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Iowa and WR Recruits

Morrison71

Morrison71

HB Legend
Nov 10, 2006
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Where does Iowa go wrong here? It’s clearly not a strength and hasn’t been for some time. I thought about putting this in the David Bell thread but thought it needed it’s own.

I always thought having a strong running game and offensive line would attract more wrs but that clearly hasn’t been the case. I appreciate Iowa isn’t a team that isn’t going to air it out all the time. I just think they probably could have done better in this area over the years but it really hasn’t been addressed. Just wondering some thoughts?
 
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Morrison71 said:
Where does Iowa go wrong here? It’s clearly not a strength and hasn’t been for some time. I thought about putting this in the David Bell thread but thought it needed it’s own.

I always thought having a strong running game and offensive line would attract more wrs but that clearly hasn’t been the case. I appreciate Iowa isn’t a team that isn’t going to air it out all the time. I just think they probably could have done better in this area over the years but it really hasn’t been addressed. Just wondering some thoughts?
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I believe there are a number of factors going against Iowa. I have even talked to high school coaches from florida and other states and the consensus is that our offense just isn't that sexy. It hasn't been for a long time. We have had a couple of four star wide outs commit to us and they didn't increase our production dramatically.

The first thing that the coaches seem to want in a wide out before they hit the field is that they can prove that they can block corners. The run comes first and we have classically fallen back on the pass. So, amazingly talented wide outs want to go to a school that either is a pass first offense or go to a school that has proven that it can develop wide outs to make it to the pros. Iowa hasn't done either of those things.

Honestly, I don't understand how we don't load up with 4 star running backs every year either. We put linemen in the pros every year and we run the ball a lot. As a featured back you would have every chance to prove yourself.

Skill positions have been our weakness for years.
 
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Iowa has landed some great guys like Smith-Marsette, Brandon Smith, and Tyrone Tracy ... so it would strike me that the Hawks don't "go wrong" here.

However, I would AGREE that the Hawks have traditionally had difficulty landing highly-touted WRs.

But ... I'd reiterate that just because the Hawks haven't necessarily landed highly decorated WRs, does not imply that our WRs aren't very talented!
 
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hawkrockno1 said:
I believe there are a number of factors going against Iowa. I have even talked to high school coaches from florida and other states and the consensus is that our offense just isn't that sexy. It hasn't been for a long time. We have had a couple of four star wide outs commit to us and they didn't increase our production dramatically.

The first thing that the coaches seem to want in a wide out before they hit the field is that they can prove that they can block corners. The run comes first and we have classically fallen back on the pass. So, amazingly talented wide outs want to go to a school that either is a pass first offense or go to a school that has proven that it can develop wide outs to make it to the pros. Iowa hasn't done either of those things.

Honestly, I don't understand how we don't load up with 4 star running backs every year either. We put linemen in the pros every year and we run the ball a lot. As a featured back you would have every chance to prove yourself.

Skill positions have been our weakness for years.
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I can understand the rbs situation a little bit and this is probably true for wr as well, there just isn’t enough top talent out there. However, there are plenty of more wrs that come from nothing than running backs.

Iowa does tend to take athletes. And that has worked out well. The downside I guess you could say is the lack of physical talent at wr.
 
I'm not sure if Iowa does this, but I'd like to see Iowa go after speedy athletic QB that don't quite have the arm for P5 D1, and try them at wide reciever. There's a lot of high school teams out there that have their best overall athlete at QB, and it seems to me like these could be ripe with WR talent.

Also, we need to develop more of a vertical and/or sexy passing game to recruit WRs. Seems like we're going in that direction.
 
I'm thinking this could change this year and next year. Now that we have shown we are willing to pass more this should help in recruiting. And with the running game we have they should have a lot of one on one situations. I would bet YOUR house we land one or two 4 star recruits in the next couple of years....:D
 
A lot of top skill-position players don't have the team-first attitude that KF demands. They have been told they are a future Heisman/All Pro recipient since they were in peewee league football. But Iowa's offensive style certainly hasn't helped to attract star players either. I am a little puzzled that recruiting in general has seemingly hit a wall this year. The program, and especially the offense, is showing improvement.
 
GetOnTheLine said:
I'm not sure if Iowa does this, but I'd like to see Iowa go after speedy athletic QB that don't quite have the arm for P5 D1, and try them at wide reciever. There's a lot of high school teams out there that have their best overall athlete at QB, and it seems to me like these could be ripe with WR talent.

Also, we need to develop more of a vertical and/or sexy passing game to recruit WRs. Seems like we're going in that direction.
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So like Marvin McNutt?
 
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GetOnTheLine said:
I'm not sure if Iowa does this, but I'd like to see Iowa go after speedy athletic QB that don't quite have the arm for P5 D1, and try them at wide reciever. There's a lot of high school teams out there that have their best overall athlete at QB, and it seems to me like these could be ripe with WR talent.

Also, we need to develop more of a vertical and/or sexy passing game to recruit WRs. Seems like we're going in that direction.
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We did that with Jay Scheel, too bad for us because of the injuries. Looks like we are going to try it again with Carter Bell. Although prolly not a scholarship offer.
 
grayhair81 said:
A lot of top skill-position players don't have the team-first attitude that KF demands. They have been told they are a future Heisman/All Pro recipient since they were in peewee league football. But Iowa's offensive style certainly hasn't helped to attract star players either. I am a little puzzled that recruiting in general has seemingly hit a wall this year. The program, and especially the offense, is showing improvement.
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I don't think that it's hit the wall as much as the boat is just about full ... and the coaches are focusing a lot more on trying to win games. Once December comes around ... we'll see the recruiting efforts re-double. However, until then ... winning games with the guys who are currently on campus ... that's going to take precedence!
 
I think the last Hawkeye WR to catch a pass in a regular season NFL game was Tim Dwight. Ferentz era has no track record for putting WRs in the NFL. Top HS WR talent want to be targeted more than 3 times a game.
 
Some of our most productive WR's were QB's before they came to Iowa. McNutt, DJK, Hinkel and if I remember correctly, Solomon was a QB in HS, but was listed as am ATH in his recruiting profile.
 
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There are fifty 5 and 4 star WR's in the 2019 class. None of them are in our footprint, with the fast majority of them from CA, FL, GA, and TX. Those kids are going to play close to home most of the time unless a blue blood convinces them they will be on national TV every week playing for championships. We don't have that clout.

The closest ones (besides Bell) are in St. Louis and Iowa didn't even offer one of them, I'm assuming because of academics, as he is thinking of going to Western Michigan. Each one of the top 10 or 12 blue bloods/recruiting schools get 1 or 2 of these 50, which leaves the rest of the schools fighting for about 20 of them. We have to work extra hard to lure kids to a school that likes to be balanced and may average 20 less throws a game then some of these schools among other things.

Also, people don't realize how influential these camps are at directing kids to certain programs (whether money is involved is debatable, I believe there is) and Iowa will never be involved in any of that. It's a racket out there and I'm glad and proud of how clean our program is. I think our new staff has improved recruiting, including WR, and I think we'll keep finding a couple kids with loads of potential.
 
DutchyFunStar said:
I think the last Hawkeye WR to catch a pass in a regular season NFL game was Tim Dwight. Ferentz era has no track record for putting WRs in the NFL. Top HS WR talent want to be targeted more than 3 times a game.
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Within Iowa's O ... we've been more pass-oriented for multiple seasons. It all depends on the talent on the roster. We were more pass-oriented with the group of Tate, Hinkel, Solomon, and Chandler ('04-'05) ... and we were more pass-oriented with the group of Vandenberg, McNutt, Davis, Martin-Manley, and Fiedorowicz ('11).
 
I find it interesting how Iowa seems to have difficulty recruiting 4 Star TE's. Probably the opposite problem, they can't see immediate playing time because of the Depth we have developed there (with mostly 3 star Kids). I am sure that Copeland, KOK and Brian can do the same with WR group. I like the kids we have in the WR room right now and think it will only get better.

We don't get loads of 4 Star talent at Offensive skill positions for much the same reason we would be a 11-1 Big Ten Champ that would not make the CFP final four, instead of a 1 loss Big 12 Team (if its Texas or Oklahoma). Our Brand (so I am told) just doesn't compare to Texas, Oklahoma, nor does it compare for recruiting against he Wisconsin, Nebraska, Big Ten East Blue-bloods, SEC or ACC elite teams.

Its not fair but its not to far form the truth.
 
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DutchyFunStar said:
I think the last Hawkeye WR to catch a pass in a regular season NFL game was Tim Dwight. Ferentz era has no track record for putting WRs in the NFL. Top HS WR talent want to be targeted more than 3 times a game.
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I don't really care if the WRs catch a pass in the NFL. They need productive college WRs, anything else is gravy.
 
ghostOfHomer777 said:
I don't think that it's hit the wall as much as the boat is just about full ... and the coaches are focusing a lot more on trying to win games. Once December comes around ... we'll see the recruiting efforts re-double. However, until then ... winning games with the guys who are currently on campus ... that's going to take precedence!
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Exactly. Its game time right now, not prime recruiting time. Yes we schedule visits to show the kids the atmosphere of a Kinnick gameday experience, but the coaches have 110 current players to work with, and put in the best position to win games, while the high school kids are putting the finishing touches on their current seasons. This was going to be a small class anyway, and the staff is hard at work, when they can, on the 2020 class.
 
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spbc7 said:
Huh? None of those guys have proven to be great at this point
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He didn't say great players, he said great guys. And I agree, these 3 seem to be great teammates/team players, who seem very coachable and are becoming pretty damn good. Hopefully they will be great players before they leave.

We haven't had anyone in a while who gets you all excited like Smith-Marsette does every time he touches the ball, or it goes his way, and Brandon Smith has made some GREAT catches this year that we haven't seen a whole lot of in a while. 2 of them were a couple of the GREATEST catches in college football this year. We haven't seen Tracy yet, but I have the feeling he is going to make us forget Easley in a hurry next year playing the slot. Just a hunch.
 
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Given how our offense has looked this year, we are clearly moving to a "pass more often" approach (last week not withstanding, but there was a reason for that). Maybe it will help attract some more WR's.
 
spbc7 said:
Huh? None of those guys have proven to be great at this point
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I'm excited about what I've heard about Tracy from interviews of Copeland. ISM has continued to demonstrate improvement from last year. And, as we've been observing from Brandon Smith ... he's growing before our very eyes (as a player). I'm very bullish on the future of our WR corps. Heck ... I even look for Cooper to be ready to take on more of an expanded role next year.

So ... are those guys necessarily great? Well, they're currently just TR SOs or younger .... and our passing game has been very TE-centered this year anyhow. After Fant leaves ... that's going to likely drive up the number of possible targets that our WRs will likely get. Furthermore, next year, as JRs ... I expect that they'll continue to make strides ... and, what's more, they'll be having a talented, SR QB passing the ball to them too!

Thus, I don't think that it is a huge stretch to project things a little bit ... and be positive about the outlook of our WRs.
 
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GetOnTheLine said:
I'm not sure if Iowa does this, but I'd like to see Iowa go after speedy athletic QB that don't quite have the arm for P5 D1, and try them at wide reciever. There's a lot of high school teams out there that have their best overall athlete at QB, and it seems to me like these could be ripe with WR talent.

Also, we need to develop more of a vertical and/or sexy passing game to recruit WRs. Seems like we're going in that direction.
Click to expand...


Iowa has done this numerous times. Clinton Solomon, Ed Hinkel, Marvin McNutt, Jay Scheel off the top of my head.
 
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