Hawkeye Report Podcast with Seth Wallace

[thewop]

I encourage you to listen to the new Hawkeye Report Podcast with Seth Wallace. Here's a comment he made that I found fascinating:

Coach Wallace commented that with a lot of recruits, it's difficult to know what their bodies will be in 2 years after they get in Coach Doyle's program. He specifically noted guys who are in the range of 6'3", 200+ lbs, they play basketball, track, etc. now. He said you just don't know if they'll look like linebackers, OL's, DL's, etc. I just found that very interesting, that they'd have so little idea of position with seemingly so many guys.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

In part it's because of our philosophy of recruiting "athletes" moreso than guys who play a certain position. Oh sure, we OF COURSE recruit for need, and recruit guys to play certain spots. But we look for versatility. KF has said this on many occasions. And not just versatility in terms of what position they could play in football....but overall athletic versatility. Their recruiting philosophy puts a lot of emphasis on guys who can play multiple sports and play them at a high level.

We've had so many guys come in as one thing, and graduate/depart as something entirely different. So there is some built-in uncertainty due to taking that approach. Greenway was a HS QB. Babineaux was a Fullback. Dallas Clark was a linebacker. Robert Gallery a Tight End. There are so many stories like that. So maybe more than some programs, they have to really factor the potential physiological development and plug that calculation into the gonkulator when they are considering extending an offer to many of their prospects.

 

[MWardT]

Great podcast. Couple things that jumped out at me. First, Seth said he sees two of the freshman defensive backs helping out next year and one of the running backs. I would have thought one defensive back plays for sure, but was surprised to hear they expect two. Also surprised a running back is expected to play considering Iowa is deep at that position next year.

Seth also said he expects next years class to be somewhere between 14-17 commits. I knew it was going to be a small class, but not as small as 14.