[hawks365]

I've always been baffled by the way recruiting works and what goes through recruits heads in college football. It seems like we always end up with an extremely average recruiting class with hardly any 4 and 5 star recruits. I know stars don't mean everything, but usually those players pan out to be better than the 2 and 3 stars.

What's the issue of a recruit coming to play in Iowa? I've never understood the statement other than it's cold during the winter. Durp.

We have extremely nice facilities, a proven coaching staff, a nice campus, solid education, and large fan base. Most of these are some of the best in the country.

I know basketball is completely different and played inside, but how is Fran getting his highly regarded players to come here?

My point is why can our football program never take that next step in the recruiting process and start bringing in top 25 recruiting classes, let alone snagging a couple top 150 players? Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Stanford, BYU, Vanderbilt, TCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Arizona State have top 25 classes at the moment. I know a lot can change, but there is absolutely no reason that we can't be doing the same.

Are Kirk and company not targeting and pursuing highly rated players hard enough and just letting them go to the big time programs? Or is he satisfied with getting the mostly 3 star class?

It would be a lot of fun seeing Kirk and company develop some of these highly rated players seeing with what the staff can do with these middle of the road players.

Finally, does it bother anyone else that it seems that FSU, ND, Clemson, and South Carolina seem to recruit half of the top 150 year in and year out, yet they hardly produce the results you would expect. IE Florida State this year and they still are signing top end recruits left and right.

[1hawkeye1]

Top 25 recruiting classes do not equal wins. That is the least of our problems imho.

[hawks365]

Originally Posted by 1hawkeye1

Top 25 recruiting classes do not equal wins. That is the least of our problems imho.

Yes, but an Elijah Daniel, Eddie Goldman, Noah Spence, etc. type of player could make an impact right away on an area that we are extremely shallow at right away.

Top 25 recruiting classes do not equal wins exactly, but they do make National Championships. I'd like to see the last time, if ever, a team has won a National Championship and didn't have a top 25 recruiting class the year/couple years before.

[superfan12]

Originally Posted by hawks365

Yes, but an Elijah Daniel, Eddie Goldman, Noah Spence, etc. type of player could make an impact right away on an area that we are extremely shallow at right away.Top 25 recruiting classes do not equal wins exactly, but they do make National Championships. I'd like to see the last time, if ever, a team has won a National Championship and didn't have a top 25 recruiting class the year/couple years before.

how do they not equal wins, but equal national championships? last I checked, you have to win to even be in the NC.

[515southside]

Top 25 classes absoutly equal wins after watching the game yesterday and then some sec games not even close talent go a long way unless you run a gimic offense witch Iowa does not.

[hawks365]

Originally Posted by superfan12

how do they not equal wins, but equal national championships? last I checked, you have to win to even be in the NC.

You can win games without having a top recruiting class, but like the above poster said. You need those top end players to get to the top tier and win a National Championship. Just watch an SEC game and it's night and day compared to the PSU/Iowa game yesterday. It feels like I'm watching the game in fast forward with how quick the defenses and players are as a whole.

[tm3308]

Originally Posted by hawks365

I've always been baffled by the way recruiting works and what goes through recruits heads in college football. It seems like we always end up with an extremely average recruiting class with hardly any 4 and 5 star recruits. I know stars don't mean everything, but usually those players pan out to be better than the 2 and 3 stars.

What's the issue of a recruit coming to play in Iowa? I've never understood the statement other than it's cold during the winter. Durp.

We have extremely nice facilities, a proven coaching staff, a nice campus, solid education, and large fan base. Most of these are some of the best in the country.

I know basketball is completely different and played inside, but how is Fran getting his highly regarded players to come here?

My point is why can our football program never take that next step in the recruiting process and start bringing in top 25 recruiting classes, let alone snagging a couple top 150 players? Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Stanford, BYU, Vanderbilt, TCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Arizona State have top 25 classes at the moment. I know a lot can change, but there is absolutely no reason that we can't be doing the same.

Are Kirk and company not targeting and pursuing highly rated players hard enough and just letting them go to the big time programs? Or is he satisfied with getting the mostly 3 star class?

It would be a lot of fun seeing Kirk and company develop some of these highly rated players seeing with what the staff can do with these middle of the road players.

Finally, does it bother anyone else that it seems that FSU, ND, Clemson, and South Carolina seem to recruit half of the top 150 year in and year out, yet they hardly produce the results you would expect. IE Florida State this year and they still are signing top end recruits left and right.

Notre Dame has more cache with recruits than we do. They're Notre Dame. They haven't been relevant for much of my lifetime, but I still know their history. They're still have prestige. The other schools you mentioned have good recruiting bases, as they're in the south. And Florida State still has "name brand" power going for it.

We aren't a name brand, and we don't have a southern recruiting base that's loaded with talent. That makes it much tougher.

[hawks365]

Originally Posted by tm3308

Notre Dame has more cache with recruits than we do. They're Notre Dame. They haven't been relevant for much of my lifetime, but I still know their history. They're still have prestige. The other schools you mentioned have good recruiting bases, as they're in the south. And Florida State still has "name brand" power going for it.

We aren't a name brand, and we don't have a southern recruiting base that's loaded with talent. That makes it much tougher.

What does BYU, Wisconsin, and Missouri have on us then? Hell, even Indiana has a better recruiting class than us. This year and last. I don't recall any of these programs having a better prestige or a better recruiting base, if not the same than us. I'm tired of the excuses for not receiving consistent 4 and 5 star recruits. That's what will get us into the top tier that's been elusive to us.

[515southside]

Wisconsin has more going for it a little more history a coach that goes all out to get the brand out there hes all over with interviews and I wasnt aware the other schools had better classes hell Missouri has been a better program last 5 years.

[drew003]

We need to recruit impact/explosive players at certain positions. DL are hard to develop and extremely important to our defense. That's a position where high-end athleticism matters. We've grown a few high-end lineman (Klug, King, Kroul) but most of our NFL lineman were high-end athletes (Clayborn, Ballard, Kampman, Roth). It is important to recruit 2-3 impact DL athletes every 4-5 years. Losing Rodney Coe hurt, he was a high-end athlete suitable for DL.

We don't need high-end DB's, our zone scheme helps negate the need for top end cover guys, we just need some fluid athletes that are disciplined. Our LB recruiting has been average, we need to get a few more explosive players in every couple of years.

Offensively, we must recruit high-end skill talent. We lack explosiveness, in part because our RB's haven't been explosive or able to make guys miss. Our WR's are looking better and we need to continue that.

We can develop players at the rest of the positions. DL in essential in my mind. When this team has an explosive DL we win games, when this team's DL in average we lose. See 2002-2004 (win), 2005-2007 (lose), 2008-2010 (win).

With that said: Lambert, Faith E, Coe after JUCO, Trace Clark, are very important recruits. We MUST improve DL recruiting. We need guys that can fire-off the ball, hold the point of attack, explosive for 10 yards. I'm hopeful Marcus Spears can put on weight and maintain explosiveness, Cooper can flash in Spring ball, and Davis learns to play with leverage.

[1hawkeye1]

I just don't get wrapped up in ratings for recruits and classes.
We've proven we can win without top 25 recruiting classes. If you want a national championship, then yes. I'm not holding my breath for that, however. KF will not do the things those SEC teams are willing to do get those kinds of players. If you know what mean.

[tm3308]

Originally Posted by hawks365

What does BYU, Wisconsin, and Missouri have on us then? Hell, even Indiana has a better recruiting class than us. This year and last. I don't recall any of these programs having a better prestige or a better recruiting base, if not the same than us. I'm tired of the excuses for not receiving consistent 4 and 5 star recruits. That's what will get us into the top tier that's been elusive to us.

Mizzou has a strong foothold in Texas, thanks to playing IN Texas regularly. Most of their best players have come from Texas. We also had a higher ranked class than Mizzou last year.

Wisconsin has had a strong program for years now. And now, they're flashy. Plus, as much as most of us dislike Biels, he's a pretty personable guy with recruits. For the record, we had a better recruiting class last year (and in 2010) than Wisky.

Indiana? Are you kidding? It's been a LONG time since they had a higher rated class than we did. The ONLY reason they are ranked higher right now is because of Gunner Kiel, who is FROM Indiana. They kept a highly touted quarterback who always wanted to be a Hoosier.

[BALDIES7980]

1. Iowa doesn't spend alot of time going after the Top recruits.
2. Iowa doesn't have alot of visable draw that will bring inTop tier players.
3. Self fulfilling prophesy. If you don't sell yourself as a great place to come no one gets a chance to think it will be.
4. NP has not been on the road recruiting or hands on working with D players for how long now?
5. Our schemes O and D are much like the pros except for the DB's. Players learn to work hard and perform on their own at the position and many get a chance in the NFL because of that. Our DB's struggle on man coverage skills because we don't practice them. They get chances in the NFL because of talent and coaching but then have to learn the trade.
6.KF is anal. If you eff up one time carrying the ball, sit down son. If he perceives you as THE person for the job at any other position you are entrenched. It could be because of talent or negative factors holding others back.

[joshhawk]

Bielima is a stud recruiter. If you go back to our 02-05 teams a lot of the players were his recruits. His last season in Iowa was 01 and after his recruits ran out you started to see a drop off in talent. It probably hurts us a lot having him at Wisco cuz we will be going after a lot of the same kids and he really knows how to recruit against us having played and coached at Iowa.

[Section136]

Im sure the OP realizes there are only about 25- 5 star players per year and, without looking it up, I would bet most of those guys are from the southern part of the country.

Its not like Iowa has a legit shot at landing multiple 5 star players every year.