Hawks find fertile recruiting ground in St. Louis

St. Louis is in the middle of the country. It's on the edge of college football.

Take a bus a few blocks west, it's Missouri and the Big 12. Fly a few hours south, you're in SEC country. About five hours north and east, it's the Big Ten.

“St. Louis is on the edge of everything,” Hazelwood East football coach Mike Jones said. “It's a great location. Anyone can be here in a couple hours. It's on the edge of the Big 12, SEC, Big Ten. It's on the edge of everything.”

The No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) do their share of business in St. Louis. For evidence, check last Saturday night's 15-13 victory at Michigan State.

Defensive end Adrian Clayborn, a St. Louis native and Webster Groves High School grad, had two sacks among his three tackles for loss. And, of course, there's wide receiver Marvin McNutt, whose 7-yard TD catch as time expired lifted the Hawkeyes to their first 8-0 start in school history.

Iowa tries to make it 9-0 against Indiana (4-4, 1-3) today.

On Dec. 30, 2005, McNutt led the Hazelwood Central Hawks to a 66-48 basketball upset over Webster Groves. McNutt scored 15 points. Clayborn had 18.

“They beat us, and it's a team sport,” Clayborn joked, “but I had a good day.”

“Adrian and I actually had to guard each other,” said McNutt, who was giving up 50-plus pounds to Clayborn in those days. “It was funny. I couldn't guard him, but he couldn't guard me, either. He'd post me up; I'd take him out to the 3-point line and make him guard me one-on-one.”

Think Shaq vs. Dwyane Wade. For Iowa football, think recruiting gold.

It started with Clayborn and wide receiver Paul Chaney Jr. (St. Louis University High) in 2006. McNutt showed up the next year. Wide receiver Demarco Paine (Hazelwood East) played as a true freshman, but academics derailed him to Iowa Central Community College, where he's playing wide receiver and defensive back.

This February, Hazelwood East's Don Shumpert and Christian Kirksey will sign letters of intent to play at Iowa.

“Christian is a great athlete. He has 140 tackles for us,” Jones said. “Don does a little of everything for us. He's got 65 tackles and is the second-leading receiver in the conference.”

When Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz came to Iowa City 11 years ago, he decided the five-hour radius around Iowa City should be heavily mined. In the past, that mostly meant Chicago. About three or four years ago, Iowa started to pay attention to St. Louis, an area Ferentz recruited during his days. He landed defensive tackle Mike Wells, from Arnold, Mo.

Recruiting coordinator/assistant linebackers coach Eric Johnson was assigned St. Louis.

“When Eric took the area over three or four years ago, he made a real concerted effort to do a good job,” Ferentz said. “Quite frankly, I was intrigued. Like with Adrian, the way that worked out. It took great effort. Eric was the point guy on that one.”

Jones praised Johnson's direct approach. Hazelwood Central Coach Richard Nixon, McNutt's prep coach, said Johnson recruits “the right way.”

“What I mean is if they're looking at a kid and talking to a kid, they don't string him along and kind of keep him hanging out there in limbo,” Nixon said. “When they're going after a kid, they let him know. When they've moved on and gone another direction, he'll take time out his schedule and day to call the young man up and say ‘hey, we're going a different direction and good luck to you.'

“A lot of the guys (coaches) won't do that. A lot of guys call and court, and when they move on, they just drop you and move on with their time. A lot of Iowa's consistency and word of mouth has really opened the door for them down here.”

When Johnson recruits a St. Louis high school, coaches have a history that says their kids won't get jerked around.

“This isn't just hyperbole here, but I really do think coach Johnson is not only one of the best recruiters in the Big Ten but one of the better in the country,” said Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting analyst and editor for Rivals.com. “He doesn't recruit 500 kids a year, so he doesn't have five or six kids a class, but look at the quality the last couple years.”

Also, when a St. Louis recruit visits Iowa City, they can talk to a St. Louis kid.

“When Don and Christian visited Iowa City, Marvin hosted them and just was honest with them,” Jones said. “He impressed them on all aspects. And they knew him, so it really did mean something.”

Iowa isn't the only one mining St. Louis. Most of the top kids go to Missouri, Crabtree said. But, through Johnson and fueled by winning, the Hawkeyes have gained a foothold that doesn't appear to be fading anytime soon.

St. Louis is on the edge of college football. Iowa is perfectly comfortable living on that edge.