I should add ‘of the last nine years’. Let’s call this the ‘modern era’ of recruiting, if you will, as this is the era where we have the most complete data on prospects in the two primary recruiting databases that are available to fans: Scout.com and Rivals.com

Let’s take a look at each of the recruiting classes going back to the class of 2002:

2002 KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Calvin Davis, Ryan Majerus, Clinton Solomon, Mike Elgin, Jovon Johnson, Marcus Paschal, Jason Manson, Edmond Miles, Kyle Schlicher, Miguel Merrick and Nathan Chandler. ATTRITION: Warren McDuffie, Larry Thomas, Eric Zilisch, Richey Williams, David Vickers, Steve Burch, Wesley Thibeaux and a key injury to Chris Felder.

2003 KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Mike Jones, Albert Young, Drew Tate, Bryan Mattison, Kenny Iwebema, Champ Davis, Tom Busch, Mike Humpal, Scott Chandler and Mike Klinkenborg. ATTRITION: Jonathon Zanders, Alex Willcox, Herb Grigsby, AJ Johnson, George Eshareturi, James Townsend, Tyler Fanucchi, Richard Kittrell and Khalik Price, to name a few. Kittrell was known as the Big Human…and was one of the first recruiting sensations of my time in the industry, following after Blake Larsen. This class was not long on multi-year starters, but those that did played key roles.

2004 KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Brandon Myers, Damian Sims, Seth Olsen, Charles Godfrey, Anton Narisnskiy (a great teammate and model student athlete), Andy Brodell, Adam Shada, Bradley Fletcher, Mitch King and Matt Kroul. ATTRITION: Ted Bentler, Harold Dalton, Walner Belleus, Lucas Cox, Nyere Aumaitre & Griffin Karr. Myers, Olsen, Godfrey, Brodell, Fletcher, King and Kroul were some level of all conference in their time, and King was an All American. Bentler had some acclaim coming in but it never worked out.

2005 KEY CONTRIBUTORS: See a recent article linked here.

2006 KEY CONTRIBUTORS: DJK, Brett Morse, Jeremiha Hunter, Amari Spievey, Rick Stanzi, Adrian Clayborn, Paul Chaney, Karl Klug, AJ Edds, Ryan Donahue, Julian Vandervelde, Jeff Tarpinian. STILL IN THE MIX: Troy Johnson, Lance Tillison. ATTRITION: Anthony Bowman, Arvell Nelson, Derrick Smith, Dominique Douglass, James Cleveland, Julian Smith.

I have to pause here and look at the extremes in this class. In my opinion, this class has a chance to the best in the range we are looking at and could push for the best of the Ferentz era. This class is full of kids that are making championship level contributions. But it also had a handful of players that were some of the biggest embarrassments to Iowa football in decades with the off field issues, including marijuana and theft. But when you look at the overall talent that this class had, taking into account some of the players that are no longer around, it’s hard to argue that this wasn’t the best. It’s also interesting to ponder this; what if Arvell Nelson hadn’t gotten in trouble and been kicked out of school? Would Rick Stanzi have gotten his chance? Would he have put in the work, or gotten the reps he needed to get in the spring of 2008 if Nelson would have been there? Things that make you ponder…also, over the past four or five years, Iowa has had as much talent on the practice field at the receiver position as it has had in my lifetime, at the same time. James Cleveland had 104 receptions for 1,214 yards and 14 touchdowns in the 2009 season at Houston! Douglass was a freshman All American receiver.

To go into much greater detail with the rest of the classes is probably unfair as there are many players that will get their first chance to shine this coming season. But the 2007 class includes Adam Gettis, Broderick Binns, Christian Ballard, Tyler Sash, Marvin McNutt, Bryan Bulaga and Colin Sandeman. Each of these players has distinguished himself to date. Others waiting in the wings are Cody Hundertmark, Tyler Nielsen, Jordan Bernstine, Mike Daniels, Bruce Davis and a few others. Those players will help this class push the 2006 Class as one of the best of the Ferentz era.

I have to go with the 2006 group at this point in time. 2007 is coming on strong and will have something to say about this. Remember from yesterday’s article, the 2006 Class was ranked #6 in the Big Ten and 40th overall by Scout and the 2007 Class was 5th in the Big Ten and ranked 37th by Scout. Rivals had the 2006 Class #40 in the nation and the 2007 Class 28th.

As I was typing this I pulled a few files out of my desk drawer…literally. I found the Class of 2000 printout I have saved from years gone by, back before they emailed these items to the media. Here are some key names from the 2000 Class: Jonathon Babineaux, Warren Holloway, Tony Jackson, Nate Kaeding, George Lewis, Aaron Mickens, Derrick Pickens, Derreck Robinson, Fred Russell, Demond Sanders (yes, that is how it was listed), Benny Sapp (who would be suspended from school at the start of the 2002 season), Jermelle Lewis and Kevin Worthy. Notable attrition: Michael Allen, Kelvin Bell, Charlie Bodiford and Jhante Jones.

One final anecdote…in going through and looking at these names again, many for the first time in a long time, the primary and most mind boggling thing that stood out to me is how the Iowa football program has been so consistent since Kirk Ferentz took over. Sure, there have been 11 win peaks and 6 win valley’s since the end of the 2000 season. But for the most part, we have seen a team that can compete with the big boys in this conference in most seasons.

They have done that despite a significant degree of turnover within their recruiting classes. Turnover like this is not unusual; it happens at most every college because only 22 guys can start and egos get in the way and some kids get into trouble in the classroom, off the field or they just don’t pan out for any number of reasons. Iowa has had their share, in addition to having had their share of injury plagued seasons.

Yet the program has been able to navigate those waters successfully, for the most part. For a program that isn’t located near a beach or does not reside in a state that produces an amazing number of high major athletes each year, I think it’s a testament to the Iowa coaching staff.

First, their abilities and second, the continuity we have seen at Iowa, which is an unspoken testament to the leadership of Kirk Ferentz.

It’s through exercises like this where I am once again reminded of how fortunate we are to have these men leading the program.

Tags: hawkeye football, Hawkeye Nation, hawkeyenation.com, Iowa football, recruiting