How has our "Recruit the South" strategy fared?
- Thread starter IUCX9
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penix mcfadden mullens come to mind right off the bat.
Penix, McFadden, Fryfogle, Layne, Monster, Mullen, Cam Jones, Ziemba, Bedford.
We've gotten good play from all of them here & there. Like anything else, some have injury issues (Penix), some have been really impressive, and some seemed to have dropped off. But on the whole, I'd say the bigger end of the top guys the last couple years have come from the south.
IU has had more success with southern players than Indiana players they have brought in.
I don’t think the issue is whether we’ve managed to get good contributors from Southern states, but rather that we seem to be ceding Indiana to others, including our chief rival and another school in the Big Ten West division. I get that ND and Ohio State will always have the ability to get great players from the state, but we shouldn’t be losing that many guys to the likes of PU and Iowa, and if we ever want to compete at the top, we have to get some of the top guys to come to Bloomington, too.
With a few exceptions (Cobbs, Scales, I. Thomas, Hendershot, Dutra and Scott come to mind), pretty much all of our key contributors over the past five or six seasons, at least, have been from FL/GA/MS/TN (guess you could throw in some midwestern OL contributors too).
As have been mentioned above, Mullen, Penix, McFadden are all from FL. Then you've got guys like Fryfogle, Whop, Westbrook, Ricky Jones, Hale, McCrary-Ball, Robert McCray, Fant, Jonathan Crawford, Jaylin Williams.
Seems safe to say that pulling guys from the south has been integral to any success we've had of late.
As have been mentioned above, Mullen, Penix, McFadden are all from FL. Then you've got guys like Fryfogle, Whop, Westbrook, Ricky Jones, Hale, McCrary-Ball, Robert McCray, Fant, Jonathan Crawford, Jaylin Williams.
Seems safe to say that pulling guys from the south has been integral to any success we've had of late.
Very fair point.
Our higher ranked in-state guys like Sampson James, Beau Robbins, & Cam Williams either didn't stick around or haven't lived up to their high rankings. Honestly, Hendershot was probably our best local guy over the last couple years and he was an under the radar pickup. I'm not sure if that says more about program development or the recruiting rankings folks just missing.
It’s a strange situation. We’ve lost kids n the past to schools that seemed were on a greater trajectory (Kevin Hardy, Moe Gardner, Darrick Brownlow to Illinois, Aaron Gibson, Kevin Lyles, Eddie Faulkner to Wisconsin, Jason Strayhorn and Cal Miller to MSU, Larry Tracy, Justin Brent, DJ Jones, Craig, and Britt to Iowa), but we’ve got to find a way to keep some of those guys here. It’s also a little frustrating that we took a quarterback and took ourselves out of contention for another highly rated in-state kid who’s now headed to our rival.
I agree this is a frustrating situation. This morning I read where Will Heldt is planning to decide between Iowa and Purdue. We aren’t even getting an official visit arrgh
That has been quite intentional. The question is...should TA put more focus on Indiana kids. Would IU be better off?
While Iowa has been coming in getting a good number of Indiana HS recruits in recent years, they also seem to be having a pretty poor success rate in turning them into contributors, Tyrone Tracy is about the only contributor they have had recently, and he kind of disappeared after a solid RS Frosh season. And as far Purdue, the only big contributors from Indiana recently have been Bell and Karlaftis, and Karlaftis lived in WL and had family connections to Purdue. So sure, it would be nice to be doing better recruiting in state, but all things considered, IU hasn't been missing out on that much talent
Hartwig has been a big contributor for them, too, and we couldn’t get a visit from him, either.
Tony Fields was a good secondary player out of Florida. He graduated a few years ago. There's more, I just don't have time to look them up.
If you go back and look at recruiting classes, IU has landed guys in the top 10 from the state. Neither Purdue nor Indiana have some kind of monopoly on in-state guys. Ferentz has always recruited Indianapolis and they seem to get guys from the Avon school district.
Top players like Curry almost always find their way to a Midwest power. This goes all the way back to the days we lost recruits to Michigan and, oddly enough, Illinois. Ohio State can get whoever they want unless there is a family reason to stay in state.
It is a tough culture to break. Traditionally, Indiana produces a relatively small number of top kids and the culture is that those kids will go to bigger programs (ND and out of state) and IU and pu can fight over the second tier kids. I still believe that TA can get more of the first tier kids if he prioritizes them.
But there’s usually a big gap between the top 2 or 3 and the rest of the top 10. As for Ferentz, I think AJ Edds was his first success in Indy, and his dad played at IU. After that, he got all of the kids I mentioned and nearly got Bell, even though they play an I formation, zone scheme power game. That they may come get another kid from the area at a position of need for us may be a tribute to their recruiting prowess and reputation for turning out pro level linemen, but it’s not a feather in our recruiting cap, either.
Recruiting Indiana kids has improved under coach Allen we just haven't seen them do well at IU. Other than the top two or three Hoosiers, generally Indiana kids don't pan out in college as we have seen when they leave for bigger programs.
There are a number of reasons why this happens - no Spring practices, lack of top competition, small population, etc.
There are a number of reasons why this happens - no Spring practices, lack of top competition, small population, etc.
This is kind of the football version of "Hoop Dreams". Explains a lot. What BB is to Indiana, FB is to Ohio (and points east/south/west)
One of them is that FB is one hell of a lot more important in MI, Ahia, PA, TX, GA, FL and throughout the south.
Hoops is king here and always has been.
I can tell you as a Florida resident (just North of Tampa) it is amazing how many comments I get whenever I wear IU gear around town. Coach TA's recruitment of the Tampa area has increased recognition of IU in general. Due to the number of local players on the team the pubs tune in to IU games too. I certainly hope the Florida pipeline of player to IU will continue. I think Coach Allen visited Tampa again recently to attend a high school game.
It really shouldn't come as a shock that kids in the south are generally better at football then kids from the north.
Kids from the south typically get to play the game year round if they want while kids from the north don't get that luxury. Being in a warmer weather climate definitely has it's perks.
Football is king in the south. CTA knows that and has tailored his recruiting to reflect that. There's a reason he thinks of Florida as another home state like he does the state of Indiana. We're always going to have a presence down there as long as CTA is coach here.
Kids from the south typically get to play the game year round if they want while kids from the north don't get that luxury. Being in a warmer weather climate definitely has it's perks.
Football is king in the south. CTA knows that and has tailored his recruiting to reflect that. There's a reason he thinks of Florida as another home state like he does the state of Indiana. We're always going to have a presence down there as long as CTA is coach here.
….and all goes according to plan until the basketball program goes in the crapper for several seasons. Then, there’s nothing to lean on.
Looks like we are past that, which for most of us is good news.
Thanks to all for contributing. CTA has definitely succeeded in creating a core group of successful players from the south. Players that win.
Now, I wonder, if we could get some local IN HS stars at IU, if we could get more fans in the stands on Saturdays. More than just the ones more interested in partying in the lots.
Now, I wonder, if we could get some local IN HS stars at IU, if we could get more fans in the stands on Saturdays. More than just the ones more interested in partying in the lots.
I don't see fans coming out just to see Indiana players on the field. It could happen but I think winning and getting better in the B1G will bring fans in just like 2020 did along with earlier 2021 - winning cures a lot of problems.
Meh….on paper we are. Losing record in conference, 9th place finish and a beat down in the tourney at the hands of the Gaels shows we still have a lot of work ahead.
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