How is ISU's Football Recruiting Class?

(This article originally appeared on www.big12-fans.com.)

Brian #1

This season, my first covering recruiting nationally for Rivals.com, helped me understand recruiting from an entirely new perspective. There are plenty of stories, and 100 MB worth of digitally-archived interviews, but the short version of my conclusion is: everything is definitely not what it seems.

In a former life, I was a vehement opponent of pursuing a recruit after he had verballed somewhere else. But I learned this year – you just never know what the specifics of a story are. Take Logwone Mitz, a Washington State recruit who was told by the coaches there that if he didn’t commit on his official visit, his offer would be pulled. Having no other offers, and desperately wanting a college scholarship, Mitz committed. If a school coming in the derby late laid off this kid because he had “verballed” to Bill Doba, both Mitz and the school would be at a disservice. Take Trey Baysinger, who had verballed at least one place before committing to ISU, whose dad is apparently a bit of a tyrant who scheduled all the official visits for his son without much input from Trey. Should other schools be “hands off” this kid because family pressure forced his hand? Take every kid recruited by every staff that got their jobs in December, replacing a fired staff. Should they not be able to have a fresh start on kids, like they would have if they had had their job for the entire recruiting period?

Chizik has caught some heat from the local press (while somehow, Ferentz has received tongue-in-cheek praise) for this practice. Jamicah Bass, Kelechi Osemele, Cameron Bell, Allen Bell and Chris Weir are probably the athletes I’m most excited about in this class. Each one was coveted at other big-time schools, and each one bought Chizik’s sales pitch that he’d be better off playing in Ames.

I buy the pitch too, as everyone in the class seems jazzed to wear the cardinal and gold. To come out of what many anticipated would be a lost class with 25 quality athletes, and to beat SEC and Pac-10 schools for late recruits is a big sign of the kind of first impression Gene Chizik can make.

Brian #2

As is always the case, we won’t really be able to evaluate this recruiting class until a couple years down the line. This year, however, almost half of the class will be either entering their senior year or graduated by then. Signing 12 JUCOs is certainly something that no coach ever wants to do, but the roster returning for next fall required it. The four Spring Semester offensive linemen, especially, address a need that has been lingering for the past few years. Quite simply, the Cyclones haven’t been able to block anyone since Ennis Haywood was still wearing the Cardinal and Gold. I am all for allocating your resources to signing 8 offensive linemen. I have seen too many talented teams fall apart for no reason other their poor offensive line to not be happy with that number.

The other JUCOs look good, as well. Allen Bell and Michael Bibbs could be starters as soon as this fall, and I’d be shocked if we didn’t see at least one of the defensive linemen getting significant snaps. The high school haul seems like it includes a lot of projects, but what else did you expect? Gene Chizik and his staff essentially had two months to throw together a class, and they got athletes who appear to be able to grow into Big 12 players. They also kept both big gets that they inherited, Philip Bates and Jamaica Bass, despite stiff competition for their services.

I really entered this recruiting period with little in the way of expectations, so giving the Cyclone Staff a B+ might just be a product of my generosity and low expectations. If that is the case, then Happy Valentine’s Day to Coach Chizik. I just can’t wait until the pads (and the blood vessels in Chizik’s head) start popping at Spring Practice.

Brad

When Gene Chizik took over as the ISU head football coach in December, there were rumblings that this could be the worst recruiting class in recent memory for the Cyclones. Well, Dan McCarney and staff did their part to make that a reality, but Chizik would have none of it. With only six commitments and a couple wavering at the time, he had his work cut out for him.

The first and most important thing that Lt. Col. Chizik did was target some assistant coaches. The two coordinators appear to have great experience and, if Chizik is half-correct when he says that Robert McFarland is the best offensive line coach in the country, then he is still ten times better than Barney Fife…err Cotton. Mike Pelton appears to have coaches several NFL defensive linemen and is doing his part to ensure ISU doesn’t get embarrassed on the DL recruiting circuit anymore. Sorry Nelly—it’s the truth.

Getting Jamicah Bass to recommit to ISU after switching to Oregon State was a huge coup, as he is the highest rated Cyclone commit according to Rivals.com. That was the first event that made me believe big things could be in store. McFarland kept Phillip Bates as solid as ever, along with getting about 20 OL commits. No, seriously though, eight! Our biggest weakness by far going into the off-season and I can only hope that the old adage “strength in numbers” plays out. Not to mention that four of those OL recruits are already on campus participating in workouts. That’s huge.

Gene Chizik has impressed me with his words but, we all know, actions speak louder than words. His time-crunched recruiting effort of both players and coaches was remarkable. I’m not sure how much sleep he got during the last two months, but it probably wasn’t much. This Cyclone fan is on cloud nine with the saving of this potentially horrid class, especially the juco emphasis. I can only imagine what Chizik and staff will be able to accomplish with a year, or years, to build relationships.


Brian #1 is a freelance writer living in Chicago, and a regular contributor to Rivals.com and his website, briankgolden.blogspot.com. Brian #2 is a sophomore at Iowa State University majoring in finance and Spanish. Brad is a junior at Notre Dame, majoring in Economics and Philosophy.