These three years’ recruting classes at the QB position are atrocious.
Nic Shimonek (we all know how this turned out), Tyler Wiegers, Ryan Boyle & Drew Cook. That’s it. Three years worth of QB prospects.
Want to know who we beat out for those recruits?
Central Michigan (twice), Montana State, Lamar, Bowling Green, Toledo, Illinois State and Rutgers. Thank God for Rutgers or I wouldn’t see another Power 5 school on that list.
Is that good enough to get it done here?? Is it all that much to ask to develop a few relationships with some more sought after guys (I know recruiting isn’t an exact science, but it’s a damn good indicator) and possibly convince a couple quarterbacks, against better competition, to sign with the Hawkeyes?
Maybe beat out a school for a signature that has a better football pedigree than, say, Lamar?
When you miss that badly, for that many years in a row, it’s more of a lack of effort and poor recruiting, than it is bad luck.
This is what happens when we do it the Ferentz way and end up starting a guy with next to zero experience (like KF didn’t know he was gonna be the guy in ‘17 - hey maybe get him some reps last year!?!!).
As I watch us continually try to run the ball against 8 and 9 men in the box, I think to myself how much it would help out our All-Conference caliber RB if we could connect on a pass to any of the deep thirds of the field.
The blueprint is out there now. We struggle mightily with this, and as a result it’s getting increasingly tougher to loosen up the defense. Wadley can’t do it all by himself, and those of you cutting down this offensive line need to remember that most teams now don’t respect us to take the lid off, and we’ll continue to see fewer two safety looks and more one on one matchups as teams continue to shut down our run game. This is a huge problem.
We missed horribly for three years in a row, and we are now paying for it with a guy who should be learning as a Redshirt Freshman having to lead this team. His lack of experience shows with his decision making and pocket awareness; and he was never super accurate to begin with. He has a rocket arm and measureables, but needs more time to groom those other attributes. Asking a guy with his lack of experience to lead this team means we’re gonna pay for it when opposing DCs start to exploit this weakness, and dare us to go deep, because so far we’ve shown this to be a very low percentage play.
An experienced game manager would do wonders to loosen up the defense and let Wadley go work, instead of continually running into an 8/9 man front.
But it is what it is now. The result is a another season between 6 and 8 wins, most likely. The most expensive 6 to 8 wins in the country, thanks to Barta.
Nic Shimonek (we all know how this turned out), Tyler Wiegers, Ryan Boyle & Drew Cook. That’s it. Three years worth of QB prospects.
Want to know who we beat out for those recruits?
Central Michigan (twice), Montana State, Lamar, Bowling Green, Toledo, Illinois State and Rutgers. Thank God for Rutgers or I wouldn’t see another Power 5 school on that list.
Is that good enough to get it done here?? Is it all that much to ask to develop a few relationships with some more sought after guys (I know recruiting isn’t an exact science, but it’s a damn good indicator) and possibly convince a couple quarterbacks, against better competition, to sign with the Hawkeyes?
Maybe beat out a school for a signature that has a better football pedigree than, say, Lamar?
When you miss that badly, for that many years in a row, it’s more of a lack of effort and poor recruiting, than it is bad luck.
This is what happens when we do it the Ferentz way and end up starting a guy with next to zero experience (like KF didn’t know he was gonna be the guy in ‘17 - hey maybe get him some reps last year!?!!).
As I watch us continually try to run the ball against 8 and 9 men in the box, I think to myself how much it would help out our All-Conference caliber RB if we could connect on a pass to any of the deep thirds of the field.
The blueprint is out there now. We struggle mightily with this, and as a result it’s getting increasingly tougher to loosen up the defense. Wadley can’t do it all by himself, and those of you cutting down this offensive line need to remember that most teams now don’t respect us to take the lid off, and we’ll continue to see fewer two safety looks and more one on one matchups as teams continue to shut down our run game. This is a huge problem.
We missed horribly for three years in a row, and we are now paying for it with a guy who should be learning as a Redshirt Freshman having to lead this team. His lack of experience shows with his decision making and pocket awareness; and he was never super accurate to begin with. He has a rocket arm and measureables, but needs more time to groom those other attributes. Asking a guy with his lack of experience to lead this team means we’re gonna pay for it when opposing DCs start to exploit this weakness, and dare us to go deep, because so far we’ve shown this to be a very low percentage play.
An experienced game manager would do wonders to loosen up the defense and let Wadley go work, instead of continually running into an 8/9 man front.
But it is what it is now. The result is a another season between 6 and 8 wins, most likely. The most expensive 6 to 8 wins in the country, thanks to Barta.
