Wallace pushes Iowa recruiting into 2016

IOWA CITY - Iowa has offered 82 prospects for the 2016 recruiting class. If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz hired Seth Wallace last summer to bring an increased focus on player acquisition. Wallace, a Grinnell native and Coe College grad who spent three seasons at Iowa as a graduate assistant, jumped into a job that demands a daily presence and a big-picture thought process.

'Seth is a guy that took charge, he's a go-getter, very aggressive guy, he's used to giving directive, and I thought he did a really good job of giving us direction,” Ferentz said.

Wallace was hired last June. Since then, Iowa has assembled a recruiting staff, including Scott Southmayd, who was named player personnel director (Iowa was the last school in the Big Ten to have someone with that title), Max Allen (director of new media) and Kelvin Bell (director of on-campus recruiting).

So, Iowa's recruiting staff is less than a year old. Much of the 21-player 2015 class that signed Wednesday was in place before Wallace was hired and the recruiting staff was formally announced in August.

It's difficult to know what impact Wallace and staff had. He did say that the Dallas metro area was a point of emphasis (and Iowa signed four from the area).

'I had a little bit of a say on how we were doing things in the summer, but it was a plan that was in place that you get guys here on an overnight unofficial visit and try to circle the wagons and build those relationships with the guys that you are very interested in,” Wallace said.

As you can see from the 82 offers, Iowa's 2016 plan is fully engaged.

'You've probably seen that, yeah, there probably are more offers out there, they're being a little more aggressive in what they're doing,” Wallace said. 'We've got to continue to do it, because it is a good thing and we've got a heckuva product to sell. This place is absolutely fantastic.”

The idea with the early offers is to build a relationship, that is a central theme to Wallace's ideas. Iowa almost feels like a startup in this regard, with the large number of offers going out in an attempt to build a brand.

The 2016 push already started in January with a junior day that saw the Hawkeyes play host to 70 prospects.

'The earlier we can develop a relationship the better,” Wallace said.

Another new idea in that regard is satellite camps. Iowa started this last summer when it held a pair of camps away from the UI campus, in St. Louis and Chicago. It's another foot in the door, another bit of name recognition that, Wallace hopes, has something to offer for both sides.

'It gives guys an opportunity to get to know us that they might not have had financially or timing-wise,” Wallace said. 'When you're able to work with them, when you're able to develop some type of relationship - it may not be a ton - at least there's faces you recognize.”

Wallace said Iowa will do the satellite camps again and is considering a third in the Indianapolis/Ft. Wayne area.

'There you can draw from Detroit and the western side of Ohio,” he said. 'We've had some early interest from some of the top guys in the state of Indiana. It's exciting.”

One thing Ferentz has emphasized along the lines of recruiting in his 17 seasons is getting a prospect to visit Iowa City. That was the drive when Iowa's indoor practice facility was the cramped, smelly 'Bubble,” and it most certainly is now with the new $55 million indoor practice field and football operations building (and weightroom) up and running.

'We had the juniors on campus, a group of 60-plus juniors, and there wasn't a prospect or a parent that I visited with who didn't comment about the facility, and right now, bear in mind the graphics aren't really up,” Ferentz said. 'That's really impacted me just how important it's going to be for us. I think everybody was polite before. They didn't mention anything and say anything. They were just polite about it, but just the overwhelming feedback that we got a couple Sundays ago, it does make a difference, and it's something people take note of.”

Iowa has 82 offers out, but likely will have around 20 open scholarships (Iowa does have 2016 commitments from QB Nathan Stanley and running back Toren Young). The quest for the visit, whether it be through monster junior days, satellite camps or summer visits, remains the thing.

'It still goes back to finding different methods to get folks here,” Wallace said. 'Once they do, then we're liable to fall, especially with the regional guys, in their top two or three to begin with. Recruiting changes every day, but once they see this place, they're very, very interested.”

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