Question for you ... and others who are interested in answering .... the Hawkeye coaches have a ton of guys who they evaluate based on their own criteria (a recipe that they know typically leads to success). They offer a large number of those guys ... and when they offer, they're not looking at the recruiting ratings that recruiting services supply. Instead, they're looking at their own evaluation notes (that are far more exhaustive) AND they're all accounting for the fact that they're actively recruiting guys who demonstrate reciprocal interest in the Hawks.
So here's the question ... isn't it a good thing when the Hawkeye coaches are landing guys who are at the top of their recruiting boards? Does it matter what the "stars" say ... if the guys we land are the guys who the coaches wanted the most anyhow?
Lastly, this is a point I frequently make ... but few folks who complain about Iowa's recruiting ever seem to truly think about it and/or address it ... the coaches contact almost all of the no-brainer talent too. However, how many of the no-brainer talent guys do you think actually respond to their social media inquiries, texts, phone-calls, and messages through their HS coaches? If the coaches are shouting from the trees ... but are responded to with silence ... is it the best allocation of their time and resources to chase after guys who have no interest in our program?
The only thing you can ultimately do to get your foot in the door with those sorts of guys is to win. However, sometimes, even that is not enough. Sometimes such guys are looking for the latest flavor of O or D ... and that is something that the Hawks cannot offer. Sometimes the guys are looking for 100 or 1000 dollar handshakes ... and again, that is not something that the Hawks can offer. Lastly, sometimes those guys are looking for guarantees ... guarantees that they'll start ... and that's something that philosophy goes against everything our program stands for. Thus, for many high-end recruits ... the Hawks doesn't even get in on the ground floor (to garner their interest). For those guys ... I don't feel bad about missing on them.