IU Recruiting Update

Don’t look now…but the IU football Hoosiers are making a strong early recruiting 2011 run. Through today the Hoosiers have reportedly gained commitments from 8 2011 football prospects – second most in the Big Ten (Big Fourteen?) behind Ohio State. Last year the Hoosiers didn’t land their first commit until JUCO CB Andre Kates committed in early May.

Here is a breakdown from ESPN regarding the current 2011 recruiting totals for each school:

The chart above is by no means a ranking of the classes – but you can see from the list that on sheer numbers alone IU is up there with the big boys. While the likes of Texas, Alabama, and Ohio State can point to recent success and hand-pick the kids they want, IU is still in the business of selling the future. It’s good to see the number of kids that are buying into it.

A lot of people will look at IUs commitment list and point to lack of BCS offers for the guys that are committed. While that may be true I think those people are a little short-sighted in there bashing of these kids – They are still in their Jr year of high school!! IU has to go after kids they have a shot at who are BCS caliber…but not 4 and 5 star guys. In my opinion all the kids that have committed would have received quite a few offers if they remained uncommitted and did the camp and combine circuit. (Sidenote – some of the schools that have offered at least one of these guys are Nebraska, Kansas, Purdue, Louisville, Duke, and basically all the MAC).

The other thing to keep in mind is the types of kids that IU is going after. So far the breakdown for the commitments is:

1 QB – A shifty QB who can run the wildcat.

2 OL – Games are won in the trenches…IU is learning that.

1 TE/DE – Looks like a guy who will play DE in the new 3-4 scheme.

4 LBs – All these guys are from Ohio…anybody knows that an Ohio kid knows football. Can’t have enough LBs either, especially in a 3-4.

Additional notes:

-IU already has 3 in-state commitments. Indiana high school football talent is rising and IU should benefit from this.

-Scout.com is the only recruiting service that has begun to rank the 2011 kids – the only IU player evaluated so far is Jake Reed, the TE/DE, who is ranked a 3 star player and the 25th best TE in the country.

-Each commit so far has commented on the new IU facilities in the North End Zone facility – IU finally has the facilities to compete with the best in the Big Ten and kids are taking notice.

-IU is going to beat Penn State and Iowa this year (couldn’t help myself)