5 questions with HR's Tom Kakert

It's late in the recruiting season. Iowa has 20 commitments, which is about an average-sized class for the Hawkeyes.

This is the late recruiting push. Iowa has at least five more scholarships to give, but probably won't give them all. You can bet a few would go to walk-ons (kicker Mike Meyer comes to mind).

I asked HawkeyeReport's Tom Kakert to answer five questions about the final push, scholarship allotment and general recruiting. HawkeyeReport is part of the Rivals network, pretty tough to beat in the recruiting game. I know I can't. You know I can't.

Good stuff from Tom. Much appreciated. If we made "On Iowa" T-shirts, one would be on the way.

1. Who's in this weekend and is this courtesy from the DeMatha duo or is there serious interest?

The Dematha duo of DT Darian Cooper and OL Cyrus Kouandjio are in this weekend. Cyrus will be coming in later due to an SAT testing taking place on Saturday morning. He has to be back on Sunday evening so he can be back in class on Monday, so Iowa will essentially have 24 hours to make their pitch. Cooper appears to be down to Iowa and Michigan State. His mom is making the visit with him, which is always a good sign for Coach Ferentz. Right now we have him on our recruiting hot board at 50% and that number could rise or fall after this weekend. Cyrus is the #1 offensive line prospect in the country, so he has plenty of schools that are showing interest. His brother is a freshman at Alabama and most people who are dialed into his recruitment believe that's where he will land. It is kind of interesting that he will be visiting Auburn next weekend, given the rivalry between the Tide and the Tigers.

2. Iowa has 20 commitments. If no success this weekend, is Iowa finished?

Our scholarship distribution chart has Iowa at 79 scholarship players right now. They will get to the allowed limit of 85 at some point. I suspect that freshman kicker Mike Meyer will be put on scholarship, if he hasn't been already. That puts them at 80. Coach Ferentz said that this class will likely end up in the low 20's, so I suspect there will be a couple more commitments before things are wrapped up on February 2nd. The big question is who will those last few names end up being? Cooper is one name to watch. Jeremiha Hendy from Maryland is committed to the Terps, but seems to be wavering. Iowa is still in the mix there. Travis Perry, a LB/S prospect from Urbandale is visiting next weekend. He doesn't have an offer yet, but Iowa seems to always find an instate kid to offer late, like they did last year with Tanner Miller.

3. Iowa has four recruits in the Rivals 250. Does that matter? What's your take on the rankings?

The four guys in the Rivals 250 are: Austin Blythe (OL from Williamsburg), Jordan Walsh (OL from Glen Ellyn, IL), Ray Hamilton (TE from Strongsville, OH), and Rodney Coe (RB from Edwardsville, IL). I guess it does matter at some level, because most fans get excited about seeing stars next to a recruits name and it makes people feel excited about the future of the program. Iowa is currently ranked #26 in the team rankings, according to Rivals.com, which is pretty good. That will obviously change as we get to signing day, but the typical Iowa class is usually in the mid-30's nationally. My view on the recruiting rankings has always been, it's a nice way to measure on signing day, but the true standing of how well you recruited in each class comes over the next four to five years. Wins and losses are a true measure and frankly if you follow Iowa football recruiting, you know some of the best players of the Ferentz era had one or two stars next to their name when they signed.

4. Did Iowa fill needs (ie, did the Hawkeyes recruit enough running backs)?

For the most part I think they have filled their needs. With the losses at running back, they needed help there and landing Rodney Coe and Mikail McCall gives them some depth at the position. I think both guys have the potential to help at true freshmen if needed. Receiver was a big need and they filled that with three guys. Perhaps they could have used one more at wide out, but it would have to be the right guy. Iowa always stocks up on the OL and DL and they did that again this year, especially if they could land one or both of the DeMatha kids. I think the one area that they probably haven't filled at this point is at defensive back. Iowa has only two commits at the position right now and we suspected they might sign at least three or four. There is still time to fill it out, but when you look at the scholarship distribution chart at safety there are only four names currently listed. There are certainly walk-on's who fill out the depth chart, but that's a pretty small number of scholarship players. Then if you look at cornerback, there are six names listed and four of them are going to be juniors and seniors.

5. OK, fun part. Give me your sleeper in this class.

Always one of my favorite questions. On signing day I always pick a sleeper on offense and defense. Sometimes I do pretty well and other times it is flame out city. I define a sleeper as a three star or lower and a guy who is kind of flying under the radar nationally. One name that jumps out to me is Marcus Grant, the WR from Groton, MA. He was a very early commit to Iowa, which usually means he doesn't get a lot of recruiting run from the national experts. He's coming in to a position of need and he has the size, skill set, and work ethic to perhaps make an early impact for the Hawkeyes.

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Here's a link to Rivals top 250.

Here's ESPN's top 150. (No Hawkeyes, which is usually how it works.)

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