Ferentz on Poggi

Jim Poggi was a big, early get for Iowa's 2010 class.

He committed nearly a year ago, in April 2009. When he committed, he had offers from Tennessee, Ohio State, Auburn, Boston College with heavy interest from Penn State. Not long after Poggi committed, his Gilman School teammate Anthony Ferguson Jr., a defensive tackle heavily recruited by Penn State, picked the Hawkeyes.

Poggi was Iowa's third commitment and seemed to really set the stage for an early surge for Hawkeyes recruiting, which was pretty much over before December.

“Iowa doesn't only care about the athlete, it cares about the student-athlete,” said Poggi, who had 131 tackles for the Gilman School last season. “They do a great job of getting people to the NFL, but they also know the percentages. The majority of people who play college football aren't going to the NFL. They do a great job of caring about you off the field and making sure you get your degree.”

Links -- Here's a story I wrote when he committed. It's mostly about his band, "Due to get Even." . . . Here's a story on teh Poggis from ESPN.com. Biff Poggi coached Jim at Gilman. . . . Here's a link from the Baltimore Sun, a paper that didn't come off looking so great in the final season of "The Wire."  . . . Here in the Sun, he talks about playing DeMatha, home of future Iowa RB Marcus Coker. It didn't go well for Gilman.

Bio -- From UI sports info: High school honors - - Named to Tom Lemming all-America team and espn.com Top 100 . . . consensus first team all-state as a junior and senior and named all-Metro both seasons . . . was first team all-conference selection all four years . . . named conference Defensive Player of the Year as junior and senior . . . Career - - earned four letters as linebacker and tight end . . . collected 137 tackles as a senior, including 12 QB sacks, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions . . . had 134 tackles as a junior, with 13 QB sacks, five fumble recoveries and three interceptions . . . recorded 89 tackles as a sophomore and 54 as a freshman . . . led conference in tackles as a junior and senior and led conference in QB sacks his final three seasons . . . team captain as a senior . . . also three-year letterman in basketball.

Personal - - Born 3/6/91 . . . Finance/English major . . . parents are Amy and Biff Poggi . . . high school coach was his father, Biff Poggi.

Ferentz on -- On finally having some recruiting success at Gilman: "Out East, we've tried unsuccessfully to recruit Gilman. My oldest son went to Gilman for two years. We've tried over the years to get a guy out of there. And we were finally able to get Coach Pojee's (phonetic) son, Jim, to come. Thrilled about that. And Anthony chose to come also.

"Tremendous school and tremendous program. They've had great tradition of success."

On how the LBs in this class might sort out (more of a look back than ahead): "You know, I polled our staff the week we got back after the Bowl game, whatever day that was, Thursday, I think we met. And I asked everybody predict who our linebackers are going to be. Give them our two deep next year at linebacker. And I think I got eight different answers eight out of 10 or whatever. Kind of interesting. That's a good thing. I think it's good, really Pat's probably a better Will linebacker, but played good at Mike and I think it's good to have that versatility. I think the guys we have in this group here are really going to have that kind of versatility, too. So we're fine with that."

Projection is fun -- I have to admit, I'm kind of stumped here. Poggi is 6-2, 212. Those are dimensions for anywhere in the LB corps. Based on where I feel the others might go, I think Poggi seems like the OLB, depending on his wheels. I really think that's what will separate Morris-Kirksey-Poggi-Gray. Who can run? Not much of a limb, I know, but I don't have complete info on this, either. I know Morris can run, even though he said he's not track fast.

Could anyone bulk up and play DE? That's a little too far down the road to see.