Indiana: This year's surprise in recruiting?

[DL65]

Indiana's football staff appears to have stepped up its recruiting efforts, according to Rivals. Presently they have 18 commitments: 2-4*, 10-3*, 4-2*, and two yet to be rated.

Ohio State has its usual list, however, most of the Big 10 schools have around 4 commits. That's why it's somewhat surprising to see Indiana with a large list at this time. I suspect their improved facilities is a factor, as is early playing time.

Go Gophers!!

 

[MNBadgerGuy]

I'm guessing that most of these kids jumped on an Indiana offer as a placeholder, and will continue to look around. I'm not saying they aren't doing a good job, but I do think you will see a few different names on that list and a few no longer on that list.

 

[jerdogg1]

The schools that are generally a better draw for recruits (OSU, Michigan, USC, Florida, etc) usually have low numbers at this time of year. The reason is because the kids they are going after are 4 and 5 star recruits, and those types of recruits generally milk it as long as they can before committing. The best recruits will wait until the Army All-American game or just before signing day to make their decision known.

For this reason, the bigger draw schools will keep scholies open for some of those players.

 

[Stargenes]

Actually they have been on somewhat of a roll since Linch and his staff took over. They had a nice class in '09 when they almost netted Watkins and his cousin Jeremy Gainer who ended up at Minnesota and MSU respectively. They slightly slipped back a bit last year but secured some nice players that will help them right away like Kates the JC db, even though they lost Black to Michigan. With their stadium addition in place fo ra year now and new weightrooms and student-athlete academic support facilities, they are making a good impression on the guys they are really targeting early. Plus the recent history of fillling up early has helped them move guys along to commit sooner as well. Their problem this year on the field will be the LBs on defense. The offense should pop and catch people sleeping on them.

 

[AhliBobwa]

Yeah, I think Lynch is a fiery likable guy who connects well with 17-18 year old kids. Sound familiar? One of my favorite moments of all last season was after Indiana got jobbed against Michigan and Lynch threw his headset and let off a string of profanity unheard in bloomington since the last time John Mellencamp had to cancel a concert.

And yeah Lynch can sell early playing time. They have an exciting offense (I absolutely love the pistol, probably my favorite offense in college football currently), and a Defense so much worse than any other in the Big Ten that any D recruit knows he could see the field immediately.

This is why the Big Ten is so awesome, even the perpetual worst team in the Big Ten (Indiana) is dangerous enough to give the best teams fits or beat them on any given day.

Big Ten is hands down the deepest conference in America and it isn´t even close.

 

[Stargenes]

Yeah, I think Lynch is a fiery likable guy who connects well with 17-18 year old kids. Sound familiar? One of my favorite moments of all last season was after Indiana got jobbed against Michigan and Lynch threw his headset and let off a string of profanity unheard in bloomington since the last time John Mellencamp had to cancel a concert.

And yeah Lynch can sell early playing time. They have an exciting offense (I absolutely love the pistol, probably my favorite offense in college football currently), and a Defense so much worse than any other in the Big Ten that any D recruit knows he could see the field immediately.

This is why the Big Ten is so awesome, even the perpetual worst team in the Big Ten (Indiana) is dangerous enough to give the best teams fits or beat them on any given day.

Big Ten is hands down the deepest conference in America and it isn´t even close.

I agree with you and appreciate your spelling coach Lynch's name correct as I did not I would also add that the Big Ten has a great fan base accross the conference as well and student athletes love playing in front of large crowds. Finally, it certainly does not hurt that so many players from the conference get opportunities to play in the NFL. BIG TIME BIG TEN FOOTBALL!!!

 

[tjgopher]

Indiana's football staff appears to have stepped up its recruiting efforts, according to Rivals. Presently they have 18 commitments: 2-4*, 10-3*, 4-2*, and two yet to be rated.

Ohio State has its usual list, however, most of the Big 10 schools have around 4 commits. That's why it's somewhat surprising to see Indiana with a large list at this time. I suspect their improved facilities is a factor, as is early playing time.

I applaud Indiana for picking up these early commits, but if you dig deeper into this 2011 class, it is very Mason-like. They beat out Ball State, Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan and the like for most of these kids. They do have some quality, but overall, most of those 18 kids do not have multiple BCS school offers. Only 2-3 have more than 2-3 BCS school offers and for at least 13 of them, Indiana is their only BCS school offer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think this IU class will end up being in the lower half (maybe even lower one-third) of the Big Ten when February gets here.

 

[Stargenes]

I applaud Indiana for picking up these early commits, but if you dig deeper into this 2011 class, it is very Mason-like. They beat out Ball State, Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan and the like for most of these kids. They do have some quality, but overall, most of those 18 kids do not have multiple BCS school offers. Only 2-3 have more than 2-3 BCS school offers and for at least 13 of them, Indiana is their only BCS school offer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think this IU class will end up being in the lower half (maybe even lower one-third) of the Big Ten when February gets here.

Well that is their strategy. Go after the players early who are getting MAC type attention but have BCS talent and measureables; get them to commit early for the opportunity to play in the Big Ten and solidify the repore so they feel part of the program with a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# load of mail and scheduled contacts within the rules. By committing early, the offers tend to dry up and new teams never stop by to cort them.

 

[eker0016]

I applaud Indiana for picking up these early commits, but if you dig deeper into this 2011 class, it is very Mason-like. They beat out Ball State, Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan and the like for most of these kids. They do have some quality, but overall, most of those 18 kids do not have multiple BCS school offers. Only 2-3 have more than 2-3 BCS school offers and for at least 13 of them, Indiana is their only BCS school offer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think this IU class will end up being in the lower half (maybe even lower one-third) of the Big Ten when February gets here.

That sounds a lot like Brewsters recruiting as of late, too.

 

[tjgopher]

Well that is their strategy. Go after the players early who are getting MAC type attention but have BCS talent and measureables; get them to commit early for the opportunity to play in the Big Ten and solidify the repore so they feel part of the program with a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# load of mail and scheduled contacts within the rules. By committing early, the offers tend to dry up and new teams never stop by to cort them.

Usually not a recipe for consistent Big Ten title contention. But, I suppose if you're IU the hope is you get what you can get and hope to hit on the right batch of prospects and maybe they'll surprise some people. But, the idea that because they have 18 commits already that they are having some stellar year recruiting is not exactly right. As I said, this will likely be a class ranked in the lower half and possible lower one-third of the league come February.

 

[Kratos3]

Commits don't mean a whole lot at this point, but they're puting together a decent class so far, for IU standards. 2 Rivals 250 guys is not too bad at this point, even if they are in the bottom of the 250. We'll see if they stick.

 

[Governor Sibley]

I want Indiana to land lots of good players out of Big Ten states other than our own.

Think about it.

I also want Illinois to keep all their in-state players. Otherwise they just end up in Madison or Piggyville.