Cannot "like" that enough homer.
That's the thing though ... many folks who complain about our talent at WR only complain about our recruiting. It's as if they don't believe that the coaches are working hard to try to land elite talent. The problem has to deal with the attractiveness of our program to elite WR recruits. In order to lure in such recruits ... we have to have a viable "sales pitch."
Obviously, the Hawks can sell itself quite well to D-linemen, O-linemen, Tight-Ends, and defensive backs.
As it relates to QBs ... the fact that we run a pro-happy system and many college programs don't go after traditional QBs with quite as much vigor ... that potentially allow the Hawks to land high-end pro-style QBs. However, even then, we all know that a college team is typically much harder to defend if the QB can flash mobility as a threat.
But let's take a step back for a moment ... has Iowa always been an attractive place for CBs? Hawk fans love to reminisce about Bob Sanders ... but much of our early DB success related more to safeties.
Thus, our more recent allure and success with corners has been a facet that has really been DEVELOPED by Phil Parker over the last decade. Jovon Johnson was a highly under-rated college CB ... but most Iowa fans will remember our early successful secondaries as being infuriating, implementing a bend-but-not-break philosophy.
We really didn't see the Hawks turn out what most folks would perceive as higher end CBs until we had Spievey (who didn't start until 2008). After him, we really started getting on more of a role with pretty good CBs ... turning out guys like Prater, Hyde, King, and now Jackson.
We've consequently been able to reap some recruiting rewards at CB due to the "sales pitch" that we've developed thanks to Phil Parker.
Now the question will be ... can Brian Ferentz and Kelton Copeland morph our passing game so that we an see some WRs have some tangible success that we can sell to recruits? While many fans seemed to overlook it ... but Brian clearly went out of his way to try to build much of our O this year to revolve around Wadley's play-making skills. The intention was admirable ... and had the blocking been "there" ... it likely wouldn't have back-fired. Quite the opposite ... skill players would should love the opportunity to have an adaptable OC who was willing to center an O about them. Of course, for it to supply an adequately convincing "sales pitch" the O also has to be successful ... and therein is the problem we saw with our O this season.
I honestly believe that the Hawks DO have the opportunity to continue to "grow" our O and "grow" our reputation on the offensive side of the ball ... however, for it to work, there have to be tangible results to show results. Otherwise, it's empty hyperbole.
Finally, this also gets back to my original point ... in order to get to where we, as fans, want ... the program still needs to BUILD towards that direction ... and they have to initially do it with the players they can GET! Thus, I find it counterproductive to be disrespectful to talented guys who WANT to be Hawks!
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