Seen a post that Chad Leistikow was going to touch on this on his show tonight. I'm going to offer my 2 cents and beat him to it.
Is there a lot of attrition, yes. Is it alarming, yes. Is that why we over recruited, yes.
When I look at the names on the list, I'm not overly alarmed that they are leaving as many seemed to be on the way down the depth chart and probably would not be playing significant snaps. However, what I do become alarmed at then is our recruiting. Are we missing on our evaluations? Perhaps more so alarming is the fact that we are so diligent and spot on with #s at a position rather than taking good players that are available. Turning down a Jirehl Brock because we don't have room, yet banking on Kyshaun Bryan, Samson Evans, Toks Akrinrabade, Cam Harrell.
I think we pride ourselves on the whole theory of "get the guys on the bus" and we will make them superstars. Almost a high school approach as these are the guys we are given, lets turn them into winners. Throughout Ferentz' tenure, that approach has done well and we've had great success stories of 2* guys turning into NFL players. However, if you really dive into it, there has also been a lot of guys that have never touched the field also.
I love Kirk Ferentz more than anyone probably and firmly believe he is the man to lead our program. However, I'd like him to get a little "sexier" on the recruiting trail. We can't miss ever in-state and we have to re-evaluate what makes us miss on some of the top guys we are missing on. Do superstars fizzle....sure. Do 2*s rise up, sure. But also, a team of superstars can do well and a team of 2*s also have their peaks. Lets look further into each loss:
QB:
Weigers was not a miss. That guy will be just fine at Eastern Michigan and the fact that he was even in a tight battle with someone as good as Nate Stanley tells you this is a case of a senior wanting to play. Wish him the best.
We took a chance on Ryan Boyle. That year we put a lot of work into Tommy Stevens and lost out. We settled on 2 Iowa boys both with position flexibility. Boyle was breaking weight room records and seemed like he could move to WR/S. Cook seemed destined for TE all the way. Well, Boyle moved and I got excited however it seems it was more out of WR desperation than his ability level. Regardless, we've recently (Stanzi, Vandeberg, Rudock, Beathard, Stanley) won with taller, more pro-style QBs. **Also why I'm not overly optimistic on Padilla. Anyway, only 1 guy can play this spot...and we found our guy. The others will leave, it happens.
RB:
Toks was an injury situation. He was a big catch out of Indiana in recruiting and when we think of this years 1-2 punch of Young, IKM, it very well could have been Toks. He seemed like an all around good ball player and also didn't redshirt his Fr year. His injury is too bad for him and us.
WR:
Falconer was a Bobby Kennedy pick up. Holy smokes did he do a terrible job of evaluating:
-Trev Hadachek, Andre Harris, AJ Jones, Connor Keane, Derrick Mitchell, Damond Powell, Matt Vandeberg, Derrick Willies, Drew Zaun, Jay Scheel, Adrian Falconer, Ronald Nash, Emmanuel Ogwo, Jerminic Smith, Devonte Young. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! Take out Vandeberg and not 1 of those guys amounted for anything here. No wonder we can't seem to hit on WRs, we've never had the talent to showcase one since DJK fell into our laps and McNutt switched positions. We HAVE to do better here.
OL:
James Daniels left early and will be an NFL star....he'll do us good promoting O-Line U by having a successful career.
Spencer Williams was in the Top 10 mix as a RS (good sign) however, concussions. Tough loss as it seemed he would have at least been a quality backup during his career.
LeGrand seemed to be talked about a lot more as a RSFr than anyother point in this career. Seemed to have gotten passed.
DL:
McKnight seemed to never be able to avoid the injury bug and whenever he would step on the field, he had to see other ascending passed him. I still like him a lot and think he'll make a MAC team never happy eventually. Wish he would have stayed and got healthy. However, from his perspective, "Im hurt all the time and coaches are putting others ahead of me."
LB:
Our LBs are down a little bit from a talent perspective so it makes you wonder if Wieland has what it takes if he couldn't make an impact with this group. Still, losing a kid after one year tells me either he was not very good or didn't mesh with coaches. Kid from Iowa City, grew up loving Hawks tells me he must not be that great.
Kyle Taylor seemed from the start to be an inflated recruit. He looked shorter than listed and slower than listed. Injuries pushed him out.
DB:
This one is interesting. Here seems to be the trend with Phil Parker. His style of coaching is very in your face and strict. You either get him or you don't.
1) You stick the course and turn into a star.
2) You stick the course/never play/get passed over immediately
3) You leave and get the heck out of dodge.
Guys that have stayed throughout and played extensively (multi year contributors)
Bob Sanders (3 1/2 year starter----NFL superstar)
Sean Considine (walkon pushed passed---NFL)
Antwaan Allen (4 year starter---early in his tenure)
Jovon Johnson (4 year starter---early in his tenure---CFL star)
Marcus Pachal (multi year starter---NFL)
Miguel Merrick (2 year starter??)
Charles Godrey (4 year player---NFL)
Adam Shada (4 year player)
Bradley Fletcher (NFL)
Jordan Bernstine (NFL)
Tyler Sash (NFL)
Brett Greenwood (multiyear player--NFL chance)
Shaun Prater (NFL)
Amari Spievey (NFL)
Micah Hyde (NFL)
BJ Lowery (NFL)
Tanner Miller
Jordan Lomax
Johnny Lowdermilk
Desmond King (NFL)
Greg Mabin (NFL)
Jake Gervase
Josh Jackson (NFL)
Brandon Snyder
Miles Taylor
Amani Hooker
Guys that stayed, but never played much
Chigozie Ejiasi (walkon)
Andrew Becker (walkon)
MaQuan Dawkins (walkon)
Devan Moylan---started 1 year
Harold Dalton---started 1 year...Moylan/Sash era as well.
Drew Gardner (walkon)
Justin Griener (walkon)
Chris Rowell
Joe Conklin (walkon)
Greg Castillo
Jack Swanson
Colin Sleeper(walkon)
Gavin Smith (walkon)
Sean Draper
Anthony Gair
John Milani (walkon)
**Michael Ojemudia
**Matt Hankins
Guys that left:
Benny Sapp
Adolphus Shelton
Aramis Haralson
Richie Williams
Walner Belleus
Jonathon Zanders
Justin Edwards
Khaliq Price
Diauntae Morrow
Abe Satterfield
Cedric Everson
Derrick Smith
William Lowe
Taylor Herbst
Brenden Boerm
Torrey Campbell
Jamal Overton
Brian Kroll
Nico Law
Kevin Buford
Marcus Fleming
Raymond Hammond
Rueben Lile
Paul Brown
Dayo Ogundeypo
Malik Rucker
Sean Skradis
David Tann
Solomon Warfield
Marcel Joly
Omar Truitt
JAcob Black
Isaiah Kramme
Cedric Boswell
Joe Argo
Lubanza
Manny Rugamba
Noah Clayberg
Cam Harrell
So overall......don't look too much into the attrition:
Injury: Akinrabade, Williams, Taylor
Talent: Weigers, Boyle, Joly, Falconer, LeGrand, Coons, McKnight, Wieland, Boswell, Clayberg, Harrell
Choice: Rugamba....maybe Wieland resurfaces somewhere.
Is there a lot of attrition, yes. Is it alarming, yes. Is that why we over recruited, yes.
When I look at the names on the list, I'm not overly alarmed that they are leaving as many seemed to be on the way down the depth chart and probably would not be playing significant snaps. However, what I do become alarmed at then is our recruiting. Are we missing on our evaluations? Perhaps more so alarming is the fact that we are so diligent and spot on with #s at a position rather than taking good players that are available. Turning down a Jirehl Brock because we don't have room, yet banking on Kyshaun Bryan, Samson Evans, Toks Akrinrabade, Cam Harrell.
I think we pride ourselves on the whole theory of "get the guys on the bus" and we will make them superstars. Almost a high school approach as these are the guys we are given, lets turn them into winners. Throughout Ferentz' tenure, that approach has done well and we've had great success stories of 2* guys turning into NFL players. However, if you really dive into it, there has also been a lot of guys that have never touched the field also.
I love Kirk Ferentz more than anyone probably and firmly believe he is the man to lead our program. However, I'd like him to get a little "sexier" on the recruiting trail. We can't miss ever in-state and we have to re-evaluate what makes us miss on some of the top guys we are missing on. Do superstars fizzle....sure. Do 2*s rise up, sure. But also, a team of superstars can do well and a team of 2*s also have their peaks. Lets look further into each loss:
QB:
Weigers was not a miss. That guy will be just fine at Eastern Michigan and the fact that he was even in a tight battle with someone as good as Nate Stanley tells you this is a case of a senior wanting to play. Wish him the best.
We took a chance on Ryan Boyle. That year we put a lot of work into Tommy Stevens and lost out. We settled on 2 Iowa boys both with position flexibility. Boyle was breaking weight room records and seemed like he could move to WR/S. Cook seemed destined for TE all the way. Well, Boyle moved and I got excited however it seems it was more out of WR desperation than his ability level. Regardless, we've recently (Stanzi, Vandeberg, Rudock, Beathard, Stanley) won with taller, more pro-style QBs. **Also why I'm not overly optimistic on Padilla. Anyway, only 1 guy can play this spot...and we found our guy. The others will leave, it happens.
RB:
Toks was an injury situation. He was a big catch out of Indiana in recruiting and when we think of this years 1-2 punch of Young, IKM, it very well could have been Toks. He seemed like an all around good ball player and also didn't redshirt his Fr year. His injury is too bad for him and us.
WR:
Falconer was a Bobby Kennedy pick up. Holy smokes did he do a terrible job of evaluating:
-Trev Hadachek, Andre Harris, AJ Jones, Connor Keane, Derrick Mitchell, Damond Powell, Matt Vandeberg, Derrick Willies, Drew Zaun, Jay Scheel, Adrian Falconer, Ronald Nash, Emmanuel Ogwo, Jerminic Smith, Devonte Young. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! Take out Vandeberg and not 1 of those guys amounted for anything here. No wonder we can't seem to hit on WRs, we've never had the talent to showcase one since DJK fell into our laps and McNutt switched positions. We HAVE to do better here.
OL:
James Daniels left early and will be an NFL star....he'll do us good promoting O-Line U by having a successful career.
Spencer Williams was in the Top 10 mix as a RS (good sign) however, concussions. Tough loss as it seemed he would have at least been a quality backup during his career.
LeGrand seemed to be talked about a lot more as a RSFr than anyother point in this career. Seemed to have gotten passed.
DL:
McKnight seemed to never be able to avoid the injury bug and whenever he would step on the field, he had to see other ascending passed him. I still like him a lot and think he'll make a MAC team never happy eventually. Wish he would have stayed and got healthy. However, from his perspective, "Im hurt all the time and coaches are putting others ahead of me."
LB:
Our LBs are down a little bit from a talent perspective so it makes you wonder if Wieland has what it takes if he couldn't make an impact with this group. Still, losing a kid after one year tells me either he was not very good or didn't mesh with coaches. Kid from Iowa City, grew up loving Hawks tells me he must not be that great.
Kyle Taylor seemed from the start to be an inflated recruit. He looked shorter than listed and slower than listed. Injuries pushed him out.
DB:
This one is interesting. Here seems to be the trend with Phil Parker. His style of coaching is very in your face and strict. You either get him or you don't.
1) You stick the course and turn into a star.
2) You stick the course/never play/get passed over immediately
3) You leave and get the heck out of dodge.
Guys that have stayed throughout and played extensively (multi year contributors)
Bob Sanders (3 1/2 year starter----NFL superstar)
Sean Considine (walkon pushed passed---NFL)
Antwaan Allen (4 year starter---early in his tenure)
Jovon Johnson (4 year starter---early in his tenure---CFL star)
Marcus Pachal (multi year starter---NFL)
Miguel Merrick (2 year starter??)
Charles Godrey (4 year player---NFL)
Adam Shada (4 year player)
Bradley Fletcher (NFL)
Jordan Bernstine (NFL)
Tyler Sash (NFL)
Brett Greenwood (multiyear player--NFL chance)
Shaun Prater (NFL)
Amari Spievey (NFL)
Micah Hyde (NFL)
BJ Lowery (NFL)
Tanner Miller
Jordan Lomax
Johnny Lowdermilk
Desmond King (NFL)
Greg Mabin (NFL)
Jake Gervase
Josh Jackson (NFL)
Brandon Snyder
Miles Taylor
Amani Hooker
Guys that stayed, but never played much
Chigozie Ejiasi (walkon)
Andrew Becker (walkon)
MaQuan Dawkins (walkon)
Devan Moylan---started 1 year
Harold Dalton---started 1 year...Moylan/Sash era as well.
Drew Gardner (walkon)
Justin Griener (walkon)
Chris Rowell
Joe Conklin (walkon)
Greg Castillo
Jack Swanson
Colin Sleeper(walkon)
Gavin Smith (walkon)
Sean Draper
Anthony Gair
John Milani (walkon)
**Michael Ojemudia
**Matt Hankins
Guys that left:
Benny Sapp
Adolphus Shelton
Aramis Haralson
Richie Williams
Walner Belleus
Jonathon Zanders
Justin Edwards
Khaliq Price
Diauntae Morrow
Abe Satterfield
Cedric Everson
Derrick Smith
William Lowe
Taylor Herbst
Brenden Boerm
Torrey Campbell
Jamal Overton
Brian Kroll
Nico Law
Kevin Buford
Marcus Fleming
Raymond Hammond
Rueben Lile
Paul Brown
Dayo Ogundeypo
Malik Rucker
Sean Skradis
David Tann
Solomon Warfield
Marcel Joly
Omar Truitt
JAcob Black
Isaiah Kramme
Cedric Boswell
Joe Argo
Lubanza
Manny Rugamba
Noah Clayberg
Cam Harrell
So overall......don't look too much into the attrition:
Injury: Akinrabade, Williams, Taylor
Talent: Weigers, Boyle, Joly, Falconer, LeGrand, Coons, McKnight, Wieland, Boswell, Clayberg, Harrell
Choice: Rugamba....maybe Wieland resurfaces somewhere.
