The Sports Desk: Don't panic, Iowa recruiting only slightly behind schedule

Yes, Iowa has but one football recruit, a legacy at that.

Since Mitch Keppy committed to the Hawkeyes about a month ago, give or take a week, Iowa has gotten a few no's, including D-end Dean Lowry (Northwestern) and WR Donavin Newsome (Missouri). You look around the nation and the Big Ten and you see some schools approaching the 20s. Wisconsin only has four commitments, but Iowa wanted three of those, including QB Bart Houston and highly touted OL Dan Voltz.

So, panic time? No, according to HawkeyeReport.com's Tom Kakert.

Tom was a special guest on today's Sports Desk, sponsored by Dave Wright Subaru. (Here's the link to the show.)

As it turns out, Iowa's average number of recruits since I think Tom said 2001 is three. Last year was huge, with six commits by the end of June. So, Iowa isn't that far off pace. Plus, Iowa does some business in the camps and unofficial visits stages of recruiting, both of which happen to be dawning in the coming weeks.

It's not quite time to panic.

A few in-state recruits to keep an eye on, according to Tom, include West Des Moines Dowling WR Amara Darboh (Iowa and Notre Dame), Iowa City West's Charles Rogers (Iowa State and Northern Illinois) and Cedar Falls WR James Harrington (Kansas State).

Tom and I talked a little bit about Ricky Stanzi vs. James Vandenberg, QB of then vs. the QB of now. Those comparisons are going to pop up to varying degrees. Are they fair? Of course not. Every Iowa team is different. Stanzi's resume at Iowa is imposing, 26 victories, three bowl victories, fifth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. Vandenberg has two seasons compared to Stanzi's three. It's interesting to compare, but I doubt you'll ever be able to definitely say one is better than the other.

We also touched on the Big Ten's biggest news of the offseason, which, of course, we both agreed has been the ongoing soap opera at Ohio State.

Loved having Tom on the webcast. I think you'll see more of this in the future.