Iowa football recruiting

Football recruiting looks a little different this offseason. With so many states having travel restrictions and face-to-face restrictions because of COVID-19, it's been a challenge for college coaches.

But don't tell that to Iowa's staff.

Many rival fanbases told Iowa football fans that their old coach wasn't going to be able to keep up with their younger coaches in the coming years.

Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa State all have younger coaches. And while those programs have made progress in recruiting since taking over, Iowa has not fallen off. In fact, recruiting in Iowa City has improved since Matt Campbell (Iowa State), Scott Frost (Nebraska) and P.J. Fleck (Minnesota) arrived on their respective campuses.

Iowa won another head-to-head battle with Iowa State on Friday, landing three-star wide receiver Brody Brecht out of Ankeny. Brecht's final two were the Hawkeyes and Cyclones but also had reported offers from Nebraska, Kansas and Kansas State.

The Hawkeyes have offered 10 in-state players for the 2021 class and have received commitments from eight of them.

I don't expect T.J. Bollers to be a ninth or 10th commit. Both parties seem to be on opposite paths, and Iowa State could very well beat Iowa in this matchup.

Thomas Fidone is the other one. He's a tight from the Council Bluffs area and it seems to be either Iowa or Nebraska. So Frost could win that one.

But for those thought those young coaches would take over Iowa, that has been dead wrong so far. Iowa likely gets 8-of-10 offers from in-state at least from this class.

As we sit here today at 1:14 p.m. on Friday, Iowa ranks sixth in the country in team recruiting rankings, according to 247 Sports. The Hawkeyes have 14 commits, four of which are four-star players and the other 10 are three stars.

Iowa ranks sixth and Minnesota is seventh in the latest rankings. The Gophers also have 14 commits with four being four stars and 10 being three stars.

Ahead of Iowa in the rankings right now are Ohio State, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Clemson. Clemson has just nine commits and all nine are four-star players. So I would expect the Tigers to climb as they get more commitments.

Iowa is the second highest Big Ten Conference school followed by Minnesota (7), Michigan (10), Wisconsin (13), Penn State (14), Maryland (17), Rutgers (18), Michigan State (21), Iowa State (24) and Nebraska (38). The Cornhuskers only have five commits but two are four stars.

If you break down individual commitments for the Hawkeyes, they have some pretty impressive kids with some great offers.

The top out-of-state commit is David Davidkov, a four-star offensive tackle who also fielded offers from Michigan and Ohio State.

Justice Sullivan, the son of former Cyclone basketball player Jake Sullivan, has committed to the Hawkeyes for football. He's a four-star ATH who has offers from Nebraska and Minnesota.

The top in-state commitment came from Connor Colby, a four offensive guard who chose the Hawks over Iowa State, Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota.

In-state commitments Max Llewellyn, Jeff Bowie and Griffin Liddle both had offers from more than one power 5 school.

Llewellyn, a three-star TE, chose Iowa over Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas. Liddle, a three-star defensive tackle, picked Iowa over Iowa State, Michigan State and Minnesota. Bowie also had offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Minnesota and Indiana.

Jaden Harrell, a three-star linebacker, picked Iowa over an offer from Nebraska and Zach Twedt picked Iowa over a reported offer from Iowa State.

And one of my favorite players in the class is OABCIG quarterback Cooper DeJean. Iowa is his only reported Power 5 offer, but he was recently elevated to four stars. I saw him play in person last year in the high school playoffs and he was electric.

DeJean played quarterback and defense for the Falcons and led them to the Class 2A championship. OABCIG will be a favorite to win it all in 1A this upcoming season.

This class for the Hawkeyes likely won't be a top 10 ranked class but it should stay in the top 20, which would be one of Kirk Ferentz's top recruiting classes ever.

He's not too old for this stuff. And he continues to show it as more and more recruits pledge their name to the Hawkeyes.