Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz questioned Minnesota's new recruiting style under coach P.J. Fleck on a Des Moines Register podcast this week.
Iowa coordinator Brian Ferentz questions P.J. Fleck's recruiting tactics
Brian Ferentz, Iowa's new offensive coordinator, noted the flurry of early offers Iowa State and "the new guy in Minneapolis" have been making. "What does an offer really mean?" he asked.
May 5, 2017 at 4:12PM
Ferentz is the son of longtime Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and was promoted to offensive coordinator this offseason after spending five seasons as the Hawkeyes offensive line coach.
Fleck's aggressive recruiting style has helped the Gophers get off to a strong start with the Class of 2018, as they have 13 commitments and currently rank 10th nationally in the 247Sports Composite Rankings. By mid-February, the Gophers already had offered scholarships to 134 players, dozens more than they had made by that point in the recruiting cycle under previous coaches Tracy Claeys and Jerry Kill.
Iowa State also has been more aggressive with offers under second-year coach Matt Campbell. The Cyclones have five commitments and rank 56th in the 247 Composite Rankings. Iowa has five commitments and ranks 43rd.
"The guys in Ames and the new guy in Minneapolis seem to have no problem throwing early things out," Brian Ferentz said on the Hawk Central podcast. "What I've learned, certainly about the guys in Ames, we'll find out about the guys in Minneapolis, what does an offer really mean?
"I can tell you this much, if the University of Iowa offers you a scholarship and you commit to us, we intend to sign you and we intend to take your commitment. I think you have to look no further than in-state to see there were a lot of offers that went out in the 2018 class very early out of Ames. And I'm not sure all of those guys were able to commit to them if they wanted to, because some of those guys have since gone other places."
Before coming to Minnesota, Fleck recruited the Mid-American Conference's top recruiting class for three straight years at Western Michigan. Asked in February about all the early offers, Fleck told the Star Tribune: "There are teams out there that offer everybody, but if you try to commit to them, they will not let you commit. Those are uncommittable offers. I don't understand those. I am not one of those guys who has an uncommittable offer. If somebody wants to commit with our offer, they can commit."
Apparently, Brian Ferentz is skeptical. He also questioned the validity of Nebraska's "pipeline" to the NFL. You can find a link to the entire podcast here.
The No. 1 Ducks will be in Madison, where the Badgers are rested coming off a bye week. Meanwhile, while USC and Nebraska square off at the L.A. Coliseum.
