A
That was kind of what I thought also. We recruited him to get to his brother and that turned out to be a Fail.
You would think that with our shortage of corner backs that if the kid was athletic, he could at least help supply depth there, but I guess not.
Here's the press release
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IOWA CITY, Iowa - University of Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz announced Friday that running back C.J. Hilliard will transfer from the Hawkeye football program.
“C.J. Hilliard has elected to transfer to another institution closer to home to continue his academic and football pursuits,” said Ferentz. “C.J. had a tremendous attitude in our program and we wish him the best.”
Hilliard is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended St. Xavier High School. He redshirted in 2014.
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IOWA CITY, Iowa - University of Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz announced Friday that running back C.J. Hilliard will transfer from the Hawkeye football program.
“C.J. Hilliard has elected to transfer to another institution closer to home to continue his academic and football pursuits,” said Ferentz. “C.J. had a tremendous attitude in our program and we wish him the best.”
Hilliard is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended St. Xavier High School. He redshirted in 2014.
Ho-hum. Just another Ferentz Fallout. We have to expect about 10 to 12 in each underwhelming recruiting class before the class graduates.
No, but KF is ultimately responsible for having a turnover ratio that is playing a major factor in our mediocre results. He is ultimately responsible for offering a scholarship to a kid that got beat out and didn't even play RB his senior year of high school. Whatever the motive behind this offer initially, it seemed like a mistake by week 1 of his senior year of HS.
This transfer news is good news imo. I applaud the staff if the rumors are true and Hilliard wasn't invited to camp initially. It was done quick enough hoping he would get the picture and elect to transfer giving him time to find a better fit for his talent levels if he really wants to play football in college. Better Hilliard moved on now versus two years down the road having never contributed in a hawkeye uniform while eating up a scholarship for four years. We moved a couple WR to RB in the off-season and they immediately jumped ahead of Hilliard on the depth chart, that says a lot. I do think the Iowa program has finally decided to make tough decisions as it relates to the kids that ultimately sign on the dotted line, evidenced by the Beneventi situation last year. Hilliard probably should have rec'd the same treatment the year prior. I get Iowa wants to be the nice guy and do things the right way, but when a player doesn't progress and isn't deserving of a BCS offer from Iowa, they should be up front, tell them face to face and move on...the sooner the better. The coaching staffs batting average as it relates to running backs the last five or six years has been awful. They need to get to the root of that problem.
I see nothing wrong with this kind of turnover. It opens up a roster spot for another recruit and gives iowa options. Yeah, it hurts if it is someone that was maybe going to provide some depth or play special teams but I'd much rather these kind of guys move on and get to play elsewhere while opening up chances to replace them with a better athlete.
Everyone is always up in arms about the SEC over signing and then running off guys. this seems to be the better of the two scenarios.
Everyone is always up in arms about the SEC over signing and then running off guys. this seems to be the better of the two scenarios.
The one thing I won't get worried about is turnover from a guy buried on the depth chart.
Ferentz is ultimately responsible because of 2 key factors:
1. His staff decisions impact attrition because not every position coach is good at pushing players without also pissing (some of) them off. For example, Kaz was that way on the DL ... and we experienced attrition accordingly. Similarly, Phil Parker is known to be a bit of a yeller ... and DB is another spot that we frequently suffer attrition.
2. His decision to place such an emphasis on fundamentals is likely viewed as highly boring to A LOT of players. Rather than relying upon scheme to compensate for poor technique - Ferentz's philosophy is to develop players into hard workers and diligent technicians. As a result, many Hawk players have been VERY success away from football ... and many others have been so adept at their football position that they've been successful in the NFL. However, in this day and age of ego and instant gratification ... this approach doesn't jive with every player.
We had 3 scholarship punters last year but apparently losing RB's is AOK with Kirk. Given our track record with Backs....heck no big deal amiright!?
We have lost 8 players in 2015. is that a bad sign?
http://thegazette.com/subject/sports/hilliard-leaves-iowa-20150821
I do not think so. Attrition is bad when it is a probable starter. When it is some one who will never see the field is a good thing. So I guess you have to look at it on a case by case basis. Now we have an extra scholarship to go find an Offensive tackle.
Someone needs to tell the writer of that article that Colin Goebel also left the team this year.
Recruited him to get his brother? Is that what Iowa is doing with 90% of the 2016 class? I hope so because Hilliard had better offers than most of this years group.
He didn't even try to get his brother to come to Iowa either, he made that clear.
He didn't even try to get his brother to come to Iowa either, he made that clear.
Get back to me when it's somebody on the two deep.
Seriously? Kirk Ferentz is the LEAD RECRUITER for every kid that signs with Iowa. Same as Harbaugh at Michigan, Kill at Minnesota, Meyer at FOSU. You get the picture................
Thank you. Same people complaining are the ones who love to bitch about Iowa and anything KF. Hilliard wasn't even in top 5 for RB. Attrition happens in this case luckily wasn't anyone who seemed like he'd see the field anytime soon minus special teams. Not like we lost a contributor. Same people complaining are probably ones who complain about why Iowa keeps seniors on scholarship who never panned out and played much.
Are future potential starters unimportant? you don't care about next year or the following?
IOWA is a developmental program, Kirk has made that abundantly clear. It's hard to have a developmental program when the players leave before they are developed.
"Are future potential starters" Give me a ****ing break. First you cry like babies because all he got was MAC like school offers and Iowa offered him and he came. Now he's a future potential starter and he is leaving. OMG OMG OMG! Your kind and blinded by your pettiness. Anything to lay at the feet of the coaching staff.
His developmental program hasn't work for the past 5 years and based on the 2016 class with the numerous 2* rated recruits it appears to be trending further down the ladder. The program has become a regrouping process hoping for the best rather than a reload one wonders what Barta is talking about when he states "the base is solid" lets get serious. Hoping for the best this year but I'm not very optimistic the ranks are very thin with little or no impact players.
touched a nerve i see. the truth hurts bad hunh?
well get used to it, this season and post season will be more of the same pal. enjoy the pre conference squeakers, head scratching coaching errors and that old reliable famous Ferentz September Turd game.
what are you talking about i see Matt Roth's, Jonathan Babineux's, Abdul Hodge's, and Bob Sanders type guys on this team.......
No ... Ferentz is simply the face of the program and the organizational mastermind. He is NOT holding the hand of each recruit throughout the recruiting process. He also lets the staff promote candidates that they feel would be good additions to the program.
I agree that Kaz and Phil are completely different beasts. Kaz would constantly berate guys ... and he completely failed to inspire them as a unit. Phil is just a yeller ... and the intention is to help them become more detail oriented.
As for the latter point ... you caught the underlying theme of BOTH of my points ... while Ferentz is ultimately responsible (simply because it's his program) ... he's not the CAUSE of the attrition. Of course, some posters here seem to think that all the program's ills are attributable to him.
When your program is winning, is a national story, and you are a top 5 coach such a loss is irrelevant, and fits into the "master plan" the top 5 coach has in place...
When your program struggles to beat teams that once were "tuneups" for the real season...then player attrition is a bigger deal. The "master plan" no longer exists... Desperation, ineptitude, panic replace the "genius" that once was.
When your program struggles to beat teams that once were "tuneups" for the real season...then player attrition is a bigger deal. The "master plan" no longer exists... Desperation, ineptitude, panic replace the "genius" that once was.
Iowa was listed in his 5 star brother's final 4 choices along with OSU, Bama and Notre Dame. Do you really think he would have even considered (or visited) Iowa without CJ being here?
I don't disagree with your point ... however, many here would marginalize Miami (OH) as simply being a MAC school that should be nothing more than a tune-up team.
Also, given how dominant of a team that the 2002 Hawks developed into ... it is rather interesting and perhaps even surprising that they would have struggled with the likes of a Miami of Ohio squad (irrespective of who their QB was).
Probably not, but to say that CJ wasn't a better recruit than most of the 2016 class would be lying. He is more than a "give him a scholarship to try to get his brother here". Epic fail if so, and CJ didn't help recruit him much either.
The problem with this kid leaving and others like him isnt so much that he is a guy buried on the depth chart, its that every year Iowa takes 10-12 guys like him that either leave the program or never make the two deeps. This leaves huge holes in the two deeps every year and requires underclassmen who are in no way ready to start or see the field have to start or play significant mins during the season.
This has created a problem for Iowa and has started the programs slip downward becuase other B1G programs like Wisconsin, MSU and now Minny have been doing a better job then Iowa at developing and retaining players.
This has created a problem for Iowa and has started the programs slip downward becuase other B1G programs like Wisconsin, MSU and now Minny have been doing a better job then Iowa at developing and retaining players.
