Iowa recruiting in 'Bama: Interesting Article

[ghostOfHomer777]

https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ts-think-can-happen-derrick-foster/497776002/

Interesting take - Foster seems to have a really good relationship with some of the high school head coaches down there. Given how staunch Ferentz is about having the assistant coaches represent the school in the "right way" ... it sounds like Foster fits in pretty perfectly. At St. Paul's Episcopal, their head coach, Steve Mask, seems to not only think that Foster is recruiting down there the "right way" ... but also, he seems to think that Iowa could come down to the state and regularly land around 3 guys a year for the area.

It also sounds like some of the emphasis is to land skill guys ... with the sentiment that 'Bama and Auburn cannot land all the top in-state guys. I'll be interested to see if Iowa can, in fact, develop a bit of a Alabama "pipeline" down there.

Also, I'll be curious how the Hawks tap Copeland in recruiting through the years too. He was supposed to have some connection to the greater Miami area. Obviously the Hawks haven't made much of a splash in Florida ... and the guy we landed last year was largely attributable to the fact that Lockett's head coach is Marcus Paschal.

Seth Wallace has connections down in Georgia due to his days at Valdosta State. Perhaps that is part of the reason we managed to land Jayden McDonald?

 

[TKingpin]

Landing a skill position guy or 2 from there would be great! Also, a big ole’ Hoss as a DT would be fantastic!

 

[Pepperman]

I think the miss on Thomas Johnston hurt. Long story short, we did everything right in that one and still whiffed (recall he wanted to go to UAB to play with his older brother). I know the Iowa visit went quite well and so did Iowa's visit to his home... frankly, with Iowa having LB opportunity, I'm still not sure what the hell that kid was thinking? At any rate, back to my point - when KF first learned of Thomas Johnston he was skeptical of trying to recruit Alabama and only agreed to show interest because of the fact that Thomas has some extended family in Iowa. I didn't hear him say this first hand, but I think the quote was along the lines of "well, if there's a connection to Iowa, then we can try, but typically we don't get much traction down there..."

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I think the miss on Thomas Johnston hurt. Long story short, we did everything right in that one and still whiffed (recall he wanted to go to UAB to play with his older brother). I know the Iowa visit went quite well and so did Iowa's visit to his home... frankly, with Iowa having LB opportunity, I'm still not sure what the hell that kid was thinking? At any rate, back to my point - when KF first learned of Thomas Johnston he was skeptical of trying to recruit Alabama and only agreed to show interest because of the fact that Thomas has some extended family in Iowa. I didn't hear him say this first hand, but I think the quote was along the lines of "well, if there's a connection to Iowa, then we can try, but typically we don't get much traction down there..."

Johnston's older brother is likely slated to be the starting QB for UAB in '18 (a redshirt SO). Thomas himself earned starts as a TR FR in '17 ... and he played extensively.

UAB was able to sell the allure of high-quality early playing time, playing with his brother (with his older brother as the leader of the team), and playing close to home. Lastly, they were able to also sell to him how he and his brother would be able to help the program rebuild itself ... that's the sort of selling point that can make a kid feel really wanted (and also gives him a sense of a shared, common goal)

Given the above considerations ... his decision wasn't all that surprising. But it obviously was painful ... because he's a talented player who could certainly have helped strengthen our group of LBs.

 

[Pepperman]

UAB was able to sell the allure of high-quality early playing time, playing with his brother (with his older brother as the leader of the team), and playing close to home. Lastly, they were able to also sell to him how he and his brother would be able to help the program rebuild itself ... that's the sort of selling point that can make a kid feel really wanted (and also gives him a sense of a shared, common goal)

One thing I can't remember if I posted here before during his recruitment or not, but if goes hand in hand with your point above... the UAB staff really sold the rebuild. In fact, they were apparently asking the recruits who they'd want to play them in the future movie (I am not making this up) that would be made about the rejuvenation of UAB football...

 

[Georgia_Hawk]

It also sounds like some of the emphasis is to land skill guys ... with the sentiment that 'Bama and Auburn cannot land all the top in-state guys. I'll be interested to see if Iowa can, in fact, develop a bit of a Alabama "pipeline" down there.

Problem is it's not just Alabama and Auburn. Every other SEC school, probably a third of the ACC schools, and a handful of American/Conf USA/Sunbelt schools have strong recruiting ties in the state.

Having said that, I think it is still worth the effort in GA/TX/FL/AL

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Problem is it's not just Alabama and Auburn. Every other SEC school, probably a third of the ACC schools, and a handful of American/Conf USA/Sunbelt schools have strong recruiting ties in the state.

Having said that, I think it is still worth the effort in GA/TX/FL/AL

Absolutely true ... however, relationships are part of what get you into the door. Unless the article is mischaracterizing things ... it seems like Foster has some legitimate credibility with the coaches he's communicating to. Having the blessing of the high school coach is an important step in earning the trust of the players. Furthermore, when you have the trust of the coach, and they think that one of their players is really special ... but under-recruited ... if you recruit that kid, you're then on your way to getting more of an inside track into that school. That's what Phil Parker had done at East English and that's how we managed to get guys like King, Lattimore, and Golston. Subsequently, the dividends from earning the trust of Lattimore and Golston ultimately helped us to lure in Alaric Jackson!

It can then pretty much snow-ball from there ...

 

[DodgerHawki]

Absolutely true ... however, relationships are part of what get you into the door. Unless the article is mischaracterizing things ... it seems like Foster has some legitimate credibility with the coaches he's communicating to. Having the blessing of the high school coach is an important step in earning the trust of the players. Furthermore, when you have the trust of the coach, and they think that one of their players is really special ... but under-recruited ... if you recruit that kid, you're then on your way to getting more of an inside track into that school. That's what Phil Parker had done at East English and that's how we managed to get guys like King, Lattimore, and Golston. Subsequently, the dividends from earning the trust of Lattimore and Golston ultimately helped us to lure in Alaric Jackson!

It can then pretty much snow-ball from there ...

The article is interesting. But Iowa will always face an uphill battle getting players from that far away to ultimately choose Iowa. It has to be done, however. Iowa has been super-successful recruiting guys out of Ohio and Michigan who don't get offers from OSU or Michigan. In those cases, Iowa becomes a viable option for attending as Iowa is near in proximity or a better football school than the other schools offering the player. If a guy in Alabama doesn't get an Alabama, Auburn or Florida offer, but is getting one from say Ole Miss or Miss State, that is still a hard sell as the player has to go much farther away. Hopefully the guys like Brandon Smith, Creamer, McDonald all have great experiences at Iowa and make Iowa a more viable option in Alabama. Certainly Foster is likely to get Iowa at least an initial conversation with the player where previously they wouldn't have.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

The article is interesting. But Iowa will always face an uphill battle getting players from that far away to ultimately choose Iowa. It has to be done, however. Iowa has been super-successful recruiting guys out of Ohio and Michigan who don't get offers from OSU or Michigan. In those cases, Iowa becomes a viable option for attending as Iowa is near in proximity or a better football school than the other schools offering the player. If a guy in Alabama doesn't get an Alabama, Auburn or Florida offer, but is getting one from say Ole Miss or Miss State, that is still a hard sell as the player has to go much farther away. Hopefully the guys like Brandon Smith, Creamer, McDonald all have great experiences at Iowa and make Iowa a more viable option in Alabama. Certainly Foster is likely to get Iowa at least an initial conversation with the player where previously they wouldn't have.

Absolutely, these guys have to see some tangible success from guys who they can relate to ... otherwise it makes it a little harder for Iowa to lure these (southern) guys into the program.

One advantage that Iowa may have in Alabama, compared to the greater metro Atlanta area is that city guys often want to remain in an urban area. That is probably how Purdue and Minnesota manage to have luck landing some of those Atlanta guys. Purdue is essentially still around greater Chicago area ... and the Gophers benefit from Minneapolis. The Iowa City-Coralville region might not seem "urban" enough for some guys. In contrast, Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery are each around the ball-park of 200000 people ... so they're not so big to make the Iowa City area seem tiny.

 

[fezzador]

Absolutely, these guys have to see some tangible success from guys who they can relate to ... otherwise it makes it a little harder for Iowa to lure these (southern) guys into the program.

One advantage that Iowa may have in Alabama, compared to the greater metro Atlanta area is that city guys often want to remain in an urban area. That is probably how Purdue and Minnesota manage to have luck landing some of those Atlanta guys. Purdue is essentially still around greater Chicago area ... and the Gophers benefit from Minneapolis. The Iowa City-Coralville region might not seem "urban" enough for some guys. In contrast, Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery are each around the ball-park of 200000 people ... so they're not so big to make the Iowa City area seem tiny.

Well technically Birmingham is considerably larger than the greater IC area... probably about 5-6 times its size. It's about the size of Omaha, or slightly bigger than Des Moines. Mobile is probably comparable to the Cedar Rapids-IC corridor, and Montgomery is about on par with Cedar Rapids.

That said, I'm actually pretty surprised that the high school talent in AL ranks as highly as it does. There's always been some talent (probably top in the top 12 most years), but usually it's firmly behind Louisiana, Ohio, PA, VA, etc. On top of that, there's 2 SEC schools to share the talent pool with, and even when the local HS talent is at its most fruitful, Alabama and Auburn have to go outside state lines if they want to compete nationally. There's not enough in-state talent to sustain even one top 5 program. LSU has the benefit of being the only P5 school in Louisiana, and it still needs to cherry-pick some talent from TX and FL. IMHO, the only states that are entirely self-sufficient in talent are Georgia (which I think will be the #1 football talent state in a generation, presuming player safety will be improved), Texas, Florida, and maybe California (it's not as good as it used to be IMHO).

Indeed, the vast majority of in-state talent goes to places like UAB, and even some of those 4 and 5 stars go out-of-state because they actually want to get away from Alabama. I'm sure that's an all-too-familiar feeling.

Iowa won't land many of those, but it can certainly steal its share of high-3 stars from plaes like UAB and even Ole Miss. For some, it's an opportunity to play Power 5 football; for others, it's simply a change of scenery.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Well technically Birmingham is considerably larger than the greater IC area... probably about 5-6 times its size. It's about the size of Omaha, or slightly bigger than Des Moines. Mobile is probably comparable to the Cedar Rapids-IC corridor, and Montgomery is about on par with Cedar Rapids.

That said, I'm actually pretty surprised that the high school talent in AL ranks as highly as it does. There's always been some talent (probably top in the top 12 most years), but usually it's firmly behind Louisiana, Ohio, PA, VA, etc. On top of that, there's 2 SEC schools to share the talent pool with, and even when the local HS talent is at its most fruitful, Alabama and Auburn have to go outside state lines if they want to compete nationally. There's not enough in-state talent to sustain even one top 5 program. LSU has the benefit of being the only P5 school in Louisiana, and it still needs to cherry-pick some talent from TX and FL. IMHO, the only states that are entirely self-sufficient in talent are Georgia (which I think will be the #1 football talent state in a generation, presuming player safety will be improved), Texas, Florida, and maybe California (it's not as good as it used to be IMHO).

Indeed, the vast majority of in-state talent goes to places like UAB, and even some of those 4 and 5 stars go out-of-state because they actually want to get away from Alabama. I'm sure that's an all-too-familiar feeling.

Iowa won't land many of those, but it can certainly steal its share of high-3 stars from plaes like UAB and even Ole Miss. For some, it's an opportunity to play Power 5 football; for others, it's simply a change of scenery.

Thanks for the correction. I was a little lazy and only checked the population for the city, proper. I didn't check the greater metro numbers. But yeah checking those numbers out ... it's just as you said.

 

[dbrocket]

https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ts-think-can-happen-derrick-foster/497776002/

Interesting take - Foster seems to have a really good relationship with some of the high school head coaches down there. Given how staunch Ferentz is about having the assistant coaches represent the school in the "right way" ... it sounds like Foster fits in pretty perfectly. At St. Paul's Episcopal, their head coach, Steve Mask, seems to not only think that Foster is recruiting down there the "right way" ... but also, he seems to think that Iowa could come down to the state and regularly land around 3 guys a year for the area.

It also sounds like some of the emphasis is to land skill guys ... with the sentiment that 'Bama and Auburn cannot land all the top in-state guys. I'll be interested to see if Iowa can, in fact, develop a bit of a Alabama "pipeline" down there.

Also, I'll be curious how the Hawks tap Copeland in recruiting through the years too. He was supposed to have some connection to the greater Miami area. Obviously the Hawks haven't made much of a splash in Florida ... and the guy we landed last year was largely attributable to the fact that Lockett's head coach is Marcus Paschal.

Seth Wallace has connections down in Georgia due to his days at Valdosta State. Perhaps that is part of the reason we managed to land Jayden McDonald?

For a team like Iowa, this would be huge. If you get a better quality recruit on 2-3 guys a cycle, that should translate to one more starting-quality guy per year, maybe 1 all-B1G guy every other year. If you think about how close some of our losses are (and wins for that matter), that could be a difference of a half-win to a win per year.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. We may not get 2-3 guys per year. Or they may not be much better than who we would normally get. Or they may not fit, or may be more likely to get homesick (though that's more likely for guys who aren't on the two-deep).

But, the point stands. For a developmental program, a small upgrade on 2-3 guys per recruiting cycle is a big deal.

 

[Hawk68]

Grades and test scores will be a limitation as most SEC schools have much lower standards. Getting one or two a year seems feasible.