Let's Look Back - LONG

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

2013 Recruiting Class - names of note or my recall, with rating:

Antonio Allen
4 star
got hurt, then embarrassed himself, his family and IU

Darius Latham
4 star
Helped a little
Tossed off the team
Has had an NFL cup of coffee

Rashard Fant
4 star
stud - led the league in stuff
well spoken fine young man
Got a shot at the NFL - will be a success at anyting

David Kenney
4 star
got chased too

Danny Friend
3 star
season-ending injuries Year 2 and 3
team kid - moved to OL as senior

Laray Smith
played 2, went to Delaware

Marcus Oliver
3 star
stud

Noel Padmore
suspended in 2016 and 2017

Isaac Griffith
3 star
damn near died
got arrested
got hurt
never got his career rolling here

Chase Dutra
3 star
tough kid - contributed a lot - HM All Big Ten

T.J. Simmons
big LB body
injuries ended his career
Team guy who stayed and coached

Clyde Newton
3 star
moved around LB/RB

Nate Hoff
2 star
Still helping


2014 class:

Tim Gardner
4 star
scapegoated by OSU
played 2 here - got tossed


Dominique Booth
4 star
injured
claimed both that IU let him play after concussions and then would not let him play because of concussions

Simmie Cobbs
3 star
had highlight catches and also dropped wide open TD's
knee injury - IMO - confirms MY personal thoughts about knee injuries - healing and 100% takes longer than 1 year - 1st year back is for more healing, timing and ALWAYS take another year if you have it to see max performance and get max improvement if you want to play NFL
Hope he sticks BIG and proves me wrong. I think he will play a while, but not be a stud.

Donovan Clark
3 star
back injury - one of the ones that caused Wilson his troubles
not medically cleared
left and switched to baseball

Will Dawkins
3 star
played only 2 in high school
WR/DB - we picked DB
redshirt and 1 season - transferred to UAB


Greg Gooch
3 star
very very solid for us
needs speed and size to make a roster now


Tegray Scales
3 star
stud from the jump
will stick in the league for a while

Tommy Mister
3 star
lots of press clippings
redshirted, then hurt in Spring and left for Northern Illinois
stayed a backup RB

J-Shun Harris
3 star
his knees hate him
great kid - still trying

Jordan Fuchs
3 star
injury, then suspended

Delroy Baker
3 star despite had to sit out in hs due to transfer
still swinging for us

Devine Redding
3 star
for his body and speed, he had an incredible impact
early go - prolly shoulda stayed for his 4th year
called "solid and reliable" by KC Chiefs reporter
may still get another NFL shot


Alexander Diamont
3 star
more guts than glory
Exhibit A of the "Wilson can't make up his mind" problem
Unless you have 130 scholarships, Zander and Sudfeld do not belong on the same offense

Dameon Willis
3 star
journeyman LB
played behind some talent and was a team guy


DeAndre Herron
3 star
sigh - needed a boot in his butt when he was about 16


Nick Carovillano
bad ending all around

Tony Fields
3 star
solid career

Michael Barwick
3 star
still plugging

Coray Keel
2 star
injured and another guy Wilson was mean to


Zeke Walker
another journeyman
left after this year

Kiante Walton
still playing

Derrian Meminger
didn't want to wait
Alcorn State

Wes Martin
now a leader

Chris Covington
fought HARD and made himself a player

Robert McCray
solid

Danny Cameron
I wanted a better story for Cam's kid.

Class of 15 - no 4 stars
too many to discuss all
here's a few notes

Camion Patrick
sigh

Jonathan Crawford
stud

Mike Majette
has a lst chance to SHINE

Devonte Williams
wish he had stayed, but I get it - its a long line

Nick Westbrook
ready to blow up
hope he plays it out

Omari Stringer
gone 4

Reakwon Jones
His time has arrived

Jacob Robinson
stud

Brandon Knight
watch list

Isaac James
watch list

Simon Stepaniak
journeyman PLUS
may 'slode

Tyler Green
gone

Andre Brown - 2 star
gonna be a part of a record unit

Donavan Hale - 2 star
on track for NFL

2016/2017 studs/conributors (so far)
Riggins - 3 star
Stover - 3
Bryant - 3
Nworah - 3
Johnson - 3
Cronk - 3
Gest - 3
Ian Thomas - NFL - 2
Stallings - 2
Ball - 2
Ramsey - 2

Others gone:
Mack - 3
Enis - 3
Thompson - 3
Morris - 3
Benker - 2
Natee - 2

The star story?

Don't bet on 4's or against 2's
Recruit from coaches you trust
Kids are either gonna stay or leave - don't worry about it
Your players stay - your team guys stay - your guys who want more o, and you should help them if they aren't punks.

Our story hasn't changed.
Wilson was building us up, but was an asshole who outlived his personality because of his ceiling.
Allen saved Wilson's last recruiting class, and improved the defense two years in a row.
Allen hired an OC he believes in, who hired some coaches who are recruiting well.
We played a pocket guy AND a spread guy last year, stayed competitive, but blew the Maryland game

We gotta replace some LB studs, and improve OL play.
We have a back 4-5 that could be as good as any of us have ever seen
We have a nice RB stable.
We have a vice WR stable.
Looks like we have decided on dual threat QB's so we need one to explode on the scene - and I don't care which. First exploder starts.

Sundays.

 

[Indianaftw]

My take on the difference between 4 stars and 2 stars is simply body development. A 4 star kid is ready to contribute and has the body size and weight right out of high school. The 2 star kid needs some time in the weight room and usually by sophomore or junior year is ready to contribute.

Nice write up though and very true.

There are times when 2 stars come in and immediately just kick ass. Addison Gillam was a 2 star for the Buffs and led the team with 119 tackles as a true freshman and shocked everyone.

 

[td75]

The very few 4 star kids that IU has landed, typically haven't panned out for various reasons. The number is so low that you just can't make any rational conclusions.

Indiana desperately needs to sign more 4 star football players because the teams in the bigger bowl games are typically loaded with 4 star talent.

 

[Crimson Crush]

My take on the difference between 4 stars and 2 stars is simply body development. A 4 star kid is ready to contribute and has the body size and weight right out of high school. The 2 star kid needs some time in the weight room and usually by sophomore or junior year is ready to contribute.

Nice write up though and very true.

There are times when 2 stars come in and immediately just kick ass. Addison Gillam was a 2 star for the Buffs and led the team with 119 tackles as a true freshman and shocked everyone.

My belief is that the difference between most (not all) 4-stars and 2-stars is not body development but simply God-given talent.
If the body development thing was true, you wouldn’t see true frosh at some place like OSU or Alabama lighting up an opponent that has veteran 2-star guys who have spent 3-4 years in a college weight room. It happens all the time. You see young 4 and 5 star talent overwhelming a team on the other side that is senior-laden.
Freshman RBs or WRs that go wild on a veteran defense made up of 2 and 3 stars. I see it every Saturday.
At the end of the day, the DNA takes over and no amount of workouts and body transformation makes up for that if there is a talent mismatch.

 

[CaptainZigZag]

Having been away from Bloomington and Indiana for 12 years , I am surprised in the numerical difference between the number of 2 and 3 stars and 4’s.
I wish IU could dip down here into Texas and get some very well coached 3 stars
One big difference I’ve noticed is the quality of coaching here vs Indiana even down to the 2 star level.

 

[IUCol]

My belief is that the difference between most (not all) 4-stars and 2-stars is not body development but simply God-given talent.
If the body development thing was true, you wouldn’t see true frosh at some place like OSU or Alabama lighting up an opponent that has veteran 2-star guys who have spent 3-4 years in a college weight room. It happens all the time. You see young 4 and 5 star talent overwhelming a team on the other side that is senior-laden.
Freshman RBs or WRs that go wild on a veteran defense made up of 2 and 3 stars. I see it every Saturday.
At the end of the day, the DNA takes over and no amount of workouts and body transformation makes up for that if there is a talent mismatch.

Okay, I just want to get one thing crystal clear...a kid who reaches his peak two years earlier than another kid who reaches exactly the same level of talent, just a little later (Poor eating habits, poverty, ie.,) has more "God Given Talent" than the other guy?

Kinda mean and short-sighted of God, wasn't it?

OM stinking G...

 

[fkfootball]

I long for they day that we can sign 5 or 6 ☆☆☆☆ guys a year. Top 25 recruiting classes.

 

[boiler1987]

I long for they day that we can sign 5 or 6 ☆☆☆☆ guys a year. Top 25 recruiting classes.

That’s a tall task. Even Tiller in his prime wasn’t landing classes like that. Tough for an IU or Purdue to reel in classes like that on a consistent basis.

 

[fpeaugh]

You seem to list only the negatives for the 4 star recruits and only positives like “team guy” for the 3 stars to push the agenda. On AVERAGE, 4 star recruits turn out better than 3 stars etc. This has been heavily proven by facts in terms of percentages.

 

[gulcherboy]

I don't really know from stars, except five is supposed to be better than four and four is supposed to be better than three and three is supposed to be better than two and so on.
But, I remember watching an IU-O$U game and the color guy, talking about IU, said the Hoosiers' problem is that they come into a game like feeling pretty good about themselves because they have four or five five-star guys. And then, you look across the field and the other guy as 15 of'em.
So, I'm thinking that we want to recruit as many five-star guys as we can get our hands on. And the more stars they have, the better.

 

[Bowlmania]

I don't really know from stars, except five is supposed to be better than four and four is supposed to be better than three and three is supposed to be better than two and so on.
But, I remember watching an IU-O$U game and the color guy, talking about IU, said the Hoosiers' problem is that they come into a game like feeling pretty good about themselves because they have four or five five-star guys. And then, you look across the field and the other guy as 15 of'em.
So, I'm thinking that we want to recruit as many five-star guys as we can get our hands on. And the more stars they have, the better.

I'm thinking that either your recollection of that broadcast is faulty or the color guy should be fired. I don't believe IU has ever had a single 5* guy on the roster let alone four or five of them.

Pretty much everyone has a talent shortfall when it comes to playing OSU.

 

[Superstar84b]

I think that the list of players highlights that stars don’t matter that much. I do agree that statistically a 4-Star is likely to contribute, however as the list shows, that doesn’t guarantee they’ll perform. Someone such as Jonathan Crawford for example is better suited to play NFL safety than Antonio Allen would’ve been, but due to where Allen went to school and others connections he got a much higher rating. Donavan Hale is clearly a better prospect than Dominique Booth, and has freakish size/athleticism, but due to the fact that Hale played QB, he landed a 2-Star rating. To me this highlights that the stars don’t matter as much as height, weight, speed, stregnth and character which can’t be measured per se. I think that these examples show that you can build a good team with 2 and 3 stars, but you have to be extremely specific about the ones you pick. Iowa and Wisconsin have a forumula. No shock that Kirk Ferentz worked under Belichick because the Patriots have the same formula of selecting under the radar players. But if you do go with that strategy you better have a proven formula. If you do, you can definitely win with 2’s, 3’s and walk ons.

 

[Superstar84b]

I’d also add that besides Laray Smith none of those guys had traits that were distinguishable from the 2-stars from a physical standpoint besides maybe Latham. Smith had unusual speed (4-star on 247 sports). He was the one who I’d argue had natural gifts, since that level of top end speed is generally a gift. Obviously most guys who get to this level at a skill position can be fast with work, but Smith was a different kind of fast. Latham was strong, but obviously someone such as Hoff was actually stronger. Besides Smith I don’t remember any of the other 4-stars standing out from the 2’s and 3’s. Some of the best players we faced were 2’s and 3’s. Best Tight End that I recall playing was probably George Kittle at Iowa who’s coming off of a good rookie season in the NFL and he was a 2 or 3. But again, he has traits (height, weight speed) that are on par with most 4 stars and not that distinguishable.

 

[gulcherboy]

I'm thinking that either your recollection of that broadcast is faulty or the color guy should be fired. I don't believe IU has ever had a single 5* guy on the roster let alone four or five of them.

Pretty much everyone has a talent shortfall when it comes to playing OSU.

Eh, yeah. My memory could well be faulty. But, I think the point stands.