Troubling Trend in Hawkeye Recruiting: Too Many Iowans

[coralville]

Uni is probably better than us.

 

[hockalot]

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.

Spot on!

 

[hockalot]

Is this guy for real? Not one person out of four pages of posts in this thread said that we should avoid recruiting Iowa players. How can someone be so obtuse? The fact is, Iowa is a low population state where 97% of the high school kids are white. Sure, you can pull 2 or 3 gems out each year, mainly on the OL. But this staff has become lazy. It knows it misses out on more out of staters than it gets, so it is hunkering down and settling for Iowa kids rather than going after the out of state athletes. No one can deny that at our bye week this year, coach Kirt, Davis, and another assistant spent that valuable off time in...West Des Moines...watching the Dowling Qb who had already committed rather than getting their butts on a plane and selling Iowa to potential LBs, WRs, DL, LB, CBs, etc. who are so desperately needed.

We now have 8 commits from small town kids with few offers and the U of Iowa as the biggest/best university in their community. These guys are low hanging fruit. We are soon going to offer a couple more, which will yield us commits from approximately 10 Iowa/SD kids in one single class. Anyone who thinks that because Iowa produced a Tim Dwight 20 years ago that this class could produce 10 Tim Dwights is out of their mind. Lazy recruiting of kids that would go to Iowa regardless of who is the head coach or how the Hawks play is not the recipe for success. Rather, there is a reason most of our recruiting classes prior to the hire of Brian Ferentz and the new group maxed out at 3 Iowa commits.

Give em H#!!

 

[iowalaw]

And the fallback Iowa commits keep on coming. Today, we get a good one, with no offers, out of west Des Moines. It is now clear to me that the assistant coaches are not committed to the program and are looking to jump ship as soon as signing day passes. Double-digit commitments from the state of Iowa when the state generally produces four Division I prospects each year.

 

[1hawkeye1]

And over on the basketball board there are threads criticizing Fran for not getting the Iowa kids UNI gets. LOL

But I agree. FB recruiting is woefully inadequate. This entire program is circling the drain.

 

[Caddy]

And the fallback Iowa commits keep on coming. Today, we get a good one, with no offers, out of west Des Moines. It is now clear to me that the assistant coaches are not committed to the program and are looking to jump ship as soon as signing day passes. Double-digit commitments from the state of Iowa when the state generally produces four Division I prospects each year.

Sad isn't it? Scrambling to fill the class with fallbacks from the state of Iowa. Not one other offer. Wait, I'm sure this kid is the next Bob Sanders or Chad Greenway. Give me a break, how anyone on this staff still has a job is unbelievable. High school football in the state of Iowa is bad, and we have half our class filled with in state kids. Simply cannot compete with that type of talent.

 

[iowalaw]

Ferentz has been quoted as saying he thought each member of the staff did an "excellent" job last year, that Davis' job was never in jeopardy, and that our recruiting coordinator is fantastic and innovative. If only the rest of the word had a boss like Ferentz, there would be no such thing as being fired. Job performance has no bearing on pay or longevity.

Sad isn't it? Scrambling to fill the class with fallbacks from the state of Iowa. Not one other offer. Wait, I'm sure this kid is the next Bob Sanders or Chad Greenway. Give me a break, how anyone on this staff still has a job is unbelievable. High school football in the state of Iowa is bad, and we have half our class filled with in state kids. Simply cannot compete with that type of talent.

 

[lightning1]

Yep. Here comes the early Feb landslide of fall back recruits 2* on down to NR. Mostly from Iowa.

 

[lightning1]

To the best of my knowledge, we won 4 recruiting battles against Power 5 conf schools. Daniels, Higdon, Hockaday and Smith. Thats 4 of our recruits that had offers from power 5 conferences. The other 16 had MAC level offers. Cripes! Could KF assemble any other staff that would be as big a recruiting FAILURE as the one we currently have?

 

[kirby]

To the best of my knowledge, we won 4 recruiting battles against Power 5 conf schools. Daniels, Higdon, Hockaday and Smith. Thats 4 of our recruits that had offers from power 5 conferences. The other 16 had MAC level offers. Cripes! Could KF assemble any other staff that would be as big a recruiting FAILURE as the one we currently have?

Is KF intentionally sabotaging the future to make his tenure look more favorable? I'm not sure which is worse: not doing your job and admitting it in a news conference or setting the program up for future failure

 

[thetrza]

The Paulsen twins didn't "play the game" and hold out for more offers and visits to stroke their egos. Saying they couldn't get offers is a little misleading.

 

[lightning1]

The Paulsen twins didn't "play the game" and hold out for more offers and visits to stroke their egos. Saying they couldn't get offers is a little misleading.

Fair enough. By your count, that's 6 out of 20. That doesn't make it any less pathetic, now does it?

 

[DDThompson]

Fair enough. By your count, that's 6 out of 20. That doesn't make it any less pathetic, now does it?

if mathematics means anything at all and 6 is greater than 4, then the answer is obviously, "yes, it does make it less pathetic."

But not much less pathetic.

 

[BigD]

Ferentz has always been weak at recruiting top tier skill recruits. Recruits from iowa are usually linemen, backers, and tight ends. There has been quite a few years of those in the NFL.

Basically sounds like someone is saying too many white guys.

Maybe the wrong white guys........ We could do with out Barta, KF, Davis, and Parker.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

Now that we have 10 of 18 or so recruits coming from the state of Iowa ... this absolutely supports my thoughts that Kirk is gone after next year. This is sort of like a "we've given up" class. Sorry folks, but you aren't going to compete for a Big 10 title with a roster filled with Iowa kids. The state of Iowa simply does not produce that much Div 1 talent. There is a reason some of these kids had few offers. Not every one of these kids can be "hidden gems."

This is NOT a knock on the kids. Kudos to any kid who earns a football scholarship to wear the Black and Gold. This is directed toward Kirk and staff. This is a coach on his way out ... This class is obscenely weak ... and filled with a lot of fall backs.

Let's just get through this next year and then we can say goodbye to Mr. Personality ... Sorry Kirk, but you are burying Iowa football ...

 

[DDThompson]

This is sort of like a "we've given up" class. Sorry folks, but you aren't going to compete for a Big 10 title with a roster filled with Iowa kids. The state of Iowa simply does not produce that much Div 1 talent. There is a reason some of these kids had few offers. Not every one of these kids can be "hidden gems."

This is NOT a knock on the kids. Kudos to any kid who earns a football scholarship to wear the Black and Gold.

so iowa kids suck: not competing for Big 10 title and kids had few offers . . . but that's NOT a knock on the kids.

Riiiiiight.


If KF said something as bipolar as this the place would be screaming.

 

[deanvogs]

Now that we have 10 of 18 or so recruits coming from the state of Iowa ... this absolutely supports my thoughts that Kirk is gone after next year. This is sort of like a "we've given up" class. Sorry folks, but you aren't going to compete for a Big 10 title with a roster filled with Iowa kids. The state of Iowa simply does not produce that much Div 1 talent. There is a reason some of these kids had few offers. Not every one of these kids can be "hidden gems."

This is NOT a knock on the kids. Kudos to any kid who earns a football scholarship to wear the Black and Gold. This is directed toward Kirk and staff. This is a coach on his way out ... This class is obscenely weak ... and filled with a lot of fall backs.

Let's just get through this next year and then we can say goodbye to Mr. Personality ... Sorry Kirk, but you are burying Iowa football ...

How do you define this class as "a lot" of fallbacks?

Top of the staff board, guys with early offers:

Landan Paulsen
Levi Paulsen
James Daniels
Brett Waetchter
Jacob Newborg
Ryan Boyle
Drew Cook
Jack Hockaday
Karan Higdon
Brady Reiff

Pretty early offers, I'm not certain, I don't think they were top of the board guys, but they certainly aren't bottom of the barrel kids, they had fairly early offers, and committments to Iowa.

Jerminic Smith
Emmanuel Ogwo
Adrian Falconer
Nate Vejvoda
Justin Jinning
Michael Slater Jr

I don't know how you can say that those 16 were "fallbacks". I do agree that Nelson, Ojemudia, Jansen, and Wilson are fallbacks.

 

[iowalaw]

I don't think any rational Iowa high school senior would proclaim that a roster filled with Iowans will win Big 10 titles. Ask state player of the year Boyle whether he would rather throw to a bunch of guys like Vandenberg and Stone, or whether he would prefer some having some speedy athletes from Fla and TX to throw the rock to or hand off to. I'll bet my next paycheck I know what the answer is. Does that mean Boyle is knocking Iowa kids or does it mean he has common sense?

Then ask every member of the Iowa staff if they had their choice between our receiving corp and other schools who actually recruited 4 and 5 star WRs from big cities, who would they pick. Are they haters too, or just lazy recruiters who can't sell worth a damn?

so iowa kids suck: not competing for Big 10 title and kids had few offers . . . but that's NOT a knock on the kids.

Riiiiiight.


If KF said something as bipolar as this the place would be screaming.

 

[lightning1]

How do you define this class as "a lot" of fallbacks?

Top of the staff board, guys with early offers:

Landan Paulsen
Levi Paulsen
James Daniels
Brett Waetchter
Jacob Newborg
Ryan Boyle
Drew Cook
Jack Hockaday
Karan Higdon
Brady Reiff

Pretty early offers, I'm not certain, I don't think they were top of the board guys, but they certainly aren't bottom of the barrel kids, they had fairly early offers, and committments to Iowa.

Jerminic Smith
Emmanuel Ogwo
Adrian Falconer
Nate Vejvoda
Justin Jinning
Michael Slater Jr

I don't know how you can say that those 16 were "fallbacks". I do agree that Nelson, Ojemudia, Jansen, and Wilson are fallbacks.

If that's true then KF is a bigger idiot than I gave him credit for and his staff is more inept than anyone could have imagined.

 

[DDThompson]

I don't think any rational Iowa high school senior would proclaim that a roster filled with Iowans will win Big 10 titles. Ask state player of the year Boyle whether he would rather throw to a bunch of guys like Vandenberg and Stone, or whether he would prefer some having some speedy athletes from Fla and TX to throw the rock to or hand off to. I'll bet my next paycheck I know what the answer is. Does that mean Boyle is knocking Iowa kids or does it mean he has common sense?

We both know, well I do anyway, that Boyle wouldn't answer the question the way you would like him to. He's got more brains and respect for fellow iowans than to do that.

More important and sillier is you're the one complaining about too many Iowans on the team and then you USE an Iowan, a THREE-star Iowan, to answer a question about wanting to throw to four/five star recruits from out-of-state.

You DO SEE the irony in that. Don't you?


It's been well-documented that KF hasn't recruited skill position players. You're not uninventing the wheel here.