Why are we losing four star players out of state? From right on up the road? Kinda ridiculous.
It's not about French, it's about the fact that we lost a high profile player to another state, which I would argue is a situation unique to Iowa.
I can;t imagine the best recruits in Texas or Ohio going to Nebraska.
Although ultimate DB bag move by French to fake to the Iowa hat.
Your last line answered the question, i.e., it wasn't about "us", it was about "him".
We/ISU lost, over the years, Trev Alberts, Roger Craig, Adrian Arrington, yada yada yada.
In basketball, Kirk Hinrich, Raef LaFrentz, and of course most recently, Harrison Barnes.
<<I can't imagine the best recruits in Texas or Ohio going to Nebraska>>
Yeah, with the talent hotbed that is Nebraska, they didn't have any need to go out of state...(saracasm intended)
EDIT: As homer is my witness, I have always maintained that if a recruit choosing my school did the fake-hat-grab to another school, I would flat-out tell him: Apologize to Coach X...or sign your LOI there...because that crap does NOT happen in our programs as long as I am running it. FYI: John Clay did the "fake-grab-for-Iowa-hat" maneuver at the Army All-America game. And it was patently stupid, given that Wisconsing newspapers were reporting his commitment to UW five hours before the game.
Alas, nobody said these were the kids with the most "class" or most "intelligence"...