Ferentz on Hyde

From the sounds of it, once Michigan and Michigan State heard that Iowa offered Micah Hyde, they suddenly became interested.

Hyde's brother, Marcus, is a defensive back at Michigan State. Here's an excerpt from a story on Advertiser-Tribune.com, a newspaper that serves the Fostoria, Ohio, area:

"(Fostoria coach Tom) Grine got an interesting call on Friday while on the way to Iowa. It was Micah's older brother, Marcus who will be a redshirt junior this season at Michigan State.

"Marcus calls and says coach Mark Dantonio from Michigan State had just came in the weight room and heard that Micah was going to Iowa this weekend and told Marcus as a result of the recruiting process, they ended up having another scholarship open for a defensive back," Grine said. "I told Marcus that if coach Dantonio has an interest and wants to call me, then have him call me. He called, but I was in a meeting at the time and he left a message saying what Marcus said. I told all of this to Micah but Micah said he liked what he seen out here (Iowa)."

According to the story, Iowa started recruiting Hyde last spring. Defensive backs coach Phil Parker was on point with Hyde's recruitment.

The attention made a difference. It seemed to resonate with Hyde.

"I don't want to go to a school that if they can't get another player, they can get me," Hyde told the Advertiser-Tribune. "Michigan was the same way. They offered a bunch of 5-star or 4-star athletes and if they didn't get them, they were interested in me. Iowa has been here the whole time since the beginning. They've been here every week and I've been talking with them all the time. I went there and they showed me a lot of love."

Hyde was a hugely productive player for Fostoria. As the team's QB, he was named Ohio Division IV offensive player of the year, northwest Ohio offensive player of the year and first-team all-state. Hyde holds or shares 24 school records on offense at Fostoria. including 46 rushing touchdowns, 425 points, 977 pass attempts, 606 pass completions, 7,846 passing yards, 65 touchdown passes and 10,755 total yards over his three and a half years of starting for the Redmen.

Iowa projects Hyde as a cornerback. On defense last season, he picked off eight passes.

He has a 73-inch wing span. During his visit to Iowa, Hyde was shown the pink visitors' lockerroom and said, "We were in the pink locker rooms for five minutes," Hyde said. "I was seriously falling asleep."

Iowa didn't offer Hyde a scholarship until his visit in late January. That was deliberate, coach Kirk Ferentz said.

"Phil had strong feelings for from day one. (But) We let that play out and didn't make the offer until he got here," Ferentz said. "We knew a month ago we were going to do that, but we were trying to protect ourselves a bit and keep the competition down. Sometimes, you're right and sometimes you're wrong, but we have a great feeling about all of the guys in this class.

With Micah, we think he's comparable to a guy like Jovon Johnson, and we beat Kent State to get him. Marcus Paschal, I think we beat Hofstra. They had pretty good careers. We try to evaluate guys as we see them."

By the way, Grine played quarterback, fullback and tight end for the Hawkeyes from 1973 to 1976. That probably didn't hurt.