Troubling Trend in Hawkeye Recruiting: Too Many Iowans

[iowalaw]

Everyone knows that this year's recruiting class is shaping up to be one of the lowest rated (by star standards) in the history of the Ferentz era. That point has been beaten to death. The reasons for this are numerous, but begin with the inability of the new hires to recruit over the past 3 years. However, even with low rated commits, there is always the chance that we will pull the next Bob Sanders out of our hat. Unfortunately, while Bob was overlooked, he was also a freak athlete with big time speed who competed against big time athletes at his out of state high school.

This year's recruiting class is not yet full, yet we already have EIGHT in-state commits (including the kid from tiny town Dakota) and all signs are pointing to us offering some fall backs shortly from Dowling and other local schools. While I am all for nailing down the top in state talent, the state of Iowa simply does not produce that many D1 football players. It never has and it never will. This staff is not going after these guys because they will help us compete with OSU, Neb, MSU, etc., they are going after them because they are out of better options and the Iowa boys grew up Hawk fans and have no better options either. Some of these guys could prove to be stud OLs after 3 or 4 yrs in the system, but we are glaringly weak at the skill positions and all of the Iowa boys Ferentz can muster cannot solve that problem.

At this point, the only thing separating us from the University of Northern Iowa, in terms of recruiting, is our coach's salary and the number of scholarships we are allowed to give out.

 

[CJSHawk]

I think everyone, especially Ferentz, was hoping the additons of Chris White, Bobby Kennedy, Levar Woods, and Brian Ferentz would breathe new life to our recruiting efforts and that, clearly, has not happened. This recruiting class is full of guys weren't offered by other Power 5 schools and there's a reason for that. They're not very good.

 

[deanvogs]

You just aren't very smart on the recruiting stuff Law. There was a reason they wanted the Paulsen twins, Newborg, and Waechter, because they were good. They passed on other in state kids in Good-Jones, and Meeker (they could have had both if they wanted them). They initially passed on Nelson, because they had other target they felt were better. They whiffed on them, and so they offered the next best in Nelson.

If other linemen or targets would have been better, they would have targeted those kids first, and "fallen back" to the Paulsen's, Newborg and Waechter, but they didn't. So your theory is complete crap, cause of the 7 Iowa kids verbaled, 6 of those were very early in the process, and they were NOT out of options as you ignorantly proclaimed.

Same with Boyle and Cook, they are both ATH that Iowa has done well with in the past. One will stick at QB and one will switch positions. I'm glad they pulled Beneventi's schollie and got the two IN STATE KIDS, as they were better.

There is plenty to criticize about the class, but saying a kid can't play football cause he is from Iowa is akin to saying a kid is stupid if he comes from an urban environment......just an ignorant point of view really. The fact is if you want to bash on the class, then bash away at the recruiting at LB, DB, and DL up to this point. The staff has yet to pull in many impact looking recruits on the defensive side of the ball. Hockaday might be the one exception, but we have whiffed on all our top DE's, DT targets, as well as DB. Hopefully Iowa can still nab Chris Hart (DE) and Daniels (DT) and solidify the defensive side of the ball in this class.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

Everyone knows that this year's recruiting class is shaping up to be one of the lowest rated (by star standards) in the history of the Ferentz era. That point has been beaten to death. The reasons for this are numerous, but begin with the inability of the new hires to recruit over the past 3 years. However, even with low rated commits, there is always the chance that we will pull the next Bob Sanders out of our hat. Unfortunately, while Bob was overlooked, he was also a freak athlete with big time speed who competed against big time athletes at his out of state high school.

This year's recruiting class is not yet full, yet we already have EIGHT in-state commits (including the kid from tiny town Dakota) and all signs are pointing to us offering some fall backs shortly from Dowling and other local schools. While I am all for nailing down the top in state talent, the state of Iowa simply does not produce that many D1 football players. It never has and it never will. This staff is not going after these guys because they will help us compete with OSU, Neb, MSU, etc., they are going after them because they are out of better options and the Iowa boys grew up Hawk fans and have no better options either. Some of these guys could prove to be stud OLs after 3 or 4 yrs in the system, but we are glaringly weak at the skill positions and all of the Iowa boys Ferentz can muster cannot solve that problem.

At this point, the only thing separating us from the University of Northern Iowa, in terms of recruiting, is our coach's salary and the number of scholarships we are allowed to give out.

Starting with the 2010 recruiting class, Iowa has signed these quantities of Iowans: 4, 3, 3, 3 and 6. We currently have 7 verbals from Iowa kids. So, that doesn't seem like an inordinate amount.

 

[lightning1]

Starting with the 2010 recruiting class, Iowa has signed these quantities of Iowans: 4, 3, 3, 3 and 6. We currently have 7 verbals from Iowa kids. So, that doesn't seem like an inordinate amount.

But Iowans do make up over 1/3 (18 of 48 listed) of the new depth chart that KF just released. We will not win BIG titles with that kind of 2-deep roster. It's just not realistic.

 

[IAHAWK1982]

Not sure why any kid would want to come to play at Iowa the way fans on here are bashing our recruits. In case you haven't been paying attention, the coaches have been trying to get 4 and 5 star players, but those players have not chosen to come. Blame the coaches if you want, but stop insulting the kids that are coming here to play ball.

 

[Caddy]

How is it insulting the kids by saying they aren't very good? It's a fact, period. Nobody is calling them names, it's simply a fact that nobody else is recruiting them. I don't blame the kids, but this is all on KF for being such a lousy recruiter and coach.

 

[ryno]

Everyone knows that this year's recruiting class is shaping up to be one of the lowest rated (by star standards) in the history of the Ferentz era. That point has been beaten to death. The reasons for this are numerous, but begin with the inability of the new hires to recruit over the past 3 years. However, even with low rated commits, there is always the chance that we will pull the next Bob Sanders out of our hat. Unfortunately, while Bob was overlooked, he was also a freak athlete with big time speed who competed against big time athletes at his out of state high school.

This year's recruiting class is not yet full, yet we already have EIGHT in-state commits (including the kid from tiny town Dakota) and all signs are pointing to us offering some fall backs shortly from Dowling and other local schools. While I am all for nailing down the top in state talent, the state of Iowa simply does not produce that many D1 football players. It never has and it never will. This staff is not going after these guys because they will help us compete with OSU, Neb, MSU, etc., they are going after them because they are out of better options and the Iowa boys grew up Hawk fans and have no better options either. Some of these guys could prove to be stud OLs after 3 or 4 yrs in the system, but we are glaringly weak at the skill positions and all of the Iowa boys Ferentz can muster cannot solve that problem.

At this point, the only thing separating us from the University of Northern Iowa, in terms of recruiting, is our coach's salary and the number of scholarships we are allowed to give out.

Hell, UNI gets better recruits than we do! Typically they get proven D-1 players who transfer. we are often trying to get a D-2 player to play at a D-1 level. I am talking about skill players

 

[trj]

My 30+ years of watching Iowa football the roster has been anywhere from 40-60% Iowa kids. I don't care where they are from as long as they are decent people and can play football at the D-1 level. Athleticism comes in all shapes, sizes and color. You can find them baling hay, suburbia or straight up from the hood. Find another BB and get him on the staff he was responsible for finding Greenway and getting those Florida kids here.

 

[IAHAWK1982]

How is it insulting the kids by saying they aren't very good? It's a fact, period. Nobody is calling them names, it's simply a fact that nobody else is recruiting them. I don't blame the kids, but this is all on KF for being such a lousy recruiter and coach.

So it's not insulting to say they aren't very good? And you are basing this on what? The number of stars by their name? Nobody else is recruiting them? Show us that as a fact.

 

[lightning1]

How is it insulting the kids by saying they aren't very good? It's a fact, period. Nobody is calling them names, it's simply a fact that nobody else is recruiting them. I don't blame the kids, but this is all on KF for being such a lousy recruiter and coach.

This is it in a nutshell. I was not a Big Ten caliber football player. I knew that. If Hayden Fry had offered me a scholarship, I would have taken it. I would have been stupid not to. That doesn't change the fact that I would have had my lunch eaten on every Saturday during the season. It's not an insult for people to tell me that I wasn't good enough to play for Iowa. It would have been career suicide for Hayden to have offered me and players of my ability, scholarships at Iowa.

 

[deanvogs]

My 30+ years of watching Iowa football the roster has been anywhere from 40-60% Iowa kids. I don't care where they are from as long as they are decent people and can play football at the D-1 level. Athleticism comes in all shapes, sizes and color. You can find them baling hay, suburbia or straight up from the hood. Find another BB and get him on the staff he was responsible for finding Greenway and getting those Florida kids here.

It has been this way for 30 years now. I'm not sure what people are crying about. Iowa has had a pretty good 30 year run doing it with lots of Iowa kids. The easiest kids to get are the kids that grow up rooting for you, so you take the best of them, and then get the rest from out of state. The problem with this recruiting class ISN'T the Iowa kids. It is the fact that the staff whiffed on most every other top recruit they wanted that wasn't from Iowa (besides Daniels and Hockaday).

I would totally agree if we got 2 Iowa kids to verbal in the spring that were our top targets, and then had to settle for 5 that we offered this time of the year......But the fact is we got 6 early signees, and have settled for 1 single late offer, so these aren't fallback kids.

 

[iowalaw]

Interesting rebuttal, Arvada. You use statistics, which show that we already have more than double the number of commits from in-state recruits than we normally do (and Kirk notoriously adds a few more fallback Iowans to the class in February)...with the trend of this increase continuing, To prove that reliance on is state recruits this year is not an "inordinate amount?" If more than double the norm doesn't catch your attention, will more than triple the norm (which is how this class will shape up)? This isn't rocket science, there is a reason coaches from every school recruit Texas Florida Cali and Ohio hard. Because there is an abundance of talent.

The fact is, we have several lame duck assistant coaches who are currently focused solely on finding jobs elsewhere. You think they are going to bust their butts going the extra mile to recruit talent right now? If Kirk had any common sense whatsoever, he would've made coaching changes before the bowl games, like every other school.

Starting with the 2010 recruiting class, Iowa has signed these quantities of Iowans: 4, 3, 3, 3 and 6. We currently have 7 verbals from Iowa kids. So, that doesn't seem like an inordinate amount.

 

[deanvogs]

Interesting rebuttal, Arvada. You use statistics, which show that we already have more than double the number of commits from in-state recruits than we normally do (and Kirk notoriously adds a few more fallback Iowans to the class in February)...with the trend of this increase continuing, To prove that reliance on is state recruits this year is not an "inordinate amount?" If more than double the norm doesn't catch your attention, will more than triple the norm (which is how this class will shape up)? This isn't rocket science, there is a reason coaches from every school recruit Texas Florida Cali and Ohio hard. Because there is an abundance of town.

fact is, we have several lame duck assistant coaches who are looking to leave the program. You think they are going to bust there but recruiting talent right now? If Kirk had any common sense whatsoever, he would've made coaching changes before the bowl games, like every other school.

One year doesn't make a "trend". As a matter of fact signing 4, 3, 3, & 3 was a downward trend, as we have avg. between 4-5 Iowa players a year for the last 14 years.

Also it sucks we DIDN'T get more over the last few years. I'd have loved to have seen Pierschbacher, Campos, Lazard, Trevon Young, Darboh, Charlie Rogers, French, and Waters all in the black and gold instead of at other schools......but according to you this is a good thing, taking less Iowans, and not having those crappy Iowa kids on the team.

 

[Caddy]

So it's not insulting to say they aren't very good? And you are basing this on what? The number of stars by their name? Nobody else is recruiting them? Show us that as a fact.

No, its not insulting to say that. It's simply a fact. High school football in the state of Iowa stinks, these kids have very few if any other offers by Power 5 programs, that is a fact. There is a reason they aren't being recruited. They aren't very good, period. I would guess they might be aware of why they don't have any other offers as well. KF isn't finding 'diamonds in the rough anymore'. Especially out of the state of Iowa.

 

[IAHAWK1982]

No, its not insulting to say that. It's simply a fact. High school football in the state of Iowa stinks, these kids have very few if any other offers by Power 5 programs, that is a fact. There is a reason they aren't being recruited. They aren't very good, period. I would guess they might be aware of why they don't have any other offers as well. KF isn't finding 'diamonds in the rough anymore'. Especially out of the state of Iowa.

Holy crap I didn't realize all those Iowa boys who made it to the NFL sucked at playing football. We should probably just stop playing the sport all together in this state.

 

[lightning1]

Having a large number of Iowa kids on the roster is easily understandable. We will have 30 or so walk-ons from in state every year.
We currently have 40 Iowans on the current roster out of 118 players.
113 scholarship signees since 2010
20 Scholly Iowans signed since 2010
48 total players on new 2 deep roster
18 of them are Iowans
11 of those 18 are scholly Iowans.
Since 2010, KF has signed 93 non-Iowans to scholarships and only 30 are on the new 2-deep roster.
We currently have 7 scholarship commitments from Iowans.

 

[lightning1]

FYI. We have averaged 5 or 6 Iowa scholarship players a year since 2002 (earliest I can find). That tells me that we do a lot better at evaluating Iowans in the recruiting process, than we do out of state players. That's not surprising as I'm sure all coaching staffs hit more in state players than they miss.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

Honestly, I don't care too much where kids come from. What I do care about is that our recent recruiting rankings have been pretty much on par with how we have finished the season. Watching Iowa gainst Tennessee was a painful and visual reminder of how athletically-challenged we are. We looked slow and we looked small. Why? Because we are slow and we are small.

The name of the game is recruiting. Pure and simple. And whatever worked for Iowa 10 years ago, when it came to recruiting, is no longer working.

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

I agree with op. Iowans have historically provided a solid, small nucleus to our teams but I think the key to good Iowa teams are those difference maker skill positions from Texas, Florida, upper east coast, etc. too many Iowans, too often, that we have to rely on is probably not the recipe.