akhosrof

This. We run the risk of guys decommitting when you get them to sign early. Especially when you're recruiting in SEC/ACC territory like CKW commonly does. A late bloomer like Allen who starts getting some offers from big programs closer to home, it's hard to blame him for decommitting. The kid probably thought he had no chance at these type of offers originally. However, you take the positive momentum of the commitment no matter what. Other recruits see the level of recruit your program is going after. CKW is on a roll right now. With all the coaching changes in college football, CKW is going to pick up some solid recruits closer to signing day. I wouldn't be surprised to see CKW flip a few kids and deliver some surprises.

The Rutgers game had me super depressed as well. It was a must-win game in the middle of as brutal a stretch as any team in CFB faced this season. A homecoming conference win would have been huge. Team did an awesome job of rebounding and fighting the rest of the season. We'll win the Rutgers game next season, no doubt!

Spriggs is being projected in the first round in many mock drafts. If Feeney declares, he might not be far behind Spriggs.

We'd probably have a good chance with Knight given CKW's ties to OU and the offensive system. However, I'll take the big guy in Lagow. He need a QB with elite arm strength like Lagow has.

I hope Lagow is ready to compete because Zander will not let him win the job without a fight. Zander is a hell of a competitor and if Lagow comes to spring ball thinking the job will be given to him, Zander will win it. Zander knows what his limitations/areas of improvement are. He may have a physical limitation on his arm strength, but he'll work to get the most out of what he has. Zander is an outstanding guy to have on the team to push the rest of the QBs.

Fellow Baltimore native, nice! He went to HS less than a mile away from the Under Armour headquarters. Kind of confusing, when I was looking up information there was another Ian Thomas from Baltimore that was originally was a three star commit to Rutgers. Btw I am on the phone app and in the first post of these recruiting topics it says "Click to view records" leading to a blank page. Anyone else having this error?

Great move. Ultimately the pay for CKW and his assistant is more important than the length. If IUFB wants to be respected, it has to keep its coaches properly motivated and pay its coaches comparable pay to other programs in the conference. As good a job as CKW did this season, he needs to continue to build. This upcoming season is pivotal for IUFB. Conference schedule goes to 9 games, so one less gimme game. Additionally, UMD and Rutgers are starting over with a new coach. We need to separate ourselves from UMD and Rutgers. Those games need to be wins year in and year out, like with Purdue! We then need to get to the point where we are stealing a game from OSU, Michigan, MSU or PSU each year. The other two conference games against NW and Nebraska will not be easy. The point remains, there is not much of a margin for error to get to 6 wins or more. But we are in a great position to be competitive every week!

Not surprised by this decision at all. The tape he has against top defenses in Michigan and Iowa pushed his stock as high as it will get playing for IU (that same tape will put a few of our guys along the offensive line in the NFL as well!) Running backs have a short lifespan. Say he stays healthy all next year, that is guaranteed to be another 300 carries, which is taking away lifetime earnings from the kid. He proved he's a workhorse and the marginal benefit of coming back next year is not worth the one year of NFL salary, considering the risk of injury and with a top QB like Nate graduating. It has been a joy to watch Howard. He's tough as nails, he NEVER went down on first contact and always moved the pile. He doesn't have Tevin's speed, but he is a fluid athlete who has outstanding balance. There's definitely a role for him on an NFL team.

Love this move. Lagow will have field day throwing the ball downfield to Jones, Cobbs, Patrick, etc.

Maybe he realized how far B-Town is from home and how his family wouldn't be able to see him play?

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Anyone who doesn't follow IU football on SnapChat: the team went wild when they were informed they were playing in NYC.

This would be a great test for our program. Duke was looking really good until they got screwed out of the Miami game.

I agree. Although all the more reason to make sure Johns is well paid so he doesn't bolt in similar fashion. Johns is young with a bright future. He is a QB coach who played QB in college and is a real asset to recruiting with his Midwest roots.

Speaking on the topic of assistant coaches, former IU OC Seth Littrell is a finalist for the North Texas head coaching job. http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/big-12/texas-christian-university/article47177975.html

I don't think there's any doubt on the recruiting trail that CKW is here to stay. This program has a lot of positive momentum and CKW is hitting the recruiting trail hard this week. The bowl game speaks for itself. There are a lot of B1G teams that are sitting at home this holiday break.

Don't worry CKW is on it! @MPCStrength: Good to have @IUCoachWilson and @Brian_Knorr from @HoosierFootball on campus today to visit @3_AC_ https://twitter.com/mpcstrength/status/672492154976104448 @3_AC_: #HoosierArmy16 https://twitter.com/3_ac_/status/672496301104320513

From the division split, IU is definitely the school in the middle that got the short end of the stick both geographically and competitively (the Purdue game is a good balance). I love the current divisional setup. The B1G East is right up there with the SEC West as the best division in college football. CKW said he has already used the division as a recruiting selling point. Playing in front of packed stadiums at Michigan, OSU, MSU and PSU is a huge plus. Not to mention the traveling crowds we get from OSU and Michigan. Also, given IU's huge alumni network on the east coast it makes sense to have the football team associate with the eastern schools. IU got prime time Saturday afternoon games on ABC against OSU, MSU and Michigan. We wouldn't get that type of exposure in the western division. Recruiting trips during away games to Ohio, Michigan and the Mid-Atlantic are significantly better than if we had to go further west. Certainly competitive but a great opportunity to elevate the program.

Going to be a crazy period leading up to signing day. We may lose a guy or two, but with all the coaching changes I am sure we will flip some real good recruits and come out ahead.

From his 2015 Hudl highlights: big kid with some athleticism. Looks to have a naturally strong arm. Nice deep ball giving his receivers chances to make plays. I'm no football coach, but mechanics look like they need work. Has a baseball throwing motion. A strike thrower with a pitcher follow through. Rears the ball near his waste on longer throws to generate a whip arm action. No lower body action once so ever, so maybe the hitch can be fixed to get an easier throwing motion with more power. But he's pushing the ball as opposed to squaring up and stepping which makes me worry about accuracy issues. Any sort of pass rush he got he turned his back to the play instead of stepping up or around in the pocket keeping his eyes down field. Lots of natural talent, and CKW is a good QB coach, so maybe CKW sees these things as correctable. But this kid is not near Nate's level.

ALSO don't forget we are trying to flip top JUCO transfer Taj Williams from TCU. Might not need to now, but coming into the season we were in real good standing with Williams.

An extension is also a good opportunity for CKW to ask for additional investments for the program to better compete, maybe increased recruiting budget, fast forward the southern end zone enclosure project among others. Although CKW has spoken multiple times about how he has been happy with the department's support.

For CKW's offense to work you need a QB who can threaten the entire field with his arm, like Suds. Zander's arm strength certainly improved between his freshmen and sophomore year. But like a pitcher in baseball with velocity, every QB has a natural limit on how far and hard they can throw the ball. Zander is a hell of a competitor and athlete, but it would be smart to bring in a strong armed JUCO/graduate transfer.

Wow... Before this season he was hyped to have a big time season. NFL scouts said he had some Ben Roethlisberger in his game. Wonder what happened, he was supposed to be a great fit for Stoops' offense. Given he's a junior, I'm guessing he is graduating early and will be able to play right away? If so, he could put up huge numbers in CKW's offense and is worth a look.

We are going to have an incredible group of receivers next season. Everyone is coming back, plus we'll have Patrick and hopefully be able to flip Taj Williams and add him to the mix.