Recruiting prediction...2008

**ketelmeister** · 01-29-2008, 06:00 PM

Here's my prediction on recruiting.
On signing day, Iowa State will announce 25 solid recruits will join the program. There will be 4-5 surprises, including a couple of JUCO's that haven't gotten a lot of attention. The class will move up a couple of notches in the rivals ratings, but it will be the tallest, fastest and heaviest class in Iowa State history. Not the highest rated. It will address the needs of the program (including two kickers already announced) and Iowa State fans will be pretty happy with it on signing day.
In my view, Iowa State has held to the hard line on recruits because they have plenty to choose from. They made the decision that integrity counts, and there are no exceptions. I have been told from a very believable source that Chizik is very happy with how recruiting is going. I believe him.

**guitarchitect7** · 01-29-2008, 06:05 PM

I have no doubt that the fans will be happy with the recruits. In fact if signing day was tomorrow and all we couild sign were the 18 we currently go, I would think that the majority would be content with that.

I think it will be the fastest class we've seen in some time, and some of the biggest as well. The line has shown improvement by just getting guys to actually fit the role (not pun intended). Height isn't everything in football, heck look at Kansas, but it doesn't hurt either. I think right now none of those things matter as much as the will and desire of these kids for wanting to improve and win.

Anyway, JUCO's seem to be a must right now to fill some of the remaining roles. As much as I would like young guys, there are still some needs to fill that some of the high school kids can't fill.

**83Clone** · 01-29-2008, 06:08 PM

The keys are:

Getting decent athletes-you can't have a bunch of slugs
Coaching them up
Having a system
Keeping a good number of the players in it for 5 years

No matter who we sign this year, if we look back 3 years from now and 15 of the signees are 3rd year sophomores or true juniors in the program, I think we will be successful

**fanocys** · 01-29-2008, 06:31 PM

I really like how Chiz is handling things. Better for recruits to back out now then after a redshirt year. I would rather see walk-ons get scholarships then kids that don't really want to be here.

**Bobber** · 01-29-2008, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by ketelmeister

Here's my prediction on recruiting.
On signing day, Iowa State will announce 25 solid recruits will join the program. There will be 4-5 surprises, including a couple of JUCO's that haven't gotten a lot of attention. The class will move up a couple of notches in the rivals ratings, but it will be the tallest, fastest and heaviest class in Iowa State history. Not the highest rated. It will address the needs of the program (including two kickers already announced) and Iowa State fans will be pretty happy with it on signing day.
In my view, Iowa State has held to the hard line on recruits because they have plenty to choose from. They made the decision that integrity counts, and there are no exceptions. I have been told from a very believable source that Chizik is very happy with how recruiting is going. I believe him.

Respectfully...Is Chizik going to say anything else?? Even if he had a lousy class, I doubt the figurehead for ISU football is going to admit it.

I hope the class is good. I'm very hopeful we've got some good lineman coming in.

**kurimski** · 01-29-2008, 06:43 PM

Maybe a reason ISU has been having so many de-commits this year is because ISU is recruiting against bigger schools for players. It seems like the Cyclones are competing agains Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Illinois, and schools of that caliber where in the past they have been competing with Wyoming, Northern Iowa, and Northern Illinois. Give Chizik a couple years to work his magic and ISU will be the ones stealing the recruits. It'll just take time and wins.

**LindenCy** · 01-29-2008, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by kurimski

Maybe a reason ISU has been having so many de-commits this year is because ISU is recruiting against bigger schools for players. It seems like the Cyclones are competing agains Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Illinois, and schools of that caliber where in the past they have been competing with Wyoming, Northern Iowa, and Northern Illinois. Give Chizik a couple years to work his magic and ISU will be the ones stealing the recruits. It'll just take time and wins.

I think that is a valid point. If you have more competition, you may lose some, but you also may be dealing with better athletes to begin with.

**Aclone** · 01-29-2008, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by kurimski

Maybe a reason ISU has been having so many de-commits this year is because ISU is recruiting against bigger schools for players. It seems like the Cyclones are competing agains Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Illinois, and schools of that caliber where in the past they have been competing with Wyoming, Northern Iowa, and Northern Illinois. Give Chizik a couple years to work his magic and ISU will be the ones stealing the recruits. It'll just take time and wins.

I'm afraid that's an exageration. After all, in the last few years, Mac lost guys to Illinois, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Michigan State, Minnesota, and a linebacker to either Vanderbilt or Wake Forest when his uncle got a job there.

**djcubby** · 01-30-2008, 08:27 AM

You can say all you want about how many stars kids have, or how GC is doing this and that and Mac never did this or that, bottom line is you can never truly tell what a recruiting class is going to do until they actually hit the field. As long as GC is getting the kids that he wants, whether they are highly rated by a recruiting service or not, this class will turn out well.

Take ESPN for example, they are saying that our best recruits right now are ** guys, Schwartz and Range. I, for one, have no idea how to evaluate talent, and my guess is that most people on this board don't either. I am not trying to attack anyone or call anyone out, but let GC do his job wait for a couple of years before everyone starts hammering this class.

**CYdTracked** · 01-30-2008, 08:32 AM

ungh, after signing 11 jucos last year I really hope we don't wind up with 5 or 6 this time around. They are short term fixes. I can live with 3 or 4 if they are guys that can immediately fill a need but this whole recruiting thing I just can't get excited about. We are still signing classes ranked at the bottom of the conference and we aren't bringing in 4 star guys that I hoped we would when we made a coaching change. I really hope we are pulling a few surprises on signing day because what we know we have right now is not that impressive at the moment...

**Stormin** · 01-30-2008, 09:29 AM

I think we have a few more commits than what are posted. Chizik is playing this pretty tight. Hopefully we hold onto Leonard Johnson. It looks like we will probably get Roempelhamer and Moore. Don't know why Moore has dropped. I also think there are a few names out there not listed. Having the names out there does nothing for our recruiting. In fact it hurts. I think the fact that Chizik has taken a hard line on commits will keep the rest of our commits on board. Plus it bodes well for the future. Recruits know what the policy is. The guys who decommitted thought they could visit elsewhere and keep their schollie as a fallback. Surprise. That isn't the case anymore.

**Hilz4cy** · 01-30-2008, 09:40 AM

I think the direction we are going is good, I look at it this way. I would rather have 4 or so guys out of all commits come in and be above average (or be suprises) then have all your commits come in and be just average. .500 is not good enough. If you look at all past freshman classes nationwaide of the last 5 or so year how many of the 4 or 5 start kids came in and actually produced good numbers. I think Chiz is recruiting for position and for speed, We need kids that come in and are fast , athletic , coachable and fit the system, GC's system . Nothing beats team speed, ask Ohio State or Illinios.

**KMAC_ATTACK** · 01-30-2008, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by travman23

We are still signing classes ranked at the bottom of the conference and we aren't bringing in 4 star guys that I hoped we would when we made a coaching change. .

All valid points Travman, but i have a question for you - What do you think Boise St.'s recruiting classes looked like before they beat Oklahoma in a BCS game (1,2,3* Guys)- about the same type of recruits as ours.

But, what i truly believe is that our coach and his staff have that knack for spotting talent. Having watched the recruiting very tight the last year, i've seen guys that when we started recruiting them they were 1-2* below where they ended up when they committed. Case in point, DJ Grant of Texas, he was a 2* on Scout, 3* on Rivals and now he's a 4* on both. We started recruiting him long before Oklahoma or Texas, but if i were from Texas and those two came knocking, sorry ISU i'm staying with these two programs to pick from.....Thats what winning does, it allows you that leverage to swoop in and pick who you want and even then, you can be out recruited. IMO our coaches have worked their butts off to find 2-3* kids they feel reasonable sure have the athletic ability to become something that right now they are not and fit our system, thats important when every schollie is vital......We cannot go out and compete with a bunch of the top tier teams for 4-5* kids, thats just not going to happen. Our history and our budget does not suggest this to be a wise recruiting method. Win some games, create the buzz about your program and then go out and compete for the next level of recruits. Until then, recruit to your success, i know there are situations out there like Minnesota that has a top 25 class, but, where would they be if they start losing out on these top tier guys, they've spent their money and recruiting time and effort on a guy that commits to play in the south - what are they left with......Thats why our staff has to take such a firm position on verbals, its costs a lot of money and time to recruit these kids to not succeed. I love the approach were taking and only hope that the surprises we have in store create the excitement that we had last year around our program - it will be a fun ride for sure!!!!

**Bobber** · 01-30-2008, 09:47 AM

Good points Kmac. I don't have anything against going after Jucos either. Sure you'd like to have them 4 years, but if the well is dry go to where you can get water. That's how K-State built their program initially. Once you get the momentum, you can go after more of those highly rate freshman.