Exactly the way Kirk Ferentz likes it.
While Illinois and Iowa State and many other programs around the country were being snubbed by recruits they expected to collect, the Hawkeyes signed all 21 of the players who verbally were committed to them on college football national signing day.
CLICK HERE TO SEE AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE HAWKEYES' RECRUITS
No surprises. No last-minute defections. No sweat.
“We felt pretty good all the way through,” Ferentz said of a class that is ranked 42nd best in the nation by Rivals.com and 45th by Scout.com.
“There hasn’t been much drama or excitement, which is OK with me. I think that’s a good thing — I don’t want to say it was a routine year, but just seems like things really went pretty methodically. We’ll all know more about four years from now.”
All but three of the 21 signees had been pledged to Iowa for three months or more, and Ferentz said he felt all were “our kind of guys.”
He said 19 of the 21 were captains for their high school teams last fall, 18 led their teams into the playoffs and 14 made the honor roll. He said he thought all were ready to deal with the fishbowl existence that is part of playing for the Hawkeyes.
“I think each and every one of the guys, from what we can tell and what we can project, is going to fit in beautifully with the way we like to operate,” he said.
The class includes four players who were rated as four-star recruits by Rivals.com and is heavily focused on defense. Five players are projected as defensive linemen, four as linebackers and four as defensive backs.
Every projected defensive starter for next season is a junior or senior, and Ferentz pointed out that three seniors will start in the defensive line.
“It was real important to us to get some guys in that we felt could be involved right away,” he said. “And same thing with our linebacker position. We’ve got a heavy group of seniors next year. We just graduated two outstanding players. So those are two positions we felt it was really important to fortify.”
- Illinois signed 20 players, including four-star quarterback Chandler Whitmer of Downers Grove South, but experienced a couple of late disappointments. Proviso East safety Corey Cooper, who had been saying for two years that he planned to play at Illinois, signed with Nebraska. New Jersey lineman Dan Foose, who committed to the Illini just last week, signed with Florida State.
“We lost a couple here at the end, which is something that hasn’t happened to us much,” Illini coach Ron Zook said. “It didn’t go exactly as expected. That happens sometimes.”
Zook added it was possible the Illini might still add one or two recruits in the weeks to come.
- Iowa State signed 28 players, including seven from the junior college ranks. The only four-star recruits are jucos Chris and Anthony Young (not related), who are expected to add some much-needed speed.
The Cyclones also had one late defection. Houston area linebacker Cqulin Hubert reneged on his verbal commitment and signed with Texas Tech.
“There are some individuals who treat signing day the same way they make reservations at a hotel,” ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. “They act like they can cancel up to signing day with no penalty.”
- Northern Iowa brought in 21 new recruits, including 11 from within the state. Included were several of the most prolific offensive skill players in the Iowa high school ranks — David Johnson of Clinton, Andre Dawson of Cedar Rapids Washington, Chad Owens of Waukee and Will Roth of Linn-Mar.
The Panthers also signed Central DeWitt lineman Spencer Hicks.
“I think the state of Iowa was excellent this year,” UNI coach Mark Farley said.
