ISU out recruiting Iowa- so far

[MontyBurns]

None of the verbal commits -- ISU's, Iowa's, or anyone elses, means a whole lot at this point. A lot of 17 and 18 year old kids are going to change their mind between now and February 2009 when the commitments are actually put into writing. Things can also change at the schools. If ISU can get to a bowl game, it will help recruiting. At Iowa, more arrests and bad publicity from the upcoming trials will only create doubt in recruits' minds (not to mention their parents' minds). And in the unlikely event that Ferentz gets canned or resigns, their class will go up in smoke so fast you won't even see it.

Let's also not forget that this is only Chizik's second year. Staffs at other schools have been following their recruiting targets for several years and may have had them at their summer camps for the past few years as well. We're still in catch-up mode. And Chizik and most of his staff are new to the state and are still establishing relationships with high school coaches.

[woodie]

i think chizik and his recruiting coordinator scott fountain are doing a very good job on recruiting.i think chizik has better contacts in texas than mac did because he knows many of the high school coaches in texas.also with his coaching staff, i believe he has made better penetratraion in nebraska,kansas,oklahoma,missouri,texas,louisiana,mississippi,alabama,goergia,
georgia, alabama, florida anf california.i would like to see him pull more recruits out of illinois ,indiana, and ohio.seemed like johnny majors and earl bruce used to get plenty of good talent out of chicago and ohio. i used to tell mack that he should get a list of the union stewards in the u.s coal mining areas.i stayed overnight on business in the early 80's in a holiday inn near cumberland gap ,kentucky.i was very lucky to get a room as several union stewards were there for one of their meetings.there were about 140 of these dudes and i think all of them were 6-6 and 300-350 lbs-what a genetic pool for recruiting some kids of these gents for football. that may be one of the reasons
west virginia is always tough in football.they go to florida and recruit a dual threat qb and recruit the coal mining sledge hammers for offensive and defensive lines and move the ball up the field.

[blee1]

Look into a recruiting barrel and you'll see both of us at the bottom.

I'm going to have to agree, for the time being.

[jdoggivjc]

jdog,

Your points are valid and don't get me wrong, I love beating the hackeyes but here some rebuttal points.

1) The way I see it things started turning around for ISU two times in the modern era; first when John Majors took the Clones to the Sun Bowl in '71 (then he went to Pitt in '73)
second when Earle took us to the Peach in '77 (then he went to tOSU in '80?)
We didn't play Iowa in '71 and Iowa beat us in '77
Because the quality bowl pool is so diluted now I consider these both more impressive bowls than any DMC took us to.

2) I get your point about recognition but to me it's sort of chicken and egg. The national media would talk a lot more about us if we beat Nebraska five years in a row. We fired the coach that beat Iowa five years in a row.
I believe if we consistenly achieve at a higher level in our conference than EIU does in theirs that the top in-state kids will choose us.

3) Fry was great at beating us but he did it while Duncan, Criner and Walden were coaching. That horrible stretch for ISU coicided with administrations and athletics departments that placed little value on winning. When that started to change we started winning more and indeed we beat Fry.

4) If we lose our chance to stick it to EIU, we gain a spot on the schedule to stick it to somebody else where we want to recruit to, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Florida, etc.

I get this argument, I really do. The problem is, just because that spot in the schedule is opened up doesn't mean it's going to automatically get filled with a BCS-caliber team. The last thing I'd want to see on my schedule is 3 MAC-caliber teams and a FCS team. What kind of national respect will you get from doing that? And besides, who says we have to play Iowa, 2 MAC-caliber teams, and an FCS team year-in-year-out? Why not drop one of the MAC-caliber teams or the FCS team and replace it with a BCS team? I mean, I hate to compare us to Iowa once again, but look at their preseason schedule - Maine (FCS), Iowa State (BCS-Big XII), Pitt (BCS-Big East), and a MAC-caliber team I can't remember off the top of my head. I'd much rather play this preseason schedule opposed to the one that calls for dropping Iowa and replacing it with another BCS-school (if we can get one to schedule us), 2-3 MAC-caliber teams, and an FCS team.

Besides, if we dropped Iowa, I would miss rubbing it into my brother-in-laws' faces on a yearly basis.

But I guess that's just me...

[Aclone]

I had to smile when I read the title of this thread. If what makes you happy is that we're "out-recruiting" Iowa right now...then your goals aren't very high.

Especially as I'd seriously consider us to have only one or two contributos committed, between the four names we know right now. Sure I like Lichtenberg, but Boffelli might play baseball (if you think MLB teams wouldn't throw money at him, you're seriously mistaken). Mosby is a mystery, beginning with whether he plays safety or is an undersized linebacker. And Blankenship is simply a mystery. Fullback, safety...or a Jason Scales-style running back?

I'll start getting excited when we begin to fill next year's immediate needs--like strongside end, with three players graduating. Safety, with Brown and Hunley gone. Wideout, with Sumrall, Messiah and franklin graduating. A quality back to go with ARob and Bo. Or, call me when James Carpenter signs.

[weR138]

I get this argument, I really do. The problem is, just because that spot in the schedule is opened up doesn't mean it's going to automatically get filled with a BCS-caliber team. The last thing I'd want to see on my schedule is 3 MAC-caliber teams and a FCS team. What kind of national respect will you get from doing that? And besides, who says we have to play Iowa, 2 MAC-caliber teams, and an FCS team year-in-year-out? Why not drop one of the MAC-caliber teams or the FCS team and replace it with a BCS team? I mean, I hate to compare us to Iowa once again, but look at their preseason schedule - Maine (FCS), Iowa State (BCS-Big XII), Pitt (BCS-Big East), and a MAC-caliber team I can't remember off the top of my head. I'd much rather play this preseason schedule opposed to the one that calls for dropping Iowa and replacing it with another BCS-school (if we can get one to schedule us), 2-3 MAC-caliber teams, and an FCS team.

Besides, if we dropped Iowa, I would miss rubbing it into my brother-in-laws' faces on a yearly basis.

But I guess that's just me...

I agree totally, we must get the IAA teams off the schedule for good.

[usedcarguy]

Random comments:

The easiest way to get FCS teams off your schedule is to win 7 games per year. Then you don't need to schedule one. Hopefully we'll be there someday soon.

On the recruiting issue vs. EIU - it IS a big deal. We know the Big Ten is a weaker conference overall, but they enjoy east coast media bias. Swinging a couple of in-state kids each year our way is a difference maker in the quality of the team. In an ideal situation, both in-state schools would be good as it would add more credibility to a win over them. Our recent success has made a difference in the fan base as I see MANY more ISU fans than I did 20 years ago.

IMO the whole recruiting coverage phenomenon is a result of too many news outlets and not enough news.

Gene seems to be taking the Hayden Fry approach to developing talent - get big kids, turn them into football players, and hopefully in their final year or two can get some great production out of them.

[bmuff]

Random comments:

The easiest way to get FCS teams off your schedule is to win 7 games per year. Then you don't need to schedule one. Hopefully we'll be there someday soon.

On the recruiting issue vs. EIU - it IS a big deal. We know the Big Ten is a weaker conference overall, but they enjoy east coast media bias. Swinging a couple of in-state kids each year our way is a difference maker in the quality of the team. In an ideal situation, both in-state schools would be good as it would add more credibility to a win over them. Our recent success has made a difference in the fan base as I see MANY more ISU fans than I did 20 years ago.

IMO the whole recruiting coverage phenomenon is a result of too many news outlets and not enough news.

Gene seems to be taking the Hayden Fry approach to developing talent - get big kids, turn them into football players, and hopefully in their final year or two can get some great production out of them.

I don't think that FCS teams are going off the schedule any time soon. First, they are a guaranteed home game with no return. Second, the Big XII is tough enough. I'd be happy if they got rid of iowa and played four "easy" wins. Worked for KU last year.

As for beating iowa in recruiting, I wouldn't be crowing too loud. They have a legit shot at Davis and Wegher in-state while we do not. Yeah, it's great that we got Boffeli, but that's just a start. Not to mention, their recruiting lately wouldn't rank much higher than ours in the Big XII.

I do like that Chizik is finding big kids that are athletes instead of Mac's supposed strategy of big fat linemen and way undersized LBs and DEs. But the one thing that he's really done well so far is retaining players. This year's team may not be better than Mac's best, but it is definitely deeper.

[Cyclone711]

We REALLY need to have all threads that are in "in state rivals" not show up on the front page anymore. It is really getting rediculous.