ADVERTISEMENT

Penn State Dual

But, I digress. They are NOT just winning because of the top talent they recruit. Only a very select few coaching staffs would have any chance at winning as often as PSU does with the same talent and I am not sure ANY of them could actually match it.

Trade recruits between Iowa and PSU over the same time frame and I do not believe PSU wins more than Iowa has. However, I also don't believe Iowa wins as many times as PSU has.
This is spot on. It's both recruiting and coaching (and being in PA and whatever else) that is all part of the perfect storm at PSU right now. Anyone trying to claim it's one or the other exclusively is being willfully ignorant.

This is also now becoming a self-reinforcing cycle. The elite recruits are seeing that elite recruits do better at Penn State so more of them are targeting Penn State for their own development, which makes it easier for Penn State to get elite recruits. This has happened with at least Dean, Mesenbrink, Nagao, Gibson, Duke, and Henckel. These guys recruited Penn State as much as Penn State recruited them. Don't be shocked when Bassett and Forrest both go there, too...
I think people overstate the "sleeping giant" thing with Cael going to PSU. I think he would have gotten ISU over the top too. People act like he was there for years and years getting beat by Iowa. He was there 3 years and finished top 5 all three years. He never finished a full, four year recruiting cycle.
This is also spot on. Just look at Cael's 3 years at Iowa St. They were immediately better (including winning the Big 12 all three years) than they were in the previous 10 years of Douglas or the subsequent Jackson era (except the first year when he still had most of Cael's roster). There's no doubt in my mind that ISU would have won at least one and probably multiple national championships with Cael long term and also no doubt that they would not have won even close to the number he's won at PSU.

VgjyRLB.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Trapper85
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT