We have a battle on our hands trying to get Proctor to stay in state and become a Hawkeye. Alabama is in the picture and will make it more difficult. Kids have different goals and ideas for college and they can make their choices based on their own criteria. If an Offensive Lineman has an Iowa offer and a Bama offer, as much as I'd love to say differently, if their goal is to play for a National Championship, the choice is pretty clear. But if they want to be developed, and end up in the NFL, I would argue that the better path would be to become a Hawkeye.
Obviously both programs have top level coaching and have a history of putting guys in the league. But I believe that the overall level of skill on the game field and practice field at Alabama might actually HURT individual development.
If you are, as an example a Center and you are practicing or playing at Alabama, you are lined up next to at least a 4 star recruit on each side at guard. And not only a 4 star, but one that has survived in the Alabama program. On run plays, he is blocking for a 4 or 5 star talent playing running back. On pass plays, a 4 star quarterback is passing to 4 star receivers.
In the concept of the slight edge, if you have a slight edge at every position, you have a bunch of those slight edges adding up. So the stakes of your individual performance on any one rep aren't as dire. You don't have to hold your block as long on a pass play because the WR are getting open .2 seconds faster. On a run block, you don't need to drive them as far or hold the block as long, because the running back might hit the hole .1 second faster, or be able to shake off the tackler. Over the course of a career, that might lead you to be a little more lackadaisical in practice or a game, because your individual lapses are made up for by the overwhelming abundance of talent that is on your side and you never have to own up to and correct your mistakes. Your technique might get a little sloppy because your team is most likely going to win regardless, and you will probably have more talent than the guy across from you, and even if you don't, the rest of your team does. The overflow of talent at each position can fill in the gaps at other positions on individual plays.
At Iowa, you have to strive for perfection, because you are playing next to a 3 star on one side, and a former walkon on the other side. You're blocking for a very good back, but you had better hold your block as long a possible. Our receivers, while improved, are still not on the level of Alabama, and haven't gotten the separation necessary, or as quickly, so you better hold your block if you want success. The term "execution" is overused but so appropriate for this program. You need to do you job, to the best of your ability on every snap. The guy next to you has his hands full as well and the guy running behind you is an excellent, but not freak athlete. The talent gap is small, so a minor miscue might not be made up for by someone else. You need to have your best technique and execution on every play for us to succeed.
So if we can say, for argument's sake, that the Hawkeye and Bama coaches are equal as it relates to OL, playing at Iowa forces you to raise your game, and milk every ounce of talent out of yourself, which ultimately results in better "development."
So given a 4 or 5 star OL talent, they will most likely end up in the NFL by going to Alabama or Iowa. But maybe the fact that Iowa doesn't recruit like Alabama actually helps the people that choose that route, and why our last 2 4* OL recruits, Daniels and Wirfs were top draft picks. And low rated 3 stars played in the NFL: Boettger(5.5), Reynolds(5.4), Render(5.5), Jackson(5.5). And why highly rated kids coming out of high school that had considered the Hawkeyes, but decided on Bama, Cyrus Kouandjio(4th overall recruit in country) and Ross Pierschbacher(107th overall recruit) had great college careers, but have struggled in the NFL.
Obviously both programs have top level coaching and have a history of putting guys in the league. But I believe that the overall level of skill on the game field and practice field at Alabama might actually HURT individual development.
If you are, as an example a Center and you are practicing or playing at Alabama, you are lined up next to at least a 4 star recruit on each side at guard. And not only a 4 star, but one that has survived in the Alabama program. On run plays, he is blocking for a 4 or 5 star talent playing running back. On pass plays, a 4 star quarterback is passing to 4 star receivers.
In the concept of the slight edge, if you have a slight edge at every position, you have a bunch of those slight edges adding up. So the stakes of your individual performance on any one rep aren't as dire. You don't have to hold your block as long on a pass play because the WR are getting open .2 seconds faster. On a run block, you don't need to drive them as far or hold the block as long, because the running back might hit the hole .1 second faster, or be able to shake off the tackler. Over the course of a career, that might lead you to be a little more lackadaisical in practice or a game, because your individual lapses are made up for by the overwhelming abundance of talent that is on your side and you never have to own up to and correct your mistakes. Your technique might get a little sloppy because your team is most likely going to win regardless, and you will probably have more talent than the guy across from you, and even if you don't, the rest of your team does. The overflow of talent at each position can fill in the gaps at other positions on individual plays.
At Iowa, you have to strive for perfection, because you are playing next to a 3 star on one side, and a former walkon on the other side. You're blocking for a very good back, but you had better hold your block as long a possible. Our receivers, while improved, are still not on the level of Alabama, and haven't gotten the separation necessary, or as quickly, so you better hold your block if you want success. The term "execution" is overused but so appropriate for this program. You need to do you job, to the best of your ability on every snap. The guy next to you has his hands full as well and the guy running behind you is an excellent, but not freak athlete. The talent gap is small, so a minor miscue might not be made up for by someone else. You need to have your best technique and execution on every play for us to succeed.
So if we can say, for argument's sake, that the Hawkeye and Bama coaches are equal as it relates to OL, playing at Iowa forces you to raise your game, and milk every ounce of talent out of yourself, which ultimately results in better "development."
So given a 4 or 5 star OL talent, they will most likely end up in the NFL by going to Alabama or Iowa. But maybe the fact that Iowa doesn't recruit like Alabama actually helps the people that choose that route, and why our last 2 4* OL recruits, Daniels and Wirfs were top draft picks. And low rated 3 stars played in the NFL: Boettger(5.5), Reynolds(5.4), Render(5.5), Jackson(5.5). And why highly rated kids coming out of high school that had considered the Hawkeyes, but decided on Bama, Cyrus Kouandjio(4th overall recruit in country) and Ross Pierschbacher(107th overall recruit) had great college careers, but have struggled in the NFL.