Football recruiting rankings: Comparative data

[ILHawk]

Iowa has signed 8 of the 11 4-Star rated players from Iowa HS. ISU 1. Mich 2.


Iowa has signed 59 of the 77 3-Star Iowa HS players (77%), ISU 10, Others 8 (TN, STANFORD, OR, ND, MSU, MIAMI, MO, KSU).


Iowa has signed 27 of the 78 NR/ 2-Star Iowa HS players (35%), ISU 40 (58%), Others 6 (CO, WI, STANFORD, MN, KU).

I think if you look, most of the Iowa kids that didn't come to Iowa have been in the last several years. A trend?

[doclee]

That is some interesting stuff. That had to take you a long time. Preciate it

Fully agree! This was really a fun, informative and just flat interesting thread...thank you!

[HawkinGoferLand]

Originally Posted by HawkinGoferLand
Iowa has signed 8 of the 11 4-Star rated players from Iowa HS. ISU 1. Mich 2.


Iowa has signed 59 of the 77 3-Star Iowa HS players (77%), ISU 10, Others 8 (TN, STANFORD, OR, ND, MSU, MIAMI, MO, KSU).


Iowa has signed 27 of the 78 NR/ 2-Star Iowa HS players (35%), ISU 40 (58%), Others 6 (CO, WI, STANFORD, MN, KU).

ILHawk: I think if you look, most of the Iowa kids that didn't come to Iowa have been in the last several years. A trend?

It's actually pretty spread-out over the last decade, with maybe 1 per yr.

2012 AMARAH DARBOH 4-STAR - MICHIGAN
2011 CHRISTIAN FRENCH 3-STAR - OREGON
2010 MATT HOCH 3-STAR - MISSOURI
2010 JAKE FARLEY 2-STAR - KANSAS
2009 DAVID BARRENT 3-STAR MSU
2008 ZACH DAVISON - UNRATED - WISCONSIN
2007 MATT BENTLER - 2-STAR - STANFORD
2006 DORIAN DAVIS - 3-STAR - TENNESEE
2005 MATT PIPHO - 3 STAR - MIAMI
2005 CHRIS MENSEN 2-STAR - MINNESOTA
2004 ADRIAN ARRINGTON - 4-STAR - MICHIGAN
2004 JARED PARKER - 3-STAR - KSU
2004 MAURICE CANTRELL 2-STAR - COLORADO
2003 ZACH HOOD 2-STAR -KANSAS
2002 JON COCHRAN 3-STAR - STANFORD


The only ones on the list I recall giving Hawk fans alot of heartburn were Arrington, Darboh, French and Barrent.

Fans seemed split on French IIRC as a raw athlete, but the fact that Oregon thought he was worthy of scholie got alot of people ticked we didn't get him. 6'5" 242 lb DE for the Ducks with 12 career TKLs as a RS FR. We could use him....

Barrent flipped to MSU after some off-field transgressions by Hawkeye players gave Dantonio some negative recruiting opportunities. His career was cut short.

Davis IIRC was considered not a good fit for Iowa with non-football baggage. He was dismissed from Vols team for rules violations, landed at Cincy were he was also dismissed....

Matt Pipho was probably a casualty of Iowa having a top 10 class in 2005 with 5-Stars Dan Doering, Dace Richardson. 4-Star Rafael Eubanks, plus Marshall Yanda (Pro Bowler), and 3-Stars Andy Kuempel, Kyle Calloway all in that class. Played sparingly until his SR yr at Miami, went on to med school so might have been a great Hawk too. Good article here

[HawkinGoferLand]

Here are the AVERAGE Recruiting Rankings for each team in the B1G over the past 12 years with their current ranking in parenthesis:

Ave_School_(2013)

10 OSU... (2)
11 MICH.. (1)
25 PSU.... (36)
30 NEB.... (13)
39 IOWA. (52)
39 IL....... (42)
41 WISC. (33)
43 MSU... (39)
51 PU...... (68)
58 MN..... (84)
61 NW.... (37)
66 IU...... (57)

[HawkinGoferLand]

Interesting to note both Wisconsin and Michigan St are coming off great runs over the past few years, but neither has cashed in on the recruiting front:

Wisc:
2013 # 33 in-progress
2012 # 63
2011 # 36
2010 # 33
2009 # 51
Average # 43


MSU:
2013 # 39 in-progress
2012 # 38
2011 # 29
2010 # 32
2009 # 37
Average # 35

[JonDMiller]

Good data. I've never gone that deep, but pretty much have been saying the same things for a decade; low population state, not in the sun belt, without a rich history of titles and competing against Mich, OSU, PSU who are in huge population states and do have such histories....if you have a history of winning and are the one stop shop in your state (like Nebraska) you can overcome some things.

Iowa's dark era from 1962-1980, and losing Evy, set them back in ways they may not ever overcome.

We all want Iowa to do great every year...but there are obstacles in place that Iowa can do next to nothing about that are always going to be there.

[LG210]

If we start getting out-recruited by NW, we may never beat them again....

[kirby]

This is why Iowa should go with a system that is an "equalizer" of sorts-kind of how teams have beaten Iowa in the past, even in years when Iowa had outstanding talent--that is a system that keeps defenses off-balance and scores a lot of points...see: N'western/IU/Oregon (although now they have tons of talent, it wasn't always the case)/Boise St./

THis proves that Iowa cannot just line up and run off tackle, run post routes, and the occasional down and out,,,and expect to overcome the talent differences. That said, Iowa has a head coach who does not know how to implement an offense like that (IMO) and seems to dislike that style to his core (this is on record).

[GoHawks76]

The flipside to the argument is that Iowa SHOULD, in theory, have an easier time attracting pro-style recruits here because so few of their peer schools run a similar system and shouldn't be recruiting the same players. If we turn into just another crappy mid-level spread team we will become Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, etc.The most interesting point to be gleaned from the OP is how closely recruiting rank withing the conference matches up to winning percentage. In other words, recruiting rankings matter and are extremely important in most cases.

[ohhawk]

Well I guess we should just be happy with what we've been seeing out of this staff on the recruiting front because rankings mean little and we can never overcome all the inherent obstacles that surround us.

Persoanally I subscribe to the school that believes a good head coach who surrounds himself with a good staff is capable of turning programs around and achieving good things regardless of most obstacles..........numerous coaches and staffs prove this each year.

People make the difference.

[kirby]

Well I guess we should just be happy with what we've been seeing out of this staff on the recruiting front because rankings mean little and we can never overcome all the inherent obstacles that surround us.

Persoanally I subscribe to the school that believes a good head coach who surrounds himself with a good staff is capable of turning programs around and achieving good things regardless of most obstacles..........numerous coaches and staffs prove this each year.

People make the difference.

i agree--the fact that it happens in Boise is pretty remarkable. The fact that Illinois cannot find that guy is somewhat frightening. I'm not sure that Barta has the ability to find that guy at Iowa and KF does not have the incentive to recapture the stuff needed to make a diff.

[dave3912]

The flipside to the argument is that Iowa SHOULD, in theory, have an easier time attracting pro-style recruits here because so few of their peer schools run a similar system and shouldn't be recruiting the same players. If we turn into just another crappy mid-level spread team we will become Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, etc.The most interesting point to be gleaned from the OP is how closely recruiting rank withing the conference matches up to winning percentage. In other words, recruiting rankings matter and are extremely important in most cases.

I agree with this, however it seems many kids aren't really looking to be in a traditional pro-style offense unless it is at Alabama or a top tier team.

[Montanahawk]

Really superior work, HawkinGoferland. I'd really like to see this cross referenced against the numbers of five and four star players in the Midwest. The vast bulk of the elite talent is found in the south(including Texas) and California. The pie that all the schools in the conference have been sharing has been shrunk and that particularly has hurt the non-national recruiters in the conference. Part of the way the conference has compensated for this is superior player development at places like Iowa and UW, and to some lesser extent MSU. Hopefully with conference expansion richer recruiting states like Maryland/DC, and New Jersey(both of these states are pretty deep in quality preps) and other likely expansion states(VA, NC, GA). The conference needs to use added TV revenue to upgrade facilities to compete with the SEC. We'll have more money(TV contracts) and a better recruiting profile from expansion, but will we fully utilize those advantages? There's no "sugar daddy" ala Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens for Iowa, but we should have enhanced revenues we need to take advantage of that.

[GoHawks76]

I agree with this, however it seems many kids aren't really looking to be in a traditional pro-style offense unless it is at Alabama or a top tier team.

A lot of kids don't have a choice in what type of offense they want to play in. If a kid is 6-5 with a rocket arm, he's not going to be running the read option. Not saying we can get that kid at Iowa, per se, but we should be able to find a reasonable facsimile among all of the players that don't fit the spread mold, and there are a ton of them out there. Shonn Greene for example would have been completely wasted in a spread O. OL should theoretically prefer to play at a school like Iowa than for most spread teams. I can't believe those big guys enjoy running 80 or 90 plays a game and sprinting down the field after every big play.

This also extends to defense as most of these spread teams have their D on the field for an inordinate amount of time and that often results in some pretty bad stats. I cannot fathom why any decent defensive player would want to play on one of these spread teams unless it's their local team or a national power like Oregon.

[dave3912]

A lot of kids don't have a choice in what type of offense they want to play in. If a kid is 6-5 with a rocket arm, he's not going to be running the read option. Not saying we can get that kid at Iowa, per se, but we should be able to find a reasonable facsimile among all of the players that don't fit the spread mold, and there are a ton of them out there. Shonn Greene for example would have been completely wasted in a spread O. OL should theoretically prefer to play at a school like Iowa than for most spread teams. I can't believe those big guys enjoy running 80 or 90 plays a game and sprinting down the field after every big play.

This also extends to defense as most of these spread teams have their D on the field for an inordinate amount of time and that often results in some pretty bad stats. I cannot fathom why any decent defensive player would want to play on one of these spread teams unless it's their local team or a national power like Oregon.

I get what you are saying, but a 6-5 kid with a rocket arm is going to go to a place like Okie State. He is going to go to a school where is allowed to use his rocket arm all the time. Iowa isn't that place, Iowa is traditionally a run first offense. That really hurts big time QBs from coming here. Iowa is a run first between the tackles RB but yet Iowa struggles to get a top 10-15 national RB recruit. That blows me away more than QBs I understand why they can't get a really good QB but I would think that RB's and OL's national ranked would love Iowa. Not saying that Iowa hasn't gotten good OL recruits but not as good as other schools that put less in the NFL.

Shonn Greene is a once in a decade RB at Iowa. Agreed he is useless in the spread but because he can't catch the ball out of the backfield worth a crap.

Iowa doesn't recruit well, I think that is a downfall of KF, not the location or the state population.