Signing Day Extra
We go in-depth on several of the new Hawkeyes with Tyler Barnes.
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
Publisher
@hawkeyereport
Following the signing day press conference on Wednesday, we spent ten more minutes with Director of Recruiting Tyler Barnes to rundown many of the new Hawkeyes and their recruiting story. We also discuss the transfer portal, what they might still add, and more.
Q: Are the coaches still fighting over Mason Richman? Are they going to fight over him until he arrives in January?
BARNES: That one is set. He’s with Coach Polasek. Coach Bell might tell you something different about Black, but he will be a defensive lineman and Mason will be an offensive lineman.
Q: How much do they fight over guys?
BARNES: That’s a good problem to have. That tells you that we are recruiting the right type of guys. They go back and forth about it, but usually you only have to worry about Coach Ferentz coming in and making an executive decision. I think we are pretty safe now.
Q: Linderbaum’s move was an executive decision, right?
BARNES: That was an executive decision. I think Coach Bell knows he has one coming and that’s why he wants to keep Yahya on his side of the ball. Yahya camped as a defensive lineman and he’s a big powerful kid.
Q: Vines was a kid that Ken O’Keefe kind of found, right?
BARNES: Yeah, he was a guy for Ken. Having him back and getting back into that area of the country is big. He has had long relationships out there and the coaches out there really respect him. He came back after going out there several times in the spring and he was talking about Vines and we sent Coach Copeland out there to see him workout. As we were moving forward, so things happened quicker, and we were hoping to get him out here and it was a good fit. He had a monster senior year too.
Q: Do you already have a number in mind for the Class of 2021?
BARNES: It’s always fluid. We sit down and talk about it, but it’s always going to change. It’s always around 20. Every quarter we kind of re-evaluate where we are at and where we need to go.
Q: Tell us about Deasfernandes? He comes in lightly recruited, but he is a Phil Parker guy, so you take the recruiting side with a grain of salt.
BARNES: Phil knew about him for a while and he came to our camp, like a majority of our guys, and he did a really good job. Most of our guys typical come to our camp as a freshman or sophomore and he got our attention there and earned the offer. We got him back on campus again and Phil did his work talking to the people he felt he needed to talk to and felt good about him. He was on a stacked team in his sophomore and junior year where I think they had seven DB’s that ended up with power five offers. He had a good senior year. When Phil first told me about him I was doing a little research on the internet and saw a picture of him a few years ago and he was about 5-2 and 125 pounds. I thought it was a typo at first. He just grew and added about seven inches and even since our official visit he came down for a game this year and it looks like he grew another inch or two and he’s starting to fill out.
Q: Does Jay Higgins have an Anthony Hitchens type vibe to him?
BARNES: Maybe. We will see. I don’t know who I would compare him too. That might be better for Seth (Wallace) or Kelvin to answer. I just look at what he was doing every Friday night. I would look at the stats and just laugh because it was almost ridiculous. He’s a tough kid that would run sideline to sideline. He’s explosive and gets sideline to sideline with a motor that you just can’t believe.
Q: A.J. Lawson looks like a kid who could really help you.
BARNES: He’s from my old high school. Not many people go through there. I knew the coach there for a long time. I found out him a few years ago and he was more of a receiver and I actually thought he might end up being a receiver, so I sent Coach Copeland and Coach Wallace to see him. It was funny because Seth called me and said we needed to get Phil in her next week because this kid is a DB. It started there and got the relationship going. He comes from an incredibly athletic family. His dad was an All American track guy and good salt of the earth people.
Q: Matthews looks like a different type of receiver. He’s 5-11, so he’s not big. What do you see from him?
BARNES: He can really run. Quick kid with strong hands. Coach Copeland saw him live a couple of times and really felt good about that evaluation. He’s coming from a school that we feel really comfortable with having Marcus Paschal as the head coach. We have had him up here a couple of times and he missed a lot of time in his junior year due to injuries, so he was more under the radar than he should have been. He came up here the first time on his own dime and we worked from there.
Q: Unofficial visit from Largo, Florida?
BARNES: Yeah, I think Reggie Bracey has the record for the longest unofficial visit in this class. They drove from Mobile after a football game on a Friday night for an unofficial visit. He wins the prize for the longest drive. That’s dedication.
Q: Josh Volk from Cedar Rapids. He’s a big thick guy that you might see at an SEC school.
BARNES: Josh is a great kid. Probably secretly the class clown of this group. He has come back from injury. Coach Morgan started the process with him. He actually came to our camp two years ago and we did not offer him out of camp. He was determined to come back and earn it. He came back and he earned the offer. He basically forced us to offer him. He’s a tough and physical kid. Kind of a mauler, if you will. We offered and eventually committed. He had an injury that cost him part of his junior and senior year, but he’s fully healthy. He plays a lot of sports and we know a lot of about the program.
Q: Lukas Van Ness seems like the type of guy you used to get pretty often. Big defensive end. There was a video out there and he’s playing hockey?
BARNES: Yeah, he plays hockey. His parents are actually Iowa State grads, so he is familiar with the state. His sister is actually on campus here. He hit a big growth spurt in the spring of his junior year. He’s a very productive football player and he’s filling out and you can see it in his production. Love the hockey background. We don’t get a ton of them here. Coach Wallace was his main recruiter and Coach Bell stepped in too. We took our time and were a little late in the recruiting process, but we just had to go through our checklist.
Q: When Georgia is flying in on a helicopter by the field to see Deuce Hogan, what is going on in our mind?
BARNES: You know as a recruiting guy, you always worry about that stuff. I told Brian Ferentz the other night that I had a nightmare that Ohio State offered Lachey last night. What do you do? He actually signed with us in that nightmare, so it was good. Obviously you are always going to worry about things, but you get to know some of these kids and they just put you at ease. Kind of like Jestin Jacobs was, you just have faith in them. Maybe the best thing about the December signing period is January isn’t as crazy as it once was with some of the stuff grown men would do to flip recruits. You got the sense talking to Deuce that we were going to be ok. He can sit down and talk to anybody and have a great conversation, but that is just his personality. But, I don’t think there was ever a time where Coach O’Keefe or Coach Ferentz were ever too concerned. Even when he left here on his first unofficial visit, Coach O’Keefe said hey, I think this kid might commit. I laughed, especially because it was pretty early. Sure enough, two weeks later he commits. It all makes sense because of the type of kid he is, his beliefs, and his background. There are a lot of guys in this class that make you feel good.
Q: It’s the start of transfer portal season as well.
BARNES: I think there were 75 guys in there right after the end of the regular season. You are seeing the waves happen.
Q: Are you refreshing the portal every few hours?
BARNES: We have a student that kind of helps us out with that. We go through the portal daily. It’s actually kind of plain. We have them go in and add background information and check on it daily to see if there are any familiar names to us. But, as Coach Ferentz has said, we are not going to live in those areas too much. We keep an eye on it for sure and like the guys we have coming.
Q: Are you going to look punter in the portal again?
BARNES: We will see what happens. We will address that in the next couple of months, I think.
We go in-depth on several of the new Hawkeyes with Tyler Barnes.
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
Publisher
@hawkeyereport
Following the signing day press conference on Wednesday, we spent ten more minutes with Director of Recruiting Tyler Barnes to rundown many of the new Hawkeyes and their recruiting story. We also discuss the transfer portal, what they might still add, and more.
Q: Are the coaches still fighting over Mason Richman? Are they going to fight over him until he arrives in January?
BARNES: That one is set. He’s with Coach Polasek. Coach Bell might tell you something different about Black, but he will be a defensive lineman and Mason will be an offensive lineman.
Q: How much do they fight over guys?
BARNES: That’s a good problem to have. That tells you that we are recruiting the right type of guys. They go back and forth about it, but usually you only have to worry about Coach Ferentz coming in and making an executive decision. I think we are pretty safe now.
Q: Linderbaum’s move was an executive decision, right?
BARNES: That was an executive decision. I think Coach Bell knows he has one coming and that’s why he wants to keep Yahya on his side of the ball. Yahya camped as a defensive lineman and he’s a big powerful kid.
Q: Vines was a kid that Ken O’Keefe kind of found, right?
BARNES: Yeah, he was a guy for Ken. Having him back and getting back into that area of the country is big. He has had long relationships out there and the coaches out there really respect him. He came back after going out there several times in the spring and he was talking about Vines and we sent Coach Copeland out there to see him workout. As we were moving forward, so things happened quicker, and we were hoping to get him out here and it was a good fit. He had a monster senior year too.
Q: Do you already have a number in mind for the Class of 2021?
BARNES: It’s always fluid. We sit down and talk about it, but it’s always going to change. It’s always around 20. Every quarter we kind of re-evaluate where we are at and where we need to go.
Q: Tell us about Deasfernandes? He comes in lightly recruited, but he is a Phil Parker guy, so you take the recruiting side with a grain of salt.
BARNES: Phil knew about him for a while and he came to our camp, like a majority of our guys, and he did a really good job. Most of our guys typical come to our camp as a freshman or sophomore and he got our attention there and earned the offer. We got him back on campus again and Phil did his work talking to the people he felt he needed to talk to and felt good about him. He was on a stacked team in his sophomore and junior year where I think they had seven DB’s that ended up with power five offers. He had a good senior year. When Phil first told me about him I was doing a little research on the internet and saw a picture of him a few years ago and he was about 5-2 and 125 pounds. I thought it was a typo at first. He just grew and added about seven inches and even since our official visit he came down for a game this year and it looks like he grew another inch or two and he’s starting to fill out.
Q: Does Jay Higgins have an Anthony Hitchens type vibe to him?
BARNES: Maybe. We will see. I don’t know who I would compare him too. That might be better for Seth (Wallace) or Kelvin to answer. I just look at what he was doing every Friday night. I would look at the stats and just laugh because it was almost ridiculous. He’s a tough kid that would run sideline to sideline. He’s explosive and gets sideline to sideline with a motor that you just can’t believe.
Q: A.J. Lawson looks like a kid who could really help you.
BARNES: He’s from my old high school. Not many people go through there. I knew the coach there for a long time. I found out him a few years ago and he was more of a receiver and I actually thought he might end up being a receiver, so I sent Coach Copeland and Coach Wallace to see him. It was funny because Seth called me and said we needed to get Phil in her next week because this kid is a DB. It started there and got the relationship going. He comes from an incredibly athletic family. His dad was an All American track guy and good salt of the earth people.
Q: Matthews looks like a different type of receiver. He’s 5-11, so he’s not big. What do you see from him?
BARNES: He can really run. Quick kid with strong hands. Coach Copeland saw him live a couple of times and really felt good about that evaluation. He’s coming from a school that we feel really comfortable with having Marcus Paschal as the head coach. We have had him up here a couple of times and he missed a lot of time in his junior year due to injuries, so he was more under the radar than he should have been. He came up here the first time on his own dime and we worked from there.
Q: Unofficial visit from Largo, Florida?
BARNES: Yeah, I think Reggie Bracey has the record for the longest unofficial visit in this class. They drove from Mobile after a football game on a Friday night for an unofficial visit. He wins the prize for the longest drive. That’s dedication.
Q: Josh Volk from Cedar Rapids. He’s a big thick guy that you might see at an SEC school.
BARNES: Josh is a great kid. Probably secretly the class clown of this group. He has come back from injury. Coach Morgan started the process with him. He actually came to our camp two years ago and we did not offer him out of camp. He was determined to come back and earn it. He came back and he earned the offer. He basically forced us to offer him. He’s a tough and physical kid. Kind of a mauler, if you will. We offered and eventually committed. He had an injury that cost him part of his junior and senior year, but he’s fully healthy. He plays a lot of sports and we know a lot of about the program.
Q: Lukas Van Ness seems like the type of guy you used to get pretty often. Big defensive end. There was a video out there and he’s playing hockey?
BARNES: Yeah, he plays hockey. His parents are actually Iowa State grads, so he is familiar with the state. His sister is actually on campus here. He hit a big growth spurt in the spring of his junior year. He’s a very productive football player and he’s filling out and you can see it in his production. Love the hockey background. We don’t get a ton of them here. Coach Wallace was his main recruiter and Coach Bell stepped in too. We took our time and were a little late in the recruiting process, but we just had to go through our checklist.
Q: When Georgia is flying in on a helicopter by the field to see Deuce Hogan, what is going on in our mind?
BARNES: You know as a recruiting guy, you always worry about that stuff. I told Brian Ferentz the other night that I had a nightmare that Ohio State offered Lachey last night. What do you do? He actually signed with us in that nightmare, so it was good. Obviously you are always going to worry about things, but you get to know some of these kids and they just put you at ease. Kind of like Jestin Jacobs was, you just have faith in them. Maybe the best thing about the December signing period is January isn’t as crazy as it once was with some of the stuff grown men would do to flip recruits. You got the sense talking to Deuce that we were going to be ok. He can sit down and talk to anybody and have a great conversation, but that is just his personality. But, I don’t think there was ever a time where Coach O’Keefe or Coach Ferentz were ever too concerned. Even when he left here on his first unofficial visit, Coach O’Keefe said hey, I think this kid might commit. I laughed, especially because it was pretty early. Sure enough, two weeks later he commits. It all makes sense because of the type of kid he is, his beliefs, and his background. There are a lot of guys in this class that make you feel good.
Q: It’s the start of transfer portal season as well.
BARNES: I think there were 75 guys in there right after the end of the regular season. You are seeing the waves happen.
Q: Are you refreshing the portal every few hours?
BARNES: We have a student that kind of helps us out with that. We go through the portal daily. It’s actually kind of plain. We have them go in and add background information and check on it daily to see if there are any familiar names to us. But, as Coach Ferentz has said, we are not going to live in those areas too much. We keep an eye on it for sure and like the guys we have coming.
Q: Are you going to look punter in the portal again?
BARNES: We will see what happens. We will address that in the next couple of months, I think.
