would have been silly IMO.
The recruiting game is kind of like Pokemon Go in this way. Sometimes you are really close to the Pokemon and you think you are going to get it, but then someone else steps in front of you and they get the Pokemon. Then word gets out that Pokemon is in one place, and before you know it all the Po Go players are right there trying to get him, when you thought that he would be yours the whole time.
I think it's silly we're acting like it's set in stone that he won't be a Hawkeye. We've battled off big programs for in-state prospects before (Jay Scheel and Matt Nelson just from this squad), and February is a long ways away. From what I've heard, Martin is an Iowa fan, so there is a leg up on the competition that we have. It won't be easy, especially for someone who's rocketing up recruiting services like he is, but we still have a very good chance at landing Martin.
