College football’s second season came to and end on Wednesday with national signing day. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz signed a class of 24 players that includes two running backs: Greg Garmon of Erie, Pennsylvania and Barkley Hill of Cedar Falls.
With attrition at that position Ferentz says both will be able to compete for playing time right away. “I think the combination of those two guys, plus what we have on campus, we feel pretty good about that,” Ferentz said. He said they have told both Garmon and Hill that they will compete for the starting job.
Ferentz has yet to name a new defensive coordinator to replace the retiring Norm Parker but says it was not an issue during the recruiting process. “One thing that I’ve always known is that we’re always going to be able to have good people here and good coaches, and our recruits understand that as well.”
Ferentz says the final days of recruiting are tougher on the prospects than it is the coaches because for many kids it is difficult to tell coaches “no”. He says players can take five visits and you can only make one school happy, and he says the coaches know that.
Ferentz says he will try to get to Indianapolis on Sunday for the start of the Super Bowl. His son, Brian, coaches the tight ends for the New England Patriots. Ferentz will host a day for juniors and then go to Indianapolis.
Iowa State signed a class of 21 players and Cyclone coach Paul Rhoads says the fans play an important part in the process. “Whether it’s Hilton Coliseum or Jack Trice Stadium, our percentage of hitting with recruits at home games Jack Trice Stadium is over 90%. It’s because of the fans in Cyclone Nation,” Rhoads said.
Rhoads said he does not get caught up in rankings for recruiting. “There’s kids in this class that we were their only offer. There’s kids in this class that we beat a lot of other automatic qualifying conference teams to get these kids. In the end that doesn’t matter to us as a staff. We are going to find the kids that are the right fit for Iowa State University and who we believe are going to help us win games in the Big 12,” Rhoads said.