Iowa football recruiting — The Links

I'd like to thank Iowa linebackers coach (and don't forget special teams duties) Seth Wallace for the interview on signing day. His insight here is much appreciated. It's fun to sit down and talk about players without a season going on. I think coaches love it. Wish we had more time for things like this, but, alas, the season is in the blocks and spring football is about a month away.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

(BTW, I know this content is for the hardcores. I consider myself a hardcore. I tried to throw in some newish stuff, too. Join the conversation. I don't think I've had a comment on the blog since we changed systems. Also, I want to thank Gazette sports web editor Nathan Ford for making these actual Internet posts, with video, links and different asides.)

Defensive backs

Here's the link to the post on Iowa's four defensive back signees in the 2016 class — Lance Billings, Cedric Boswell, Amani Hooker and Emmanuel Rugamba. Wallace tells us here that Billings is corner maybe safety, Boswell is a corner, Hooker is a safety (for now) and Rugamba is a corner (if he's not a wide receiver).

Wallace talking Rugamba: 'We've got him projected as a defensive back at corner. The Big Ten Network was talking earlier about how this kid could come in and play receiver right away, which he probably could. Very, very talented.'

Linebackers 

Linebacker is Iowa's youngest position group. It's in great hands for the near future with juniors Josey Jewell and Ben Niemann, but there isn't a senior in this group and eight redshirt or true freshmen this fall. Here's the recruiting post on Iowa's incoming frosh linebackers (Amani Jones, Nick Niemann, Kyle Taylor, Barrington Wade and Kristian Welch). This post starts with, basically, head coach Kirk Ferentz saying all of these guys won't end up as linebackers.

Wallace talking Jones: 'If you watch this kid's tape, he is a throwback linebacker. Hard-nosed kid. He's built like a hard-nosed linebacker. He goes sideline-to-sideline. Is tough as anyone who we have in this class. He's someone we're excited to have.'

Defensive line 

I'm a little surprised Iowa didn't go the juco route for a defensive end. Iowa has found some great fits from juco land (Derrick Pickens was a DT in the early 2000s who as important for setting the table for the tradition that Iowa now enjoys on the D-line; oh yeah, Marshal Yanda). The position is very young and there's not a lot of depth. And, no, I don't think the Iowa staff was counting on getting Drew Ott

back for a fifth year (his case has yet to be decided) and they know better than anyone the progress of his elbow (Tommy John surgery) and knee (ACL and general cleanup) is going to be painstaking.

Half of the expected contributors on the D-line next season will be redshirt freshmen or freshmen (Chauncey Golston, Cedrick Lattimore, Romeo McKnight, Austin Schulte, Brandon Simon). Sophomores Parker Hesse and Matt Nelson

will be the starters at end and they will be the oldest and most experience DEs. Unless Ott comes back, and if he does, I would still caution the expectations because of his health. (And this is the last time I will do that because I get the feeling a certain percentage of fans have locked into 'Ott's back, so national title, right?' level of expectations. That's foolhardy and simply not fair to the guy.)

Here's the link to the D-line post on incoming frosh.

Wallace on Golston and Lattimore: 'Chauncey doesn't carry the same amount of weight that Cedrick does. Because of that, there's going to be some development with Chauncey, just putting on the right weight. The nice thing is you're dealing with an outstanding athlete. You certainly could project him on the outside. He certainly fits that same mold as an Anthony Nelson

or a Matt Nelson, two current guys for us who have outstanding height and very good athleticism. We've potentially got guys in this class in the defensive line who are 6-3 or better. We've already got a handful of those guys already. It really fit the same mold we're working with. With any of these guys, you hever know where their bodies are going to transition to. So, you put them on the outside, so the natural progression is if they continue to put on weight, they eventually could move to the inside.'

Offensive line 

I think landing Alaric Jackson was a bit of a breakthrough for Iowa. Yes, the Hawkeyes have churned out draft-level O-linemen for years. The staff also has developed tackles, including the Nos. 2 and 5 picks (Robert Gallery and Brandon Scherff

) in the draft (2004 and 2015). But for whatever reason, tackle types haven't flocked to Iowa City.

I did ask Kirk Ferentz this last fall (he kind of laughed): Why can't you get 6-7, four-star offensive tackles to run in here and say, 'Please, show me the way'?

His answer: 'That's a very fair question. It just seems so logical. Statistics and research would show you that it's the right thing to do if you're a good prospect, but recruiting is hardly that...logical.'

Hey, look what happened late in the recruiting cycle 2016? Alaric Jackson happened.

Jackson isn't quite a 4-star and has played just two years of football. He'll be in development mode for a while, but there's big potential. He also had offers from Michigan State, Wisconsin and Nebraska, with a late something maybe an offer or maybe not from Michigan.

So, a breakthrough. This is why the O-line recruiting post is headlined 'Progress in O-line recruiting.'

Wallace on Jackson: 'You see him in person, he's a giant. His recruiting process really didn't pick up in terms of getting away from Detroit and seeing what was out there until he came to visit us. It was fortunate that he's very good friends with Golston and Lattimore. We've got him projected at tackle and he has potential to be a really good one just based on his athleticism and some of the characteristics that he has.'

Wide receivers/tight ends

Going into spring, I think wide receiver is one of the biggest questions for the Hawkeyes (pass rush is probably No. 1 — this is a whole other blog post).

Senior Matt VandeBerg caught 65 passes last season and will return as Iowa's top WR target. Senior tight end George Kittle had a breakout year with 20 catches that included six TDs. The top returning receiver after those two? Sophomore Jerminic Smith

, who caught six passes as a true freshman.

Iowa signed three tight ends (Shaun Beyer, Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson) and one wide receiver (Devonte Young). Another wide receiver, Frank Darby

, has a spot in this class, but needs a qualifying SAT score.

There's opportunity. Some of these guys are going to play. Here's the post.

Running backs

Probably one of the running backs Iowa signed in this class plays next season. Will it be Toks Akinribade or Toren Young

? (Iowa probably wants to play one to provide some space in the RB class.)

Read the post and you tell me which one? I can see upsides to both. Akinribade sounds more full service, but Young's ability to run inside might fit exactly what Iowa wants.

I neglected to mention Marcel Joly in the 'Four Downs' post on the running backs. Oversight on my part, my bad. Is he in the mix, with LeShun Daniels, Akrum Wadley and Derrick Mitchell ahead on the depth chart and with Eric Graham

coming on line this fall? Probably not, but never say never with Iowa running back. I think we all can agree on that.

Wallace on the potential of one of the frosh RBs playing: 'Somebody is going to have to. He or Toren Young. Someone is going to have to split from that redshirt freshman and potentially use that freshman year immediately, but we'll see how it goes.'

Quarterback

Iowa will have five scholarship QBs on the roster next fall. It might have five scholarship QBs next fall. Let's see what happens this spring. Five is a big number of scholarship QBs. Remember who QBs are in their hearts. They're totally engaged competitors who seem themselves as the nerve center for the offense. They have healthy egos and they want to play. Five is a big number, let's see how it shakes out with the arrival of true freshman Nathan Stanley

.

Stanley was Iowa's QB this signing period. Here's the post.

Wallace on Stanley: 'He's a three-sport athlete. He plays baseball and throws the ball 90 mph. In basketball, he's going to be the leading scorer in the history of his high school, which is a pretty good high school. That's everything that's outside of playing football, which he's pretty good at, too.'

Walk-ons

Joe Argo, DB, 5-11, 185, Davenport (Assumption)

Tristan Bohr, LB, 6-4, 208, Cresco (Crestwood)

Keith Duncan, PK, 5-11, 160, Matthews, N. C. (Weddington)

Dalles Jacobus, DL, 6-1, 255, Palo (Cedar Rapids Kennedy)

Burke Prins, OL, 6-4, 260, Hinton (Hinton)

Caleb Shudak, PK, 5-8, 175, Council Bluffs (Lewis Central)

Ron Coluzzi, P, 5-11, 182, Naperville, Ill. (North)*

Jackson Terry, P, 5-11, 184, Kansas City, Mo. (Rockhurst)

* — Colluzi is a graduate-transfer from Central Michigan. He'll via for punter and kick off specialist this fall. Both jobs are open. As a junior, Colluzi had 59 punts with an average of 39.1 yards and a long of 61. He had 21 touchbacks on 64 attempts on kickoffs last season.

If you guys want to take a deep dive into madness, here are the recruiting class links for all of the Hawkeyes who'll be on the 2016 roster.

2015 signing class 

Kind of glad I led this post with a picture of C James Daniels. Yep, I totally saw coming the fact that he'd be the first true freshman to play tackle in the Ferentz era. Walk-ons included possible starting punter Colten Rastetter, fullback Brady Ross and D-lineman Jacob Giese.

2014 signing class

This class included OLB Ben Niemann and SS Miles Taylor, both of whom should be three-year starters. Also, this class has five walk-ons listed on the 2016 January two deep, including starting free safety Brandon Snyder.

2013 signing class

Here's your treasure chest: Desmond King, Josey Jewell, LeShun Daniels, Ike Boettger, Nathan Bazata, Akrum Wadley, Derrick Mitchell, Sean Welsh. This class also has taken a huge hit from attrition with eight departures, including wide receiver Derrick Willies.

Important walk-ons from this class include OL Boone Myers, who'll be a second-year starter, and long snapper Tyler Kluver

, who'll be in his third year as a starter.

2012 signing class 

You'll recognize the name at the top of the list. That's quarterback C.J. Beathard. Also, DT Jaleel Johnson, TE George Kittle and CB Greg Mabin. Important walk-ons include starting left tackle Cole Croston, potential OL starter Steve Ferentz and WR starter Riley McCarron. DE Drew Ott also is on this list. We'll see.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com