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franstheman

franstheman

Well-Known Member
And this very successful season I certainly expect a few more 4 stars in the future recruiting classes for Iowa. While Our kids have proven we don't need blue chip recruits to compete for championships, I believe more 4 stars will raise our floor from 6 or 7 win down years to 8 or 9 win down years. What do you guys think? Will our on field surge be followed by a recruiting surge a la 2005?


If so so I hope our future commits have better character than the blue chippers of 2005 who mostly all bottomed out and left the program. The ones that did stay made a huge difference in our 2009 championship run.
 
No question the combination of a 12-0 start and the new facilities should have a huge impact on recruiting. If we do get some more 4 and 5 star players I just hope they develop as much as our 2/3 star guys do. Our 2016 class leaks real solid and 2017 could be one of the best in years.
 
We may see an uptick but I think we need another good/very good year to see a bigger bump.

We still aren't likely to see 5 stars unless a local or legacy, but a few more high 3's and some 4's would nice, provided their good fits...I'm a firm beliver that unless you can simply stock 4/5 stars, ya gotta put a priority on the "right" kids as much as possible, even if maybe ranked a little lower (with the premise that I put little stock in a 3.5-3.9 ranked kid being significantly behind a 4.0-4.4 kid, respectively)

35th or better ranked class would be a nice start.

Development and minimizing attrition will still be the most important thing in my opinion.
 
I will take a three star hard working kid with pride of being a Hawk over a five star self centered kid that doesn't realize he can still get better.
 
IndianaHawk said:
I will take a three star hard working kid with pride of being a Hawk over a five star self centered kid that doesn't realize he can still get better.
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I agree with you on both of your points in this thread. The thing is there are plenty of hard working 4 and 5 star kids that we offer every year and we only get maybe 2 or 3 at best. If we could get 5 or 6 a year it would do wonders for our depth.

And again im not saying anything about this year. We knew we could compete for championships with this kind of roster in ever since 2002. What I'm alluding to is the fact that added talented depth can take a 6-6 2007 team and make it 8-4 or 9-3 instead.
 
Every National Championship team, since the BCS era of 1998, the winning team has had back-to-back Top 10 recruiting classes. The only exception was Oklahoma in 2000.
For the first time, we have taken advantage of an advantageous schedule.
2006, 2007 and 2014, we flopped.

Not to state the obvious, but it seems the gap between a solid QB and an average QB is even larger today. Just look at the Cowboys in the NFL without Romo.
When Iowa plays good, we have solid line play and solid QB.
This DL is good, just not dominant, but the OL and QB make up for whatever shortfalls the DL has.
 
Recruiting. Coach Ferentz says it often - ' you never know for certain what you have or what is coming your way'. Facilities will be a big help in many ways for the program.

Individuals get the ' star' treatment. Our coaches and fans are a big part of success. A given. Good school, good facilities, good fan support, good coaches and good kids.

Kids - are they TEAM guys or self-centered? Go to class? Team meetings? Hard workers? Stick to it guys? Iowa develops high school grads into good, solid players and citizens. Some move on to the next level. Bulaga, Hyde, Daniels, Yanda, Scherf, Sanders, Clark, Long, Gallery etc etc...Some surprise you, right? Sanders, Clark, Bielema, Josie Jewell, CJ Beat hard...etc.

Iowa is not loaded with 4 and 5 star high schoolers. If Mel Gordon would have honored his commitment to Iowa, the past three seasons ( probably ) our records would have seen more wins. J Canzeri is representative of a good citizen, hard worker, team football guy, well-spoken, tough but not mean Iowa 4-5 star college player. 100 men with these qualities will be a winning formula for Iowa.

BTW, don't we just love walk-ons!! Stars? What stars?
 
More 4* and 5* recruits certainly won't hurt. 2005 was an anomaly in several ways, i.e., we rarely have a class like that, the "success" rate was less than expected in terms of individual AND team success, attrition seemed to accompany the class rank, etc.

BUT...as noted, recruits from that class WERE a big part of the 2008 and 2009 teams.

You can look at it two ways: how does an Iowa with so few 4* & 5* guys go undefeated? Or...how does an Alabama, with so few 2* and lower ever lose a game?

Or you can find the middle, which is that there will always be the blue-blood (or, "quasi-professional") programs where the top classes reside, NCAA probation rarely happens or investigations stonewall, and preseason rankings always have them in the mix. The middle level teams are the same, with a few revolving into the "elite" mix in some sort of cycle. And of course, the lower level, where just making abowl in any given season is a celebration. Oh, and of course, you also have ISU :)
 
Three or four 4 and 5 star recruits at the skill positions would really be nice.

I don't think it is as critical at other positions. Iowa can match them all in the trenches and physicality. KF and staff have the uncanny ability to turn 2 star recruits into solid players, but as we all know, you can't coach speed.
 
franstheman said:
I agree with you on both of your points in this thread. The thing is there are plenty of hard working 4 and 5 star kids that we offer every year and we only get maybe 2 or 3 at best. If we could get 5 or 6 a year it would do wonders for our depth.

And again im not saying anything about this year. We knew we could compete for championships with this kind of roster in ever since 2002. What I'm alluding to is the fact that added talented depth can take a 6-6 2007 team and make it 8-4 or 9-3 instead.
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You are obviously correct on the added talent. No argument here. I was more referring to getting the right 4/5 kid with hard working ethics. I love a kid with a chip on his shoulder because he was overlooked.
 
I'm not a big star believer. Stars rank the kids based on their last year in high school. Stars do not predict how a prospect will develop to play at the college level. Stars don't predict a prospects ability to be a great team player or how mentally tough they are or how hard they are willing to work. I trust this coaching staff's ability to find players. If the new facilities and a great season help the coaches land the players they want, then the Hawks will be fine. These last few years, we've lost the recruiting battle for a bunch of recruits the coaches had targeted. A slight upgrade where the Hawks could just land one or two receivers and a running back with world class speed in every recruiting class would be a huge difference maker.
 
This recruiting class is pretty set, we need to win 10 again next year and then we can haul in some big time recruits. Considering what we have coming back I think we'll be the West favorites.
 
I always trust the coaches evaluations over the recruiting sites when you get outside of 5*s.

All I want for recruiting is for the coaches to continue to get the first names on their board for each position. If you look at this up coming class signing in February, we got a lot of first wave recruits. I really don't know if we have a fall back recruit in the bunch.

The kid for CR that just verbal is a late recruit, but I wouldn't call him a fall back. Each year there seems to be a group of kids on the coaches' radar that they wait for their senior year to finish to make a final al evaluation, this kid was one of those.
 
BirdsOfPrey said:
I'm not a big star believer. Stars rank the kids based on their last year in high school. Stars do not predict how a prospect will develop to play at the college level. Stars don't predict a prospects ability to be a great team player or how mentally tough they are or how hard they are willing to work. I trust this coaching staff's ability to find players. If the new facilities and a great season help the coaches land the players they want, then the Hawks will be fine. These last few years, we've lost the recruiting battle for a bunch of recruits the coaches had targeted. A slight upgrade where the Hawks could just land one or two receivers and a running back with world class speed in every recruiting class would be a huge difference maker.
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I agree with this. Also, it seems to me that the stars depends on who is recruiting the player. Example, if they have Alabama recruiting them, the services automatically rank them higher. The strength of this coaching staff is to evaluate on where the player is now and where he could be with the proper environment, coaching, etc. That is where Iowa excels and will continue to excel under Ferentz.
 
Does anyone know where to find the stats about how many 4* and 5*s are on teams on top of the CFP rankings? It was displayed during one of the recent home games (Purdue or Minnesota).
 
i think good talent evaluation and player development are key, regardless of ratings. 2-3* recruits can ultimately play like 4-5* players. The higher rated recruits may be able to play at a high level a little earlier... So I still think more higher rated recruits is good provided they are high character guys with a good work ethic. 2005's class being a bust doesn't necessarily mean bad - just get the right players.

Some lower rated recruits have a low ceiling but others have the tools, and need some polish.

And yeah, this year's success can only help but it might take a few good years in a row to really get it rolling.
 
I don't want a bunch of 4/5-stars unless they are team players. When you look at this year's team vs last year's team, the difference is leadership and team work. This year's TEAM attitude has been over the top. The team is playing for each other more so then last year. "Next Man Up" isn't just a saying for these guys .. they believe it. The rb position is a prime example. Daniels went down .. Canzeri stepped it up. Canzeri went down .. Wadley stepped it up. And that doesn't touch on the defensive side of the ball .. .. or the wr.

I love this TEAM, regardless of what happens Saturday. Play for each other, not for yourself, and good things will happen.

GO HAWKS!!!
 
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