Iowa's current p4p ranking for their starters was listed on the "Mid Level recruits..." thread. It made me look up PSU's to compare. After posting the response their, I think this is a VERY important topic that speaks volumes and really needed its own thread
Here is the Iowa rankings as posted by
@24timenattychamps :
Spencer #2 p4p
Teske 34 P4P
Woods 21 P4p
Murin 44 p4p
Rathjen 49 p4p (Cobe NR)
Kennedy 3 P4p
Brands 93 p4p
Assad 29 p4p
Warner 7 p4p
Cass 14 p4p
Very solid, but also VERY telling as to why they are still considerable underdogs to PSU. Here is their roster's p4p rankings:
125: Howard #7 P4P (Steen #29)
133: RBY #12 P4P
141: Bartlett #4 P4P
149: Van Ness #4 P4P
157: Haines #9 P4P
165: Facundo #2 P4P
174: Starocci #9 P4P
184: Brooks #2 P4P
197: Dean (The ONLY guy not recruited originally by PSU.) #74 P4P
285: Kerkvliet #1 P4P
That is an average P4P ranking, for those directly recruited, of (50/9)=5.56
Meanwhile, Iowa's average for just those directly recruited is (241/8)=30.02 So, Teske and Woods(55/2)=27.5, would actually bring that average down, ever so slightly, below 30 to 29.6...
Next season, Iowa loses their highest recruit(#2 overall) in Spencer Lee as well as their 3rd highes(#7 overall) in Jacob Warner. They will also lose #44 Murin. PSU only loses, #12 RBY and #74 Dean. Granted, both are NCAA Champs, but they are the "worst" ranked recruits of their starters. With Barr(current #5 P4P in 2023) coming in, they could easily move their lineup around from 157-197 to fill Dean's spot. As of now, 133 looks to be their one and only question mark for 2023-24.
With the above said, PSU wil AGAIN have 9 top 10 P4P, directly recruited guys, almost certainly starting next season. This is a trend that has lasted too long to think anything changes. To have any chance to stay competitive, on the years you don't recruit a Chittum(was #1 P4P before reclassifying), Keuter(#2P4P), Jesuroga(#6P4P), Arnold(#10P4P) along with an "insurance" guy like Block(#24P4P), you STILL need to land 1 guy in that top 10 on the off years, for a NEED weight.
Finally, the formula is actually quite simple to list, but ridiculously difficult to achieve. One big class every 3 years or so where you basically match 2023. In between those 3 years you consistently at least land 1 top 10 at a crucial need weight. Once you get to the 2nd cycle, you should have 7 to even 10 starters in that coveted Top 10P4P range.
tOSU has come pretty close to doing this and they were the only team truly challenging PSU before Spencer arrived at Iowa. For Iowa to truly challenge for the foreseeable futher, they can't let off the recruiting pedal 1 bit. Even with the transfer portal becoming a bigger factor, you have no clue who will be out there to fill a need. Recruiting is the only true way to be as sure as you can be!