by Bill Seals
Opening comments:
“This is always an interesting day for me. I know every coach gets up across the country right now and brags about their recruiting class. The biggest thing for me is the pride that I take out of today of taking another step in building the culture the way we want our football program to look like and feel like. Myself and our staff, the unity and vision that was put into building this class and the young men that said yes to coming here, I take a great deal of pride on.
“I literally just got out of a staff meeting about 10 minutes ago and I thanked them for this: I think we did a really good job of not compromising our values and doing a really good job of saying ‘who fits us, what fits our program’ and making sure we didn’t deviate from the plan. Sometimes that can happen. I thought it was really a unified vision by our on and off the field staff. Our guys did a really good job of finishing the course in this recruiting class.
“For me it’s really simple and you recruit based on three criteria: great character young men, young men that have a great passion for the game of football and young men that have a great understanding of the value of an education. We didn’t shortcut those values. We got really good football players, guys that fit a lot of needs that we need in our program to get where we need to go, but those values really stuck to what we built this class on.
“You talk about commitment rate and bringing guys on our campus, official visiting them and getting guys to say yes. Some of these guys for over a year have been committed to us and stuck with us. This year was even better than a year ago and that was a lot shorter timeframe. Eighty-three percent of the young men we brought on campus, came here, saw Iowa State, felt what this program is about and feels like, said yes and stayed with us through the test of time. I appreciate that greatly.
“That doesn’t happen unless you win with people. If you’re recruiting on flash, how cool your jerseys are and how cool the locker room and stadium are – all of that’s important but if that’s it then you have surprises on signing day. If you recruit on people, relationships and build it the right way, then you can wake up today and feel we took a great step going forward.
“When you win with people, it starts with our community, student body, the people of Ames and their commitment to us. You bring kids here on visits on game day, you bring them to basketball games. We had so many of these guys that are here for our spring game. It’s those people and our fan base that makes the difference. I’m beyond grateful and beyond thankful for what they do for us.
“You also look at the link between our academic community and athletic community. President Leath has a vision for the athletic and academic communities co-existing as one. Jamie Pollard ties in facilities and his vision for athletic community. I’m grateful for both of them and what they do for us in this recruiting process.
“Last but not least, it’s our players. When you talk about not having a record from the year before, they have to feel like the program is going in the right direction. All of (the recruits) come here on official visits and get hosted by our players and around our players. The coach’s job is to recruit you, but what’s the players say about our program and where it’s headed?”
On how his first two classes at Iowa State compare to his initial ones at Toledo:
“We really haven’t changed our philosophy of how we recruit. Some similarities in this class is building it through the offense and defensive lines. I believe that’s important. It’s important now because we’re trying to rebuild those areas. Those are areas where there’s not good depth. There wasn’t a year ago. Even though we had some players there that played that graduated, we still have to replenish that. When you have true success, there’s great competition in practice. Those guys are getting better through practice. We made a good dent again in that in year two, in saying those are priority, need areas for us. We found guys that can play defensive back, no matter what the position is. Guys that can defend the pass are really important for us.
“We won’t know about this class for three years. I’m not crazy and get recruiting. To sit here today and say we won the Super Bowl today is wrong. To sit here and say we made a great step moving forward is true. I think we did the same thing when we were at Toledo, building through that.”
On what the two graduate transfer offensive linemen Dave Dawson and Khaliel Rodgers bring:
“We talked about this a year ago a little bit…videotape proof of your ability to play at a high level. The two things that we get with the young men that we brought in here, especially on the offensive line, is guys that have played. Even though he didn’t start there, he still played a lot of football and got a lot of reps. He was the sixth or seventh guy really from his redshirt freshman year on. He even got some reps on defense. And then you look at Khaliel, he started 10 games. His situation was due to injury. He hurt his shoulder and really didn’t a chance to regain his position back.
“You get three things with guys like that: they’re hungry, they’re passionate about where they want to go and it helps us bridge the gap. We don’t have a bunch of juniors and seniors here that have been in the program, developing and are ready to go. We have to find ways to bridge the gap. We have some really good young guys and last year’s class and this year’s class coming in. You want to get some really positive guys to lead those guys and direct those guys, so they can mature and be ready to play when they’re ready.
“What we really created was competition. I really believe in some of the young guys in our program that are getting better and I’m excited about that. It doesn’t mean these guys walk in here and start, but it continues to create great competition. It’s going to be an interesting fall camp at that position.”
On the large number of defensive linemen in the class and what that accomplishes:
“I didn’t want a wholesale of junior college, fifth-year graduate transfers. I wanted to get some guys that could bridge the gap for us in some areas that were not where they needed to be. We don’t have a ton of juniors and seniors, and defensive line is one of those areas. I didn’t want to take a bunch of junior college guys and not get some great high school guys that we could develop. The key to our success is developing the young men in our program. You talk about Matt Leo, Ray Lima and Kamilo (Tongamoa), those are guys that there’s videotape proof. These guys have the ability to help our football team right away. We still have to develop them and get them better, but they bridge the gap with some of the guys that are high school players coming into it.”
On to what lengths the staff will go to avoid having recruits flip on them to other programs?
“I think we’ll go to any length on that one. You work really hard at developing those relationships. That’s where you talk about your kind of guys. You get a feel early on in this process. Do they fit us? Are they our kind of guys? Our kind of guys doesn’t mean that occasionally you won’t lose a guy. Are you coming here because it’s Iowa State and we have a really cool weight room and Jack Trice Stadium is awesome? Or are you coming here because you believe in us and the vision we have and where we’re going with this program? If you do, then I think you’re our kind of guy and get where we’re trying to go. It’s the relationship piece. It doesn’t just stop when they say yes to you and commit. We know that today unfortunately, that recruiting starts so fast that that relationship piece can get missed. We really try to do a great job in developing those relationships, sustaining those relationships and getting young men to buy in.”
Opening comments:
“This is always an interesting day for me. I know every coach gets up across the country right now and brags about their recruiting class. The biggest thing for me is the pride that I take out of today of taking another step in building the culture the way we want our football program to look like and feel like. Myself and our staff, the unity and vision that was put into building this class and the young men that said yes to coming here, I take a great deal of pride on.
“I literally just got out of a staff meeting about 10 minutes ago and I thanked them for this: I think we did a really good job of not compromising our values and doing a really good job of saying ‘who fits us, what fits our program’ and making sure we didn’t deviate from the plan. Sometimes that can happen. I thought it was really a unified vision by our on and off the field staff. Our guys did a really good job of finishing the course in this recruiting class.
“For me it’s really simple and you recruit based on three criteria: great character young men, young men that have a great passion for the game of football and young men that have a great understanding of the value of an education. We didn’t shortcut those values. We got really good football players, guys that fit a lot of needs that we need in our program to get where we need to go, but those values really stuck to what we built this class on.
“You talk about commitment rate and bringing guys on our campus, official visiting them and getting guys to say yes. Some of these guys for over a year have been committed to us and stuck with us. This year was even better than a year ago and that was a lot shorter timeframe. Eighty-three percent of the young men we brought on campus, came here, saw Iowa State, felt what this program is about and feels like, said yes and stayed with us through the test of time. I appreciate that greatly.
“That doesn’t happen unless you win with people. If you’re recruiting on flash, how cool your jerseys are and how cool the locker room and stadium are – all of that’s important but if that’s it then you have surprises on signing day. If you recruit on people, relationships and build it the right way, then you can wake up today and feel we took a great step going forward.
“When you win with people, it starts with our community, student body, the people of Ames and their commitment to us. You bring kids here on visits on game day, you bring them to basketball games. We had so many of these guys that are here for our spring game. It’s those people and our fan base that makes the difference. I’m beyond grateful and beyond thankful for what they do for us.
“You also look at the link between our academic community and athletic community. President Leath has a vision for the athletic and academic communities co-existing as one. Jamie Pollard ties in facilities and his vision for athletic community. I’m grateful for both of them and what they do for us in this recruiting process.
“Last but not least, it’s our players. When you talk about not having a record from the year before, they have to feel like the program is going in the right direction. All of (the recruits) come here on official visits and get hosted by our players and around our players. The coach’s job is to recruit you, but what’s the players say about our program and where it’s headed?”
On how his first two classes at Iowa State compare to his initial ones at Toledo:
“We really haven’t changed our philosophy of how we recruit. Some similarities in this class is building it through the offense and defensive lines. I believe that’s important. It’s important now because we’re trying to rebuild those areas. Those are areas where there’s not good depth. There wasn’t a year ago. Even though we had some players there that played that graduated, we still have to replenish that. When you have true success, there’s great competition in practice. Those guys are getting better through practice. We made a good dent again in that in year two, in saying those are priority, need areas for us. We found guys that can play defensive back, no matter what the position is. Guys that can defend the pass are really important for us.
“We won’t know about this class for three years. I’m not crazy and get recruiting. To sit here today and say we won the Super Bowl today is wrong. To sit here and say we made a great step moving forward is true. I think we did the same thing when we were at Toledo, building through that.”
On what the two graduate transfer offensive linemen Dave Dawson and Khaliel Rodgers bring:
“We talked about this a year ago a little bit…videotape proof of your ability to play at a high level. The two things that we get with the young men that we brought in here, especially on the offensive line, is guys that have played. Even though he didn’t start there, he still played a lot of football and got a lot of reps. He was the sixth or seventh guy really from his redshirt freshman year on. He even got some reps on defense. And then you look at Khaliel, he started 10 games. His situation was due to injury. He hurt his shoulder and really didn’t a chance to regain his position back.
“You get three things with guys like that: they’re hungry, they’re passionate about where they want to go and it helps us bridge the gap. We don’t have a bunch of juniors and seniors here that have been in the program, developing and are ready to go. We have to find ways to bridge the gap. We have some really good young guys and last year’s class and this year’s class coming in. You want to get some really positive guys to lead those guys and direct those guys, so they can mature and be ready to play when they’re ready.
“What we really created was competition. I really believe in some of the young guys in our program that are getting better and I’m excited about that. It doesn’t mean these guys walk in here and start, but it continues to create great competition. It’s going to be an interesting fall camp at that position.”
On the large number of defensive linemen in the class and what that accomplishes:
“I didn’t want a wholesale of junior college, fifth-year graduate transfers. I wanted to get some guys that could bridge the gap for us in some areas that were not where they needed to be. We don’t have a ton of juniors and seniors, and defensive line is one of those areas. I didn’t want to take a bunch of junior college guys and not get some great high school guys that we could develop. The key to our success is developing the young men in our program. You talk about Matt Leo, Ray Lima and Kamilo (Tongamoa), those are guys that there’s videotape proof. These guys have the ability to help our football team right away. We still have to develop them and get them better, but they bridge the gap with some of the guys that are high school players coming into it.”
On to what lengths the staff will go to avoid having recruits flip on them to other programs?
“I think we’ll go to any length on that one. You work really hard at developing those relationships. That’s where you talk about your kind of guys. You get a feel early on in this process. Do they fit us? Are they our kind of guys? Our kind of guys doesn’t mean that occasionally you won’t lose a guy. Are you coming here because it’s Iowa State and we have a really cool weight room and Jack Trice Stadium is awesome? Or are you coming here because you believe in us and the vision we have and where we’re going with this program? If you do, then I think you’re our kind of guy and get where we’re trying to go. It’s the relationship piece. It doesn’t just stop when they say yes to you and commit. We know that today unfortunately, that recruiting starts so fast that that relationship piece can get missed. We really try to do a great job in developing those relationships, sustaining those relationships and getting young men to buy in.”
