I was reading a few comments from one of the items I wrote on HawkeyeNation.com yesterday, some fans voicing their displeasure with Iowa’s recruiting class and recent on field efforts.  I will come back around to that at the bottom of this piece, but I want to first take a look at Big Ten recruiting in general and juxtapose historical recruiting class rankings against actual on field performance.

THE BIG TEN

I ran two sets of numbers for this ‘study’.  One raw set of data took Scout.com’s Big Ten recruiting class rankings dating back to 2002.  I assigned a numerical value to each school for each year.  For instance, in 2002, Ohio State had the top rated class among Big Ten schools and Indiana’s class ranked 11th among 11 Big Ten schools.  Ohio State therefore received a numerical value of 1 and Indiana received an 11, with the other schools falling where they ranked.  I did this for each recruiting class 2002-2012.

I then juxtaposed those numbers with the actual on field conference winning percentage numbers for the same time period.  These are conference games only and I did not add in this year’s Big Ten title game victory for Wisconsin, as I used regular season results only.

One flaw with this 11 year aggregate is the fact that 2002 on field results were influenced by recruiting classes from 1999-2001.  However, the numbers are still interesting to look at.

The second set of data took the same recruiting class ranking analysis but from the 2007-2010 and then juxtaposed those results against on field conference wins for 2008-2011.  Most Big Ten football players redshirt their freshman year, so the class of 2007 would have been true freshmen in 2007.  This is why I began the on field comparison with 2008 season through 2011, because several 2007 recruiting class alums would have been fifth year seniors in 2011.

This second data set is a more realistic reflection of how the programs have been evaluating and developing talent these paste five years and illustrates the correlation between recruiting class rankings and on field production, or lack there of.

I will display the graphic now, and you can also access a larger version of the data with more detailed data field descriptions at this shared google doc I have created by clicking on this link.

In the raw 11 year raw data set, you will not be surprised to see that Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are 1-2-3 in the combined recruiting class rankings. Iowa sits at #4 over that time span, which may be a bit of a surprise to some of you. Wisconsin sits at #7, a little lower than I would have pegged.

Wisconsin’s on field conference ranking is well ahead of their recruiting class combined ranking; they are 2nd in Big Ten wins during this time frame while their recruiting class ranking was 7th. Iowa and Northwestern are two positions higher than you would have predicted based upon recruiting class rankings with Purdue one position better. Ohio State and Michigan are right on target, first and second in both wins and recruiting class ranking. Unfortunately for Indiana and Minnesota, their win totals are also on target with their recruiting performance.

Some may also argue that if a team is Plus One or Minus One, you could say they are on target for meeting recruiting class ranking expectations on the field.

Penn State finished Minus two in wins compared to where their talent might suggest they should have finished, while Illinois was the worst in the league at Minus Four.

The second data set is the more refined set that I spoke of earlier. It saw Ohio State and Indiana on target from where the recruiting class ranking data would have predicted they would be on the field. Michigan State (+5) and Northwestern (+4) lead the way in the overachiever department. Wisconsin was just +1 even after receiving a nice little bump this past season due to the fifth year transfer of quarterback Russell Wilson. The Badgers were probably an eight-win team at best in 2011 before Wilson fell into their lap, mostly due to their favorable schedule.

Illinois is once again on the wrong side of the on field performance at Minus Five. It’s not surprising they have made a coaching change just this past season. The same can be said for Michigan’s disappointing Minus Four departure and they fired Rich Rodriguez after the 2010 season.

The biggest surprise in this four year data set was that Michigan State and Ohio State have the same number of conference wins over the course of the last four seasons.

For the rest of this item, I will focus more on how the data relates to Iowa. For fans from other Big Ten schools who are looking at this, feel free to take the data to share with your fellow fans and let me know what kind of discussions come about. Email me links to these discussions at jdmiller71@gmail.com and I will come back in a month or so and put together a mashup of the opinions.

IOWA-CENTRIC

It’s going to be interesting to see the opinions people form from reviewing this data. Here is my take away; Iowa is doing just fine.

Sure, the 2010 7-5 regular season is going to be a wound that likely won’t heal for some time as it was a big time missed opportunity. I still believe that much of the fan base angst in 2011 was a hangover from 2010, as the 2011 Hawkeyes were the least experienced team in the Big Ten to start the season.

I hate to say this, but expect more of the same in 2012. I will write more on that in a few minutes.

When you consider Iowa’s low population and the low number of BCS caliber football players the state produces each year, I think Iowa has probably outperformed expectations in the aggregate recruiting class rankings in both the 12 and four year snapshots. Their conference on field winning numbers are higher than the average ranking of their recruiting classes. When Iowa goes 6-2 in league play, like they did in 2009, they are outperforming their mean expectations in a big way. The 4-4 record in 2010 was on par with a 7th ranking in the conference recruiting standings, but below the recruiting average expectation as well as the eyeball expectation.

So on the whole, or the mean, the Iowa football program is performing to what you would expect in Big Ten conference play on an 11 year look and slightly above what the recruiting rankings suggest on the four year look.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

In looking at the first data set from above, you see Iowa’s 2008-2009 recruiting classes ranked 7th and 11th in the Big Ten. Only Northwestern and Indiana had a lower two year aggregate ranking during that span.

To make matters worse, 19 of the players Iowa signed in those two classes are no long in the program. So not only were these two classes lightly regarded by the recruiting services, the 2008-2009 classes will comprise most of the leadership in Big Ten teams this year in the form of fourth and fifth years players. In other words, Iowa gets the double whammy.

I think Iowa is in for a 2012 season that will be similar to what we saw in 2011; inconsistent due to a high number of inexperienced players being on the field. This will be most glaring at defensive line, running back and wide receiver.

However, I do think there is hope for better on field production down the line.

Take a look at the first data set one more time, and focus on the recruiting class rankings for 2010 through 2012.

As it compares to their conference foes, Iowa’s last three classes will average out to fourth, without factoring in Nebraska. This is three slots better than their 2007-2011 four year average.

That being said, when you look at the 12 year data set, you will not find any better three-year consecutive recruiting stretch than what Iowa has just accomplished. Again, I do not include Nebraska in this numbers because they have not been in the Big Ten for the entire time frame.

I think even pessimistic Iowa fans would admit the Hawkeye coaching staff has an excellent track record of developing players. Given the amount of talent they have pulled in these past three years, as long as they can do a better job of player retention than we have seen in the past two years, the Hawkeye football program has a bright future.

Perhaps there is something to be said of the ‘Ferentz Oscilation’, something a HawkeyeNation.com message board user brought up a while back.

Here is the Ferentz Era in three-year windows, from a total wins perspective:

1999-2001: 11
2002-2004: 31
2005-2007: 19
2008-2010: 28
2011-2013?

With seven wins in 2011 and I think around that number in 2012, the ‘dip’ in this three year set won’t be as ‘deep’ as the two that came before it. The first ‘dip’ was when Ferentz was taking over a program that had sort of run off the rails.

The quarterback question will loom for the 2013 campaign, but there are a lot of young playmakers on this team, players with a great deal of speed on defense and some highly touted defensive line prospects who will be on the verge of coming into their own by that time.

At least the data thinks that will be the case.

Last January kind of kicked off this year’s recruiting officially before we had finished last year’s class.  So it’s a long process, and certainly evaluation is a key part of things.  Then beyond that is the actual recruitment of the prospects.  So a lot of work goes into it, and I just think the staff did a great job.

Certainly, want to give the players thanks and appreciation.  They did a wonderful job hosting our prospects feel comfortable; the prospects and their families.  Our support staff does a wonderful job giving a lot of their free time to come in and help us in the recruiting process.  Certainly our faculty and academic advisors come in and spend time as well, all of those people pitch in, so there is a lot of team work involved in the recruitment of players and we appreciate that.

Really pleased with the class overall.  We certainly felt like we had some needs to meet and tried to address, and I think we did a good job with that.  I think overall the entire class, all 24 guys signed right now, we feel really good about them having a role in the future with us, most importantly, I think they’re good fits with our program.  I think that is the number one thing that we look for.

One other thing really quickly.  Signing day is always a happy day, and it’s certainly a happy day for the prospects and their families.  To me, it’s a real celebration of having a good high school career.  And all the careers are different just like each and every one of the signees is different, but nonetheless, it’s a great celebration.

I’ve always thought that scholarships are earned.  Nobody gives scholarships out.  They’re earned.  It’s the result of a player doing a great job during his high school career, and also getting a lot of support from family members.  Support from people, teachers, coaches, things like that.  It’s a really special day for everybody involved that way.

Obviously, it’s a turning of the page as well.  End of their high school football careers, if you will, and the start of the next step.  I think that’s going to be the most important step.

And we encourage our prospects to enjoy the rest of their senior year.  Certainly a lot of times we all kind of wish our lives away to get to that, and I don’t think they should do that in high school.  So we encourage them to enjoy the rest of their high school experience, and when it’s time to start with us, we’ll look forward to that as well.

We’re just hopeful that they’ll do as good a job with the University of Iowa as they did in their high school careers. That’s really what this is all about.

It’s a happy day.  We’re looking forward to the months and years ahead once the other players transition into the program with us.  With that, I’ll throw it out to questions.

Q.  Can you talk about the two quarterbacks and what you see for them this fall?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think in Cody’s case, it’s a little bit like recruiting Brad Banks.  We weren’t intentionally looking for a junior college player at that position, necessarily.  But we did screen as many quarterbacks as we could.

We really felt good about Cody as a football player.  Research led us to find out he has some roots in Iowa.  He was born here.  Moved out of here in elementary school, but his mom grew up here and he has a lot of family members back here, so it was a good fit that way.

One thing that was critical to us, we were hoping he would be hopeful to red shirting next year, if he is.  That doesn’t mean he will.  He’ll compete just like James and Jake and John.  But that was part of the understanding.  We wanted to make sure he was open to that.  He was.  I think he’s looking at the big picture as well.  So that worked out beautifully.

C.J. is a little different story.  He kind of happened late.  Just a matter of sometimes when there are staff changes, fits aren’t as comfortable as they maybe were at one point.  We benefited quite frankly from the staff change in that case.  Things happen pretty quick.

Ken O’Keefe went down and spent the day with C.J., and was really impressed with his football intellect, just his way of answering questions on the board and that type of thing.

We already knew he was a tremendous player, and he turns out to be a tremendous young man.  He came up this weekend, and fortunately he and his dad were really comfortable with what they saw in the program, and school and community, and it worked out really well.

So we didn’t necessarily start out looking for two quarterbacks, but that’s the way it ended up.  I think as a result of that, we’ll be in pretty good shape at that position for a while.  That is certainly important on any football team.

Q.  Could you give us a thumbnail sketch of Greg Garmon?

COACH FERENTZ:  Greg’s very talented.  He’s an explosive running back, really elusive.  Many of you are familiar with his history, his life history.  He’s been through some trials and tribulations healthwise, and otherwise.  He’s weathered those things in tremendous fashion.

He’s got a tremendous demeanor and outlook and attitude.  He’s a very positive young man, very talented young man.  We’re fortunate, I think that we haven’t had much luck in the state of Pennsylvania overall, but Erie, Pennsylvania has been really good to us.  We are thrilled to get him on the team.

He’s playing in his eighth AllStar Game today.  He’s got a game at 6:00 tonight, as I understand it.  So he’s certainly a champion playing in AllStar Games.  But just a delightful young guy, and the other three players that we’ve had from Erie, that would be fantastic.  So we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

We’re really excited about getting Greg here and looking forward to getting him on the team.

Q.  How realistic would it be for him or Barkley Hill to be a starter by the time you start the Big Ten season?

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, I think anything’s possible.  We’re equally as excited about getting Barkley.  Barkley’s a guy that we think is a tremendous young person.  Outstanding football player.  Had a tremendous career up at Cedar Falls on a successful team.

That was one of the obvious positions of need for us.  We really thought it was critical to the point where we were considering signing three running backs, and we gave that thought.  Once we had commitments from Greg and Barkley, we felt comfortable moving forward with those two guys.

And Jason White’s decided to come back to our team, so that gives us a little help there too, rather than graduating.  So I think the combination of those two guys plus what we have on campus, we feel pretty good about that.

We told Barkley and Greg we’re going to let them compete.  And that’s true of every guy that we’ve signed.

Q.  When Barkley initially committed to Iowa State and then changed his mind?

COACH FERENTZ:  That’s probably a good question for Barkley and his family.  But we continued to recruit him respectfully, if you will.  Just kept the line in the water.  Came back and visited with him on occasion.  Not frequent, but on occasion.  I think over a period of time, maybe he just felt  I don’t want to speak for him  but maybe he felt this style of offense might be better suited for him.  I think that’s probably as big a factor as anything.

But I’d let him answer that.  We’re just thrilled that he chose to come here.  We’re very excited about that.

Q.  Based on the attrition you’ve had on the defensive line this year with graduates and before, how realistic is it that one or more of your recruits could see playing time or compete for a starting position this year?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think playing time is realistic.  Starting hopefully won’t be the case.  I think that’s a tough challenge on either side of the ball up front.  But that, you know, clearly is a big concern for us.  We had three seniors a year ago go to the NFL, and all three of those guys did really well as rookies.

Five seniors on this year’s ballclub, so you lose eight quality players.  It’s a little bit like we went through with the offensive line in ’08, ’09.  You lose eight quality players in a twoyear span, that really leaves you a little thin in terms of experience.

I think it’s really paramount the guys on campus have the best chance to develop into starters for us, and that’s going to be a real focal point.  We can talk more about that next week moving forward.  That’s going to be really critical.

Right now we have four guys that are defensive line guys.  Two of them are a little bigger and more developed than the other two.  But I think all four have great upside.  And I think the two bigger guys, certainly Jaleel and Faith have a better opportunity to come in and contribute next year because of physical maturity.  But I think all four guys are guys that we’re excited about.  You know, it’s going to be fun to see how that develops.

Q.  You had some success in Chicago this year getting those guys, Faith and Jaleel.  How big of a role did a guy like Maurice Fleming have in helping you guys recruit?

COACH FERENTZ:  Maurice, as you probably well know is a really charismatic young guy.  He’s got a really special personality to him.  If you meet his mom and his grandmother, you get a little clue and insight in terms of where that comes from.

We were very impressed with Maurice.  He came to one of our oneday camps back in June, and he won all of us over that way, offense and defense.  Then we got to know Maurice, and it was even more we felt better about everything.  It was really exciting for us.  That’s important.

A nice sidebar or a nice benefit we enjoyed is that Maurice is pretty active, and players seem to know players.  He was really active on the recruiting front.  He’s got a great personality.  He’s pretty persuasive.  I don’t think there’s any question he helped us a little bit with some of the other guys and we appreciate that.

Q.  You have two junior college guys, and you seem to have developed a relationship with Iowa Western, can you talk about how beneficial that is to have that here in Iowa?

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, it worked out well.  Last time we all visited, I thought it was a 5050 shot on Reilly.  I really thought there was more than, you know, probably an even chance that he was going to stay in college so we weren’t sure where that was going to go and what was going to happen.

He made a decision, and I don’t think he could have made a bad one, quite frankly.  He was in good shape either way.  So he made a decision, and it just so happens that Eric Simmons was a guy we knew a little about from a year ago.  He was an excellent student, a presidential scholar out of Madrid, and went to Western.

He had a little bit of an association, talk about connections.  He and Austin Blake knew each other a little bit through their high school days.

So we talked to Eric about coming in and starting school in January.  He was excited about that opportunity.  From all reports right now he’s off to a really good start.  We’re two weeks into this thing right now, so we’re just really happy to get him.  It’s nice to have that option available to us.  So we’re really excited about having him join.

Q.  We haven’t had a chance to speak with you in person since Marcus Coker left.  I wondered if you could tell us your thoughts on that whole situation?

COACH FERENTZ:  Well, obviously, he’s left school.  We wish him all the best.  Again, I said it before and I’ll say it again, I think Marcus is a tremendous young guy.  We wish him all the best moving forward.  Anything else we’ll be happy to talk about that next week.

Q.  What about Nate?  You’ve got offense, defense?

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, he’s an interesting guy.  If you’ve seen him on tape or seen him play, he’s really an interesting guy.  It’s eightman football, and I think Chad was nineman football, Chad Greenway, I’m not suggesting they’re the same player, but they are a little bit the same in that they play both ways.  Really are dominant players and guys that watch the film.

The thing that jumped out at you is they really enjoyed playing.  That was pretty evident.  He really competed.  I was a little confused there for a minute, you know.  He was running the ball to the right, and everybody stopped.  I was trying to figure out what the heck happened because the white line was over there.

It’s a smaller field, and it took me a while to figure that out.  But he’s a really high energy guy.  He’s a guy that I think has a chance to play a couple different positions for us.  I think he’d like to start at running back.  We’ll put him there and see what happens and kind of go from there.

Q.  You signed the sons of a couple of former Hawkeyes.  Talk about Keppy and Kittle.

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, it just kind of worked out that way.  Myron was here back, gosh, in the mid ’80s, I guess it would have been, and came from Durant.  Hometown of Jon Roehlk.  Had a nice career here.  We got on Mitch a little bit.  Picked him up on the radar screen from the wrestling, first and foremost.

I think we were one of his first offers last spring.  He came out to spring ball one day with his dad, and just really impressed us.  Obviously, his tape impressed us.  So we’re really thrilled about him.  And with George Kittle.  You know, Bruce played here.  I didn’t hold that against him.

Bruce, his wife is a much better athlete.  Jan was an All-American basketball player, and I think held records at Drake.  She and her sister beat up on Bruce and I in 198384.  They beat the crap out of us.

That was the deciding factor.  I think George is a guy that’s really, if you watch his tape he’s an in between player, not sure what positions he’s going to play.  But I certainly like his competitiveness.  He’s an intelligent young guy, and again, that comes from his mom.

We think he’s a guy that has a chance in our program to blossom and develop.  So we’re really excited.  He’s got good ball skills.  He’s about 6’4″, 205, and might be a tight end, outside linebacker.

We’re not sure where he’s going to fit, but we think he’s a good football player and we’re really happy to get him.  And I know playing here is important to him.  That certainly counts, too.

Q.  Talk about the recruiting rankings?

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, I just predict if you come back 10 years from now, it’s probably the same.  Lot of those schools in the preseason are Top 10 for next fall too.  So, I don’t really pay too close attention.  Not amused, but entertained is a better choice of words.

I got the back up on ESPNU, and it’s amazing.  It’s really becoming to look like draft coverage in some ways, and there are a lot of similarities.  To me, the NFL draft is a celebration of what a player did in college, and today all the TV coverage is really of what players have done in high school.

So those are neat things, neat to report and all that.  Just like our guys that are moving on.  They’re going up for the NFL draft.  But wherever they end up, he’s got work to do when he gets there.  And if he plays that way, I’m sure he’ll play very, very well, and it will be easy to convey that to the people that come in and ask about him.

Those are the kind of reports and feedback we got from the players, coaches, support staff that we visited with that we recruited.  All we can do is try to project what you think a player’s going to do once they get to your school and into your program.  We tried to do an intelligent job of that.

So as far as the rankings go, they really don’t mean a lot at this point.  I think what’s really important is where the players are in their last two, three years of their career.  I think that’s really what’s paramount and are they on track to get their degrees.  They are on track to have the kind of careers they hope to have when they get there.

After the celebration’s over, I think it’s really important at some point that really the focus is on all the hard work that has to go into earning their degree at a Big Ten school, playing high level competition and competing successfully.  That gets left out of the equation a lot, you know?  And that’s okay.  Today’s a day of celebration, but at some point that’s what you have to move on to.

Q.  How active was LeVar?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’s active.  He’s in learning.  Once we had an opening whatever day that was, Monday, Tuesday, he was full speed.  I’m laughing because I think he missed the plane by three or four minutes out on the west coast, and ended up in Chicago at 5:30 the next morning.  He was on a couple of goose chases.  It was a way for him to break in.  Welcome to recruiting and welcome to coaching.

Q.  Would it be presumptious . . . ?

COACH FERENTZ:  Nothing’s official right now.  But he got his feet wet, for sure.  When I talked to Bruce Kittle last night and this is Bruce’s first year as a fulltime college coach.  It’s about a good way to sum it up, so don’t worry about the past because it will probably be more of the same.

Q.  Does Conner come in as your No. 1 punter?

COACH FERENTZ:  John Wienke and Jonny Mullings competed for that position.  Both guys made improvement during the fall.  So we’ll go through 15 days, and somebody’s going to come out number one.  And I think Conner’s going to have a chance to come in, and compete.  So we’re all for it.  It’s whatever’s best.  That’s what it comes down to.  But he’ll have an opportunity to compete in camp.

Q.  If I’m not mistaken you are offerinfg four-year scholarships?

COACH FERENTZ:  You know, I’m not sure.  I think they received it.  I’m not sure.  All I know is we have guys that four or five years, and our goal is for them to graduate and have a great career.  So the $2,000 legislation won’t be important.  It won’t matter to our commitments.  These guys  they want to be here.  This is not a oneyear trial or anything like that.

Q.  So logistically it didn’t change anything?

COACH FERENTZ:  I didn’t give it any thought, quite frankly.  I’m not sure about the rules.  It doesn’t really matter.

Q.  How many walkons do you think you’ll take?

COACH FERENTZ:  We’d like to get our roster to 115, 118, somewhere in that ballpark.  We’ll know more after we get through spring practice to see who sticks with the team, who doesn’t.  We just had a freshman walkon lineman retire a couple weeks ago.  So those things happen.  Hopefully we’ll end up around 118, typically.

Q.  Did any recruits express concern that you haven’t named a defensive coordinator yet?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think one name came up this past week and maybe one other time.  But I don’t think it’s a big deal.  What I told people is we’ve been here 13 years.  We’ve been really fortunate.  One thing I’ve always appreciated about coaching here, and I coached here in the ’80s, the first guy to leave, Coach Fry was able to bring great coaches in, and we haven’t lost many guys since I’ve been here.

We’ve had two retire.  One at 68, one at 70, but that’s going to happen.  Couple guys go to the NFL.  So you know, guys move around on occasion.

One thing I’ve always known is we’re always going to have good people here and good coaches.  So I’m not worried about that, and I think our recruits understood that as well.  It really wasn’t a big factor.  At least it didn’t seem to be.  There is no way for me to measure that.  Maybe they weren’t bringing it up, but it didn’t seem to be a big issue.

Q.  Coach, this offensive line, is there potential for anybody else to come aboard?

COACH FERENTZ:  We have the potential.  We still are waiting on one prospect to make a decision.  We’ll wait to see what happens there.

Q.  What plans do you have for the Super Bowl?  What kind of emotions will it be for you having your son going?

COACH FERENTZ:  I’m hoping to be there.  Like the fools that we are, we’ll be here working on Sunday, hosting another junior day.  But when that’s completed, I’ll be on my way to Indianapolis.  Hopefully I’ll get there for kickoff and go as a fan and go as a dad.  So it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Q.  I know you guys continue to recruit.  You have to recruit to the finish line.  Has it become more difficult?  Is it a little bit more combat, I guess, for lack of a better term, as it gets closer to signing day?

COACH FERENTZ:  Yeah, it’s been kind of crazy the last couple years.  I think, I don’t know if this is any different, but it’s just kind of the nature of recruiting.  It’s interesting.  Some of the other schools that were scrambling around a little bit at the end too.  Nobody’s immune to it.

So it’s an interesting process.  I’m still a huge believer that early signing would be a good thing for everybody.  Again, it wouldn’t be mandatory but a voluntary exercise all the way.  But I think it would be helpful for the recruits that don’t want the attention and all that stuff.

But it doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction, so I’m not worried about that too much.  But that’s in some ways recruiting is a lot saner than it was, but in a lot of ways, it’s interesting.

Q.  When something comes up in recruiting and got a little crazy towards the end, do you guys just go in there with the mode of we’ve got to get back there?  We’ve got to get in there?

COACH FERENTZ:  You just try to reassure people.  You never know what kind of smoke screens are being thrown around, and that’s part of the game.  So it happens.  You just try to address the things that might be getting thrown out there and try to take them head on.  That’s all you can do.

Sometimes you have to use your imagination.  After a while it becomes clear what other folks are saying.  It’s not like it takes Dick Tracy to figure it out.  You just try to address it and be proactive.

Q.  Do you get concerned when you have to add a component to say something that may have never been said publicly.  But now with social media it gets out there, and you bring the component of fans into it who are reacting to that prospect?

COACH FERENTZ:  I’m probably not as in tuned to some of that.  The staff kind of keeps me abreast of some of that stuff.  That’s like our own players.  We really try to encourage our players and people involved in recruiting not to get on there.  But it’s like a moth to a flame a lot of times.  Yeah, it’s an interesting phenomena, interesting phenomena.

Q.  When did you start looking at Ott from Nebraska?

COACH FERENTZ:  You know, Reese gets in his car and starts driving around.  Somewhere between here and there, he stops somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, I think.  Who knows what state he’ll be in.  His car dealer deserves combat pay, because Reese puts a lot of miles on his car.

But Reese got on to Drew kind of early, I guess, and we encouraged Drew to come over.  Quite frankly, he was in one of our oneday camps and pretty much struggled.  We were totally unfair.

He’s an outside guy and played tight end and is really a good athlete.  We asked him to be a defensive lineman for a day in camp, and that wasn’t very much fun for him and that wasn’t fair.

But we just kind of went with what we believed in and saw him do in high school film.  He was really comfortable playing there, and he’s a good basketball player.  A quality young guy from a quality family.  So we really felt good about the whole package.  Take that one day of camp and throw it out.

We think he’s got a real high upside.  We’re really excited about him.  He’s got some growth to make in the years ahead, as does Daumantas.  But if you watch those guys and really do some work on them, they’re the guys that we think have great upside.

You go back and look at a guy like Karl Klug who came in under 210, Bryan Mattison and Ken Iwebema, came in at 218 when they were freshmen.  All three of those guys played really well for us.

So I think both Drew and Daumantas kind of fit that profile, if you will.  They’re not going to be out there next year playing, probably.  You never know, but I think if they got that right attitude and work ethic that we think they have, I think they’ve got a chance to grow into the kind of players that we’re used to playing with.

Q.  Were you guys regional this year in recruiting or positional as far as coaches?

COACH FERENTZ:  Both.  We did both.  I think we have to do that.  You try to make sure players are really familiar with everybody on the staff.  I only get one crack at a home visit, so I think if position coaches get involved, too, that helps.

You try to do every little thing you can.  It helps us get to know the players and the prospects a little bit better.

Q.  Is that staying the same future?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think it’s what works for us.

Q.  Did the Aaron Curry recruit, did that get awkward with Rick moving to Nebraska?

COACH FERENTZ:  I don’t think so.  I mean to me it became clear in my opinion after December passed, it was time for us to move on for the most part.  That’s kind of how I saw it.  You know, that’s recruiting.  You just keep moving and worry about the ones you get.  There’s a lot we don’t get.

Q.  The defensive coordinator thing, did you get them or not, the kids?

COACH FERENTZ:  Somebody else threw it out there probably at some point.  But maybe it was.  I think we got both of them, come to think of it.  The most recent was Sean Draper, that was one more question.  As you get closer to signing, you’d be amazed, really sometimes it’s a fair question.  It was easy to answer.

Q.  How’d you answer it?

COACH FERENTZ:  It will be fine.  We’re going to be fine.

Q.  Do you have any home visit story this is year?

COACH FERENTZ:  Some really good meals, again.  You know me.  Well, unbelievable.  Just what I needed.

Q.  Number 3 son, what is his attitude?

COACH FERENTZ:  He’s looking around here.  He’s looking pretty hard at Iowa, as you might imagine.  If that ends up being what he does, that’s great.  You know, we’ll support him, whatever he chooses to do.

Q.  Is it hard not to get too wrapped up in recruits the day before signing period it comes between you and someone else and then they choose someone else?  Is that a hard process to get through?

COACH FERENTZ:  I think it’s a lot harder on the prospects, not that it’s not hard on us.  One thing I try to explain to recruits at the front end is usually  not for all, but for a lot of them  what’s hard is telling adults that have treated them well, and you develop relationships with people and talk to them a lot, to tell them, no, you’re not coming to their school.  That’s hard.

But do the math.  Just to the last point.  If a guy can take five visits, you’ve got an 80% failure rate there.  So it’s hard for prospects to understand that.  We do this every year.  We know the rules and how it’s going to be.  You can only make one school happy.

Football’s all about team work and doing the best for the team.  But in recruiting, it’s the one time a football player has to do what’s best for them.  They have to get down to what’s going to make them happy.  For us to pretend like we know, that’s being presumptious.

Figuring out for themselves, relying on their families and their support networks to determine what it is that’s going to make them happy as they move forward.  Ultimately, they’ve got to do what’s best for them.  I get that.

I didn’t get that so well in the early ’80s.  But after you do this for a while, you kind of develop a little understanding that you’re not going to win them all.

It’s kind of like coaching games.  It would be wonderful to win them all, but it probably won’t happen.  If you can’t live with the hard part about this whole stuff, you probably ought to do something else, because it’s part of the job.  It’s really hard on prospects at times.  Really hard on them as you can imagine.

Q.  With Marvin leaving and you picking up a couple wide receivers, is it one or more?

COACH FERENTZ:  We’ll let all those guys compete.  That’s a position right now where, we have a lot of positions, and I’ll talk more about this next week.  Just in general we’re a really young team right now moving forward.  I don’t think we have a lot of returning AllAmericans or all Big Ten guys.  So for me it’s open season where everybody’s going to compete and work hard.  I think it’s exciting.

We told every guy in the selection, if they can come in and help us, we’re all for it.  That’s kind of where we are right now.  So I think the players are excited about that.  But to the point I made earlier, there is a lot of hard work that goes with that too.  If you want to get out on the field next September, you have to really work hard.  That’s what it takes.

You look at guys like Moeaki and Bulaga, guys that came in and played as freshmen.  Look at the work they did before they got here and once they got here.  That’s really what it takes.  But we’ve got a really open mind to where we’re heading here.

My answer was that I didn’t expect anything to crazy with the exception of uncertainty on the part of Alex Kozan. Turns out, there were more surprises than just the Kozan decision.

As of this writing (2:00p central) Kozan had yet to make his decision and he was also a ‘no show’ at his high schools signing day gathering, according a Denver reporter who sent the info out on twitter.

Perhaps Iowa knows where it lies here, as they offered a scholarship just last night to Reid Sealby from Byron, Illinois. He verbally committed to the Hawkeyes and then faxed in his letter of intent Wednesday morning, so he is in the fold. Iowa lists him at 6-5/250.

Does the fact Iowa offered an offensive lineman at literally the 11th hour tell us anything about Kozan’s decision? That would be a safe assumption, then again Sealby could also play on the defensive line, too.

Another Wednesday surprise occurred when George Kittle received an offer from Iowa Signing Day morn and instantly verballed to Iowa. According to The Gazette, Kirk Ferentz made the call this morning after Iowa missed out on a few signing day commit decisions. George’s father Bruce played for and coached under Hayden Fry at Iowa. The article goes on to say that Iowa has not settled on a position for Kittle, who is 6-4/200 pounds.

The lack of surprises was a very good thing, too. Iowa signed every player it had received a public verbal commitment from. (Kozan was never on record saying he had committed to Iowa, but numerous news outlets, including ESPN, reported the commitment as if it had been given). This includes their four-star crop in RB Greg Garmon, DL’s Jaleel Johnson and Faith Ekakitie and OL Ryan Ward.

There were a few other small surprises, in the name game department.

Florida DL Daumantas Venckus is now listed as Daumantas Venckus-Cucchiara, which is pronounced DOE-mahn-tis VINS-koos koo-CHAR-uh. I spoke with Gary Dolphin today and we were laughing about how he might handle that call. Perhaps ‘DVC’ maybe a shortcut nickname.

By the way, as I was talking with Gary about some of his memorable calls, I was reminded of the first every play he called as Iowa’s official play by play broadcaster; a 63-yard fake reverse that Tavian Banks took to the house on Iowa’s first play of scrimmage in the 1997 season. ‘Tavian takes it to the Banks!’ Not a bad lid lifter.

Also, the commit Iowa fans had come to know as Anthony Morgan is listed by Iowa as Anthony Gair.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers viewed Ott as a tight end and they had no room at the inn for him at that position. The Hawkeyes were more than happy to gain the signature and commitment of Ott, whom was Nebraska’s Gatorade Player of the Year in the state as well as just the 21st ever Nebraska high school player to earn that honor.

He has a great frame and excellent quickness for his considerable size and the challenge will be amongst the Iowa coaching staff as to where to play him. Given his athleticism, he might be a Christian Balard/ Jonathon Babineaux type in that he will be able to play both inside and out at the college level. Babineaux came to Iowa as a fullback and then played both end and tackle. Ballard committed as a tight end, but after the Scout.com camp organizers had him go through defensive line drills at their Iowa City camp, it was all over.

High school honors – - Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior . . . named to Parade All-America team, the 21st Nebraska high school player to earn the distinction . . . earned first team all-state honors for three straight years after earning honorable mention recognition as a freshman . . . four-time first team all-district selection . . . Career – - helped prep team post 41-6 record over four years . . . team was state runner-up in 2009 and reached state semifinals in 2008 and 2010, before falling in quarterfinals in 2011 . . . holds school records for single season (211) and career tackles (626) . . . recorded 122 tackles as a senior, with two interceptions and two recovered fumbles . . . 52 receptions as a senior for 960 yards and 18 touchdowns, along with two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown . . . as a junior recorded 136 tackles and one interception, along with 31 receptions for 513 yards and eight touchdowns . . . school-record 211 tackles as a sophomore, with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries . . . 39 receptions for 480 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore . . . as a freshman had 15 receptions for 126 yards and 157 tackles . . . team captain as a junior and senior . . . four-year football letterman while playing tight end, offensive line, quarterback, linebacker and defensive end . . . also earned four letters in basketball and track.
Personal – - Born 6/26/93 . . . criminal law/civil engineering major . . . named “Mr. Football” on Nebraska Academic All-State team . . . member of National Honor Society . . . parents are Sheree and Dan Ott . . . high school coach was Jeff Ashby.

First things first, the pronunciation: DOE-mahn-tis VINS-koos koo-CHAR-uh. Good luck, Gary and Ed. All that is missing is a ‘Maximus’ thrown in and you have a Gladiator. Definitely a nickname in the making. DVC?

It’s difficult to peg just where Venckus will play at Iowa. He has the frame to add 30 to 50 pounds. If he can add 40 or more pounds and keep the backside pursuit skills that show up on the film, it will be a battle to keep him at defensive end or move him inside.

He appears to have a bit of Karl Klug in him. Klug was an undersized lineman when he came to Iowa, but had a motor that never quit and excellent fast twitch reflexes. Venckus appears to be cut out of a similar mold and if he can learn to play with leverage at his 6-feet-5 frame, he’ll find a home along the line and be a solid contributor a few years down the road.

From his notes you will read below, he was named to the All Broward County team last year. That is quite an honor, as well as being 2nd team All State in Florida as a Defensive End.

STATUS: Signed LOI

High school honors - – Named second team all-state as defensive end and third team all-state as offensive lineman as a senior . . . named to all-Broward County team on defense as a senior, as selected by coaches . . . selected first team all-county by Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel . . . named to first team Under Armor All-Star team . . . Career – - earned four letters while playing tight end and defensive end . . . helped team advance to state playoffs as a junior and senior . . . team captain as a senior . . . set school record with eight fumble recoveries as a senior . . . recorded 105 tackles as a senior, with 16 sacks, six caused fumbles, eight recovered fumbles and one touchdown . . . also had 28 tackles for loss, 22 pressures and 10 pass break-ups . . . also lettered in wrestling and track.
Personal – - Born 3/23/94 in Klaipeda, Lithuania . . . open major . . . four-year member of President’s List . . . parents are Violeta and Matt Cucchiara . . . high school coach was Marc Guandolo.

Gair, whom Hawkeye fans came to know as Anthony Morgan during the recruiting process, is a big hitter and earned a three-star ranking from Scout.com. He was also a well sought after prospect, gaining offers from Arizona, Iowa State, Northwestern, Rice, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

Given that list, it’s easy to say Gair is also an athlete who takes the ‘student’ portion of the relationship seriously. The Hawkeyes have loaded up in the defensive backfield in recent years and have been producing several great players who have gone on to the NFL. A redshirt may seem likely, but he arrives with a pretty big frame.

STATUS: Signed LOI

High school honors - – Earned all-district honors as a junior and senior . . . Newcomer of the Year as a sophomore . . . Career – - four-year letterman as defensive back . . . member of state championship team as a sophomore and junior . . . recorded 122 tackles, two sacks and one interception as a senior . . . 116 tackles, three sacks and an interception as a junior . . . recorded 185 tackles as a sophomore, including 102 solo stops . . . also three-year track letterman, competing in sprints and relays . . . state champion in 400 meter dash.
Personal – - Born 5/18/94 in New Orleans . . . business major . . . member of prep Honor Roll . . . graduated Cum Laude . . . earned Academic Achievement Award . . . parents are Raquel Gair and Rodney Morgan . . . high school coach was Chris Cunningham.

Simmons played high school ball for small class powerhouse Madrid, but he didn’t receive much attention from recruiters during his senior year. He chose to go the junior college route to market his skills on a bigger stage and that paid off after just one fall.

Simmons is a solid student and will have four years to play three at Iowa, giving him the option to redshirt this year as he acclimates himself to the Iowa system. You never want to play the comparison game, but this is a path similar to the one taken by former Hawkeye and current NFL guard Marshal Yanda. Simmons will play either center or guard for the Hawkeyes

STATUS: SIGNED LOI

Hawk-Item - – Enrolled in spring semester classes and will participate in spring practice.
Junior College – - Played one season at Iowa Western Community College . . . earned first team all-conference honors in his only season . . . earned academic all-region recognition . . . junior college coach was Scott Strohmeier.

High school honors - – Earned first team all-state honors for three straight years . . . was first team all-conference for three years after earning honorable mention recognition as a freshman . . . named to All-Toyota of Des Moines team as a senior . . . Career – - four-year letterman as offensive and defensive lineman and linebacker . . . helped prep team reach state semifinals for three straight seasons before advancing to title game as a senior . . . helped prep team compile 46-6 record over four seasons, establishing school record for four-year period . . . team captain as a senior . . . as a senior recorded 80 tackles, including seven tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries . . . also earned four letters in track and baseball and three in basketball . . . holds school (60-0) and conference records (58-11) in the shot put . . . won Drake Relays title in the shot put.

Personal – - Born 8/26/92 . . . civil engineering major . . . Presidential Scholar . . . parents are Cherri and Steve Simmons . . . high school coach was Randy Hinkel.

Scout.com rates Smith as a three-star prospect and Iowa had a need at the receiver position to establish depth in years to come. Kirk Ferentz has said in past years that the farther a younger player is away from the line of scrimmage, the better their chance of playing early.

Smith reports a sub 4.40 forty-yard dash time, but take such things with a grain of salt. However, I have watched his highlight videos and he shows some solid top end speed against the competition on the film which is always a difficult thing to judge. He wasn’t recruited by many BCS conference school, with offers from Connecticut and Temple on the table in addition to his offer from Iowa, according to Scout.com.

STATUS: SIGNED LOI

High school honors – - Named first team all-conference and all-New England as a senior . . . Career – - led team to undefeated regular season before losing in state championship game . . . team Most Valuable Player . . . recorded 16 receptions for 241 yards and five touchdowns in seven games as a senior . . . also had 79 yards on six kickoff returns, with one touchdown . . . rushed 58 times for 555 yards and six touchdowns and completed 17-of-42 pass attempts for 213 yards and two scores . . . recorded 19 tackles on defense, with two interceptions, five pass break-ups, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
Personal – - Born 1/30/93 . . . undecided major . . . liberal arts interest . . . parents are Maureen Smith and Denzel Forbes . . . high school coach was Todd Marble.

Johnson is another standout ‘get’ for Iowa in this class, as he is rated as a four-star prospect by all of the major recruiting services. He had scholarship offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Arizona, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Indiana and others.

Johnson had a late flirtation with Michigan State, but elected not to visit East Lansing after taking his official visit to Iowa City in late January.

For Iowa fans wondering if any of these recruits has a chance to come in and shore up the defensive line in 2012, you should hope the answer is no. It’s rare to see an 18 or 19 year old arrive on a college campus equipped to handle the physical side of the Big Ten, much less the mental nuances that help players gain leverage advantages in the trenches. Look for Johnson and Faith Ekakitie to redshirt as freshmen, which bodes well for the future.

High school honors – - Earned prep All-America recognition as a senior . . . first team all-state, all-conference and all-area as a senior in only season at Montini Catholic . . . first team all-area as a junior at St. Joseph’s High School . . . Career – - three-year starter as offensive and defensive lineman . . . helped prep team post 12-2 record as a senior while winning state championship . . . team captain as a senior . . . recorded 80 tackles as a senior, including five tackles for loss, three sacks and nine pressures . . . also earned two letters as a heavyweight wrestler.
Personal – - Born 7/12/94 in Brooklyn, N.Y. . . . sociology major . . . member of prep Honor Roll . . . parents are Tina and Ralph Johnson . . . high school coach was Chris Andriano.

STATUS: SIGNED LOI

Greg Garmon was one of the more highly sought after running backs in the 2012 recruiting class.  He receive four stars (on a five star scale) from each of the major recruiting services. Maxpreps.com tabbed him as the fifth best running back in his class.

His commitment to Iowa came hours after the program had released the news that Mika’il McCall would be leaving the program and a week before we all learned of Marcus Coker’s departure.  He is a mix of speed and power; he can lower his shoulder and get the tough yards in addition to turning a short gain into a long touchdown run with his 4.40 forty yard dash speed.  With offers from Miami, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Florida State, Tennessee and several other blue blood programs, Garmon is a legit, big time prospect who will get every opportunity for playing time in 2012.

Garmon has also overcome personal hardship, overcoming cancer as a child. Randy Petersen of the Des Moines Register wrote a great article on Garmon earlier this week that you can read here.

High school honors - – selected to compete in Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl following senior season . . . earned first team all-state honors as a senior after being named second team as a junior . . . first team all-conference as a junior and senior . . . Career – - three-year letterman in football, helping prep team post a 23-9 record . . . career totals include 2,859 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns . . . rushed for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior . . . had 11 touchdowns and 1,225 rushing yards as a junior . . . rushed for 584 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore . . . also three-year letterman in track.
Personal – - Born 12/26/92 . . . open major . . . parents are Noelle and Mike Colpoys . . . high school coach was Mark Soboleski.

STATUS: SIGNED LOI