St. Louis Recruiting

[#1DieHardHawk]

I've always been perplexed as to why historically we have struggled to gain much of a recruiting foothold in St. Louis. As a major metropolitan area that is in close proximity to Iowa City, one would expect that over the years we would have developed a reasonable pipeline, but, except for the occasional random recruit, our success there has been marginal at best. We've done well in Chicago, and are starting to develop a pipeline to Indianapolis, but St. Louis for whatever reason remains elusive.

Things were starting to look up several months ago as we appeared to be strongly in the mix for a large group of highly rated prospects, and several visited, but, as of now, it looks like our chances are slim to none with the entire group. Some examples:

2018
WDE Ronnie Perkins
DTs Michael Thompson and Trevor Trout
S Dallas Craddieth
WR Kamryn Babb

2019
WRs Marcus Washington and Jalani Williams
OLB Shammond Cooper
ATH Isaiah Williams

Craddieth is still a possibility, but, man, it would have been great to reel in one of those D-linemen. With Mizzou a dumpster fire and Illinois struggling, now's the time to gain an edge. I'd be interested in hearing from those more in the know as to what the barriers are and how we can overcome them. Having consistent success there would pay major dividends in the future.

 

[Thawki]

I've always been perplexed as to why historically we have struggled to gain much of a recruiting foothold in St. Louis. As a major metropolitan area that is in close proximity to Iowa City, one would expect that over the years we would have developed a reasonable pipeline, but, except for the occasional random recruit, our success there has been marginal at best. We've done well in Chicago, and are starting to develop a pipeline to Indianapolis, but St. Louis for whatever reason remains elusive.

Things were starting to look up several months ago as we appeared to be strongly in the mix for a large group of highly rated prospects, and several visited, but, as of now, it looks like our chances are slim to none with the entire group. Some examples:

2018
WDE Ronnie Perkins
DTs Michael Thompson and Trevor Trout
S Dallas Craddieth
WR Kamryn Babb

2019
WRs Marcus Washington and Jalani Williams
OLB Shammond Cooper
ATH Isaiah Williams

Craddieth is still a possibility, but, man, it would have been great to reel in one of those D-linemen. With Mizzou a dumpster fire and Illinois struggling, now's the time to gain an edge. I'd be interested in hearing from those more in the know as to what the barriers are and how we can overcome them. Having consistent success there would pay major dividends in the future.

What kind of results would you have had to have seen in order for you to determine we do not struggle to recruit St. Louis?

 

[mopkins]

Looking at 2016 and 2017, it doesn't look like Iowa and Missouri were too far off as far as quality of recruits from each state. In 2017, Iowa had 3 4-stars and 12 3-stars. Missouri had 2 4-stars and 9 3-stars. 2016 was comparable as well. So its not like Missouri has been a hot bed of football talent.

2018 seems to have a significant shift to Missouri (4 4-stars, 16 3-stars) over Iowa (2 4-stars, 5 3-stars) though. 2019 is too far away still in football years to really know anything yet.

My guess is that the athletes in Missouri prefer the Big 12 and the SEC since its right in their back yard and they have more exposure to the south and to those conferences than the Big Ten.

My other guess is that in the past Missouri hasn't had that great of talent so KF hasn't dedicated many resources towards recruiting it. Maybe that should change though.

 

[RobHowe]

I don't think anybody has a foothold in St. Louis. The talent there means most schools are recruiting the city.

Most of these kids listed are four and five star recruits with a lot of great options. Their offer lists are stacked.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

What kind of results would you have had to have seen in order for you to determine we do not struggle to recruit St. Louis?

It's not that we haven't had some success and I'm not trying to be critical of our program. It's just that when you take into account how large the metropolitan area is and the close proximity, you would think that we would get a higher number more consistently.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Looking at 2016 and 2017, it doesn't look like Iowa and Missouri were too far off as far as quality of recruits from each state. In 2017, Iowa had 3 4-stars and 12 3-stars. Missouri had 2 4-stars and 9 3-stars. 2016 was comparable as well. So its not like Missouri has been a hot bed of football talent.

2018 seems to have a significant shift to Missouri (4 4-stars, 16 3-stars) over Iowa (2 4-stars, 5 3-stars) though. 2019 is too far away still in football years to really know anything yet.

My guess is that the athletes in Missouri prefer the Big 12 and the SEC since its right in their back yard and they have more exposure to the south and to those conferences than the Big Ten.

My other guess is that in the past Missouri hasn't had that great of talent so KF hasn't dedicated many resources towards recruiting it. Maybe that should change though.

I guess I don't tend to look at it from a border standpoint per se, more of a geographic perimeter from Iowa City. For instance, recruits from, say, Council Bluffs, may be hard to pull from Nebraska. I do agree, the association with the Big 12 and SEC probably plays a role. Much like we are doing with Indianapolis, I would like to see us place more emphasis on St. Louis. I think it could pay off but hard to say.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I don't think anybody has a foothold in St. Louis. The talent there means most schools are recruiting the city.

Most of these kids listed are four and five star recruits with a lot of great options. Their offer lists are stacked.

They are right in the middle of the country with P5 conferences all around them within in relative close proximity. No wonder the recruiting and commitments are so diverse.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

It's not that we haven't had some success and I'm not trying to be critical of our program. It's just that when you take into account how large the metropolitan area is and the close proximity, you would think that we would get a higher number more consistently.

Chicago the same. I don't think we are getting them out of there like we used to. Back when Michigan, Illinois, Mich St. and Notre Dame were all down, Iowa mopped up for a while. Now it's more work to pull them out of there. It's a moving target.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I guess I don't tend to look at it from a border standpoint per se, more of a geographic perimeter from Iowa City. For instance, recruits from, say, Council Bluffs, may be hard to pull from Nebraska. I do agree, the association with the Big 12 and SEC probably plays a role. Much like we are doing with Indianapolis, I would like to see us place more emphasis on St. Louis. I think it could pay off but hard to say.

Indianapolis is new found territory for Iowa and they are just starting to get their heels and grips established there with either Copeland or Bell pounding the pavement there. I can't remember for sure who's responsible for recruiting Indy. I want to say Copeland but not sure what ties he had there.

 

[RobHowe]

Indianapolis is new found territory for Iowa and they are just starting to get their heels and grips established there with either Copeland or Bell pounding the pavement there. I can't remember for sure who's responsible for recruiting Indy. I want to say Copeland but not sure what ties he had there.

It's Bell in Indy.

 

[MissouriHerk]

I have always thought we do quite well in St. Louis. Perhaps that’s because of the big names, just to name a couple from years past: Marvin McNutt, Adrian Clayborn, and now 5 Star AJ Epanesa (Edwardsville is metro StL), the only 5 star in Ferentz era if I’m not mistaken. I am missing many others this is just top of my mind. We do I believe as well in StL or better than in-State Mizzou and better than Illinois.

I think part of why some folks don’t think we do well in metro StL is because they might not simply look at the municipality in Missouri or Illinois some of these kids are from.

 

[RobHowe]

Christian Kirksey is from STL.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Just looking at the last 5 classes (including 2018), we have a total of three metropolitan St. Louis commits (if I counted correctly)- Epenesa (not sure a legacy counts), Michael Slater and Markel Smith. That's 2 or 3 out of 102 commits.

By any measure, for a metropolitan area of almost 3 million only 200 miles away, regardless of our occasional success, that has to be considered on the low side.

Not trying to beat a dead horse, rather just trying to brainstorm how we can improve recruiting and that area seems like an underutilized talent pool.

 

[Joshbrown]

I had a thread on the recruiting board that mentioned 2018 recruiting and the midwest. With Illinois; Nebraska; Minny; Mizzou; Northwestern and Kansas being in a down-cycle, that leaves Wisky, Iowa and K-State to raid the midwest. Of those 3 Wisky's class is already full and K-State is behind Iowa in desirability. So that leaves Iowa in a perfect position to finish VERY STRONG IN RECRUITING. My fingers are crossed.

 

[hawkinstl]

I don't think anybody has a foothold in St. Louis. The talent there means most schools are recruiting the city.

Most of these kids listed are four and five star recruits with a lot of great options. Their offer lists are stacked.

I agree. I live in St. Louis and the athletic ability is very high, see AJ Epenesa. The University of Missouri doesn't have a strong hold for sure. They're a train wreck right now and for the for see able future. Illinois does get some kids from here. Others, if their academics are in order, try to go to Notre Dame as St. Louis is a big Catholic city. Our neighbors nephew from here chose Oregon. His family even moved there.

Wisconsin has historically recruited here very well including running backs.

But Iowa needs to recruit here harder. A lot of upside in this area.