I specifically mentioned Kennedy and White - not Davis. Davis was treated somewhat similarly to Norm ... he was expected to provide a deep knowledge base for the O ... and he also had plenty of connections among high school coaches in Texas (although he wasn't expected to travel much, in the recruiting effort). The only primary recruits I know who he helped to recruit were our QBs ... and he was more explicitly responsible for us landing Shimonek in '13 and Mansell in '17.
White:
If you look in 2014 ... "on paper" he had quite a recruiting haul:
Taylor, Joly, Harris, Outsey, Truitt, Kidd, Ellis (assist with Kennedy)
2015: Falconer
In 2016 ... again "on paper" he had a decent recruiting haul:
Simon, Young, Taylor, Darby (didn't sign because Iowa didn't like his grades enough - but White brought the kid all the way "home")
Also, throughout the time ... White helped out in recruiting RBs. During that time we landed Markel Smith (didn't qualify due to grades), Akinribade (landed over Michigan, among others), and Kelly-Martin. Also, we almost landed Higdon (late flip to Michigan) and Eno Benjamin (White and Kennedy's own actions seemingly contributed to Eno's 'ship being pulled).
Given the number of players Iowa could sign and the positions of "need" that Iowa had - White most certainly pulled way more than his recruiting weight.
Kennedy:
2014: Jackson, Ellis (assist with White)
In 2015 ... "on paper" he had a pretty decent haul:
Garbutt, J. Smith, Ogwo, Jinning
2017: Hankins
... and, were it not for the missteps about letting Eno take visits ... Kennedy was in line for a huge Texas haul in '17 (Hankins + Benjamin, Holmes, Corrales ... I doubt that Calloway would have stuck with Iowa regardless).
As in the case of White, Kennedy also assisted with WR recruiting. Thus, there are plenty of WRs who he assisted in recruiting too.
Kennedy's recruiting pull was "okay" ... however, quite frankly, Morgan and White dwarfed the recruiting hauls of just about everybody.
However, if you actually read my prior post ... their explicit recruiting hauls at Iowa weren't the point. BOTH White and Kennedy had decent recruiting resumes before even getting to Iowa. Few recruiters at Iowa will hold a candle to Reese Morgan's contributions.
As I see it, the primary recruiting "upgrades" that we'll see from here on out are:
- Replacing Greg Davis with Brian is a big recruiting improvement ... because, for all intents and purposes, Greg was "dead weight" in the recruiting game.
- A younger staff may potentially have the advantage of relating to the players a little better.
- Having a little more diversity on the staff might be perceived as a positive by many recruits.
- Copeland and Polasek arguably understand the sort of culture at Iowa better than White and Kennedy. Thus, they won't try to undercut the sense of identity of the program. While this yet remains to be seen ... but they might have a better eye for developmental talent ... or a better eye for talent who "fits" Iowa's culture. This could potentially help the Hawks with regard to player retention.