The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Hellisan]

Here are some other recruits that we added late or were walk-ons (not recruited by us)

#1141, #93 - OLB James Fagan - 63 OVR - Le Mars, IA - 3-Star
Pretty talented for this range of player (which as the bottom of the 3-star range should all be 2-stars)

#1147, #95 OLB Ryan Tompkins - 70 OVR - Fitchburg, WI
Better than Fagan, has good speed and great acceleration. Questionable Agility and probably AWR

#962, #164 WR WR Jovan Gibson - 67 OVR - Neenah, WI - 3-Star
Speedster. One of the fastest players in the nation.

#1685, #74 ATH Chris Grant - JUCO - 70 OVR - Appleton, WI
At 6'4" with great speed and decent zone coverage skills, he could find himself in the mix at free safety

#863, #54 CB Jeremy Allen - 68 OVR - Blue Springs, MO - 3-Star

# 1049, #33 FS Marc Rogers - 68 OVR - Milwaukee, WI - 3-Star

#129, #29 WR Evan Winston - 68 OVR - Cincinnati, OH - 4-Star
Not scouted at all. Probably the highest rated walk-on we've ever had.

#713, #68 HB Cornelius Wilson - 65 OVR - Kearns, UT - 3-Star

#723, #44 CB Ben Ford - 63 OVR - Wade Hampton, SC - 3-Star

#858, #24 SS Gavin Greene - 69 OVR - Broken Bow, NE - 3-Star

##1402, #128 DE DE TJ Love - 63 OVR - Miami Beach, FL - 3-Star
Not scouted at all. If we don't find a spot for this guy we won't have FL as a pipeline. But that was never really in the plan to begin with so he'll see the axe.


Position Changes
I needed to shake things up this year as it's been awhile and there's been some stagnation. Somehow I've recruited myself about three times as many defensive tackles as I needed, being in and out over the last couple of years and I guess not really paying much attention!

This System randomizes a number between -30% of their current AWR, and +20% of their awareness which I edit after advancing later. It's preposterous to think a player ALWAYS takes an AWR hit at a new position.

Joe Scruggs - Speedy DT low on the depth chart was moved to DE. AWR 53 ---> 40

Keegan Slack - Good DT with high AWR will be good anywhere. AWR 72 ---> 60
This one didn't take - I probably forgot. He threw a fuss and will stick at DT

JD Maxey - Jr MLB needs a chance to compete at OLB. AWR 51 ---> 54

Dawit Cunningham - FS to SS due to roster needs. AWR 57 ---> 43

Marc Rogers (Walk on) - FS to SS due to roster needs. AWR 72 ---> 62

Josh Hart - RG to C - AWR 68 ---> 63


ATH Recruit Positions

Zade Mitchell - 5'10" 177, Andalusia Alabama
Can play anywhere on offense or in the secondary. Best positions are QB and RB
Position: Running Back

Lucas Devlaminck - 6'4" 316, Marysville, Michigan
Best suited to defensive tackle (think we've got that covered lol) or OL. We have one gaping hole.
Position: Right Tackle

Chris Grant - JR JUCO - 6'4" 212, Appleton, WI
Can't get off blocks at all. FS was the only position that makes any sense.
Position: Free Safety

[Hellisan]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

But you did sign Georgetown's legendary basketball coach John Thompson as your defensive coordinator. Bold move! Interesting to see Jimbo Fisher hopping around lower tier schools and for Pat Fitzgerald not to get a new job.

Wee need a coach editor so we can put a towel on the shoulder! It seems like there are a few problems with all the coaches (that have skill trees) retiring. I'm going to be adjusting my manual progression system a bit, as players don't seem to be improving as much, as a whole, as they used to. Certain positions are still stacked, but early in this dynasty, ANY 78-82 OVR guy who was redshirted for a half decent team was gonna be mid 90's or above. With my system creating a bit of a "stars and scrubs" scenario for my team - mostly due to what I think is one lucky improvement session last year - I expect to have the highest rated player at more than one position.

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Heck of a departing class, and love the notes on each. It'll be tough to play without Larry Lloyd. End of an era.

This is probably my favorite class, between both schools, which is saying a lot hehe.

[moose141]

What an incredible finish to the season! Looked like it would be a cakewalk early, but the Ducks gave you all you could handle and then some. The adversity never stops for you with Larry's normal season ending injury saving itself for the least opportune time, so a tough way for him to go out. But what a flip of the script to rely on some big plays in the passing game rather than just running it down the opposition's throat to get the win. To quote a common Pop Country trope, DJ Halloway was just "doing what he do", making plays all over the field and coming up clutch on the biggest stage yet again. Huge game, and maybe now this means Mack is the guy moving forward to lead the offense in a more pass forward attack.

Also, looking at that departing class, what an insane list of names for you. Halloway, Larry, Chia, Gino Pollino, and others, talk about an incredible group of seniors. Gonna be tough to replace some players like that!

PS: Some game notes, watching the highlights I'm impressed you're able to pass the ball at all with that camera angle, ahah. Different folks for different strokes, it's funny how the game can look so different for others with the camera settings changed. Also, that Hail Mary by Oregon was hilarious, not even in the same zip code as all the other players. At least give your guys a chance man!

[Hellisan]

Quote: Originally Posted by moose141

What an incredible finish to the season! Looked like it would be a cakewalk early, but the Ducks gave you all you could handle and then some. The adversity never stops for you with Larry's normal season ending injury saving itself for the least opportune time, so a tough way for him to go out. But what a flip of the script to rely on some big plays in the passing game rather than just running it down the opposition's throat to get the win. To quote a common Pop Country trope, DJ Halloway was just "doing what he do", making plays all over the field and coming up clutch on the biggest stage yet again. Huge game, and maybe now this means Mack is the guy moving forward to lead the offense in a more pass forward attack. Also, looking at that departing class, what an insane list of names for you. Halloway, Larry, Chia, Gino Pollino, and others, talk about an incredible group of seniors. Gonna be tough to replace some players like that! PS: Some game notes, watching the highlights I'm impressed you're able to pass the ball at all with that camera angle, ahah. Different folks for different strokes, it's funny how the game can look so different for others with the camera settings changed. Also, that Hail Mary by Oregon was hilarious, not even in the same zip code as all the other players. At least give your guys a chance man!

Yeah, Halloway was up for it once again. Loved that. It was disappointing but not surprising that Larry would literally be a stand in for Mack's injury. What a guy. Mack's the one that gets popped, Mack's the one shown getting medical attention and then Larry goes out. I've never seen that, but if it were to happen to any polygonal entity it would be Larry. :-p

We'll see if Mack is the guy. He'll definitely get the starting nod, but he didn't improve at all, and blast from the past Nathan Malone did. Mack still has the big athleticism advantage. It'll be interesting to see if EITHER of them can hold off Willis Delaney after a redshirt year.

I agree, with a class like that going away, I don't just see us reloading this year. I'm not giving up on another big year at all. I think we'll be good but I see holes.

The camera angle thing was difficult. I got tired of not being able to use the short area on the sidelines, little hitches and t hings like that, the CPU is SO good at playing off but coming up quickly and I feel like for me, I need to be able to see that from the snap to even try and use it. What helps is I have a large TV in a little office, or at least very close to my desk.

I know, for Isaac Harris, who did admittedly tear us up on the ground, the run to set up the hail mary was perfect. But that execution like you said, left something to be desired. It was really handed to us when they flipped into bleed the clock mode. It was like, what's going on here? Then they throw a conventional pass to the flat and our guy makes the tackle. Game over.

Thanks man, we're headed out to the desert for a couple of soccer games this weekend and I hope to find some time to binge watch the Moose.

[frappuccino]

Great reading. So much storylines and written stuff it.

Some of you guys doing NCAA chises (you, moose to remember a few) made me have to really put some good journal writing in my chises.

Really enjoyed the highlights of the Ohio State/Iowa game. BCS champ game too (never played CFB).

[Hellisan]

It's the annual time where I shill for the usage of some type of progression / potential regression system because I feel it is a lot of fun and leads to a much more realistic looking and feeling roster. I see that there are some cool options that people are doing for College Football Revamped that could just be worked right into it if you're working on PC. That looks super promising and hope to try it out one day. But using an existing dynasty that I don't want to chance screwing with, that is for the future, for me.

I have a thread detailing how I do mine somewhere in the NCAA forum if you're interested in seeing how it works.

We had another reallly good training session overall, I think it is the second luckiest one yet. Last year, which was the best year for this training system so far and the best year for our offseason training, the sum of the expected training for the players was 180, and we got 209 points of improvement. All players had an average training of 3.9, and the players that had at least one point of improvement (rather than regression) averaged 4.27.

This year the sum of the expected training for the players was 159, and we got 177 points of improvement. All players had an average training of 3.54, and the players that had at least one point of improvement (rather than regression) averaged 4.97 which is absolutely insane - Especially because I decreased the expected improvement for each range of improvement level in my system by 0.5 points per player. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. In addition, the improvement was spread a little more evenly between the offense and defense.

In addition to decreasing the actual improvement amount by a half a point (on average) per category of work ethic rating, I have implemented a system where if a player bounces up against 99 (let's say that with a 95-99 ETH (work ethic) they roll a max rating jump of 11 and they're currently an 88 OVR). I will take the mid point between one point of improvement (89) and the max OVR rating possible (99) and randomly a select a number in that range. Just to limit the number of 99 players on my team to either zero, or very rare. So a player rolling that 11 would be anywhere between a 94 and 99.

In an unfortunate turn of events, championship winning QB Joshua Mack had his OVR improve by just one point, whereas Nathan Malone, a senior this year, improved 7 OVR points to narrow the gap. Running back Shakur Becton has waited a long time for a big chance behind Larry Lloyd and will only help his chances after improving from 90 to 97 OVR for his upcoming senior season.All of the fulbacks improved really well. Nick Vessel somehow improved reasonably well again despite having a pretty horrible work ethic rating. Some of the receivers we were hoping to improve like NeShawn Talley, Andre Kpaka, and especially TE Hayden Polk regressed or did not improve. The offensive line saw hearty improvement, with FOUR players improving at least 8 points, and massive right tackle Chad Anderson giving himself a shot to fend off one of our recruits for the starting job.

With a massive influx of defensive tackles over the past couple of years (we could field two full defensive lines with just defensive tackles in 2024) it was great to see DT turned DE Joe Scruggs improve substantially. He's the likely starter at left end. But without a doubt, Laterion "Big Man" Thomas had the most impressive offseason of the defensive players. After a season fighting for playing time with an incredibly deep CB room, he will be an unquestioned week in, week-out starter. Finally, Dez Dillon III, linebacker out of the great state of Oklahoma where Coach Clark grew up, increased 8 points, becoming significantly stronger and faster in the process. A scary thought for opponents who have to deal with the 6'6", 245 lb. monster outside linebacker.
------------------------


Cuts

Walk-on Cuts

HB Cornelius Wilson - Utah
WR Evan Winston - OH
DE T.J. Love - DE - FL - Wanted to keep him for the name, but Love will find some other way. It's a bit much to have FL and TX as pipelines
CB Jeremy Allen - MO
CB Ben Ford - SC

Team Cuts

FR(rs) QB Aidan Hamm - 72 OVR - Wisconsin - 49 Citizenship Rating
FR(rs) LT Trevor Salary - 82 OVR - Indiana - 47 Citizenship Rating
SR(rs) HB Maurice Brown - 85 OVR - Kansas - 50 Citizenship Rating - Brown carried the ball 24 times over the last three years for 173 yards, or a 7.2 ypc average. He also returned punts and kickoffs for the team, scoring a touchdown on the opening kickoff of the national championship game last season. From the standpoint of talent, he was easily our fastest returning running back which would have been nice to have.
Due to behavioral issues with all three of these players, they have been kicked off the team

JR(rs) OLB Ryan Williams - 64 OVR - Minnesota - Talent

[Hellisan]

Making Sense of the Recruiting Class - Who will Play?

The Iowa Hawkeyes have signed the #1 recruiting class in the nation. And hardly any of them are going to play this year.

If you ask me, Clark and company could have used their resources more wisely and found players that could help them this year. Instead, we get to put on our patience caps and wait until next year to see some of these guys. Here are some of the categories these guys fit into, from the way I see it:

Playing Right Away - Cornerback Tyson "Ty" Veney, out of Waterloo, is probably going to be an immediate starter, if you consider the nickel corner to be a starter, which anyone does now. The team has two great corners slated for the outside in Lionel Robinson and Laterion Thomas and the coaching staff like Veney's combination of tackling ability, coverage, and the ability to fight off blocks better than the other options. So the team will throw him into the fire and see if he likes it hot.

Competing for Playing Time - Tackle Lucas Devlaminck is the only 5-star recruit signed by the team this year and it's well known that he wants to play right away. But, he's got a battle on his hands against former 3-star recruit Chad Anderson, a 6'7" 326 lb. behemoth who has waited his turn and worked his butt off while doing so. The team impressed with Anderson's mind for the game and he's a little more of a road grader. Devlaninck's path to playing time would be if Anderson struggles greatly in pass protection. The team won't redshirt Devlaminck, so it's up to Coach Clark to find playing time for the kid, or risk losing him.

JUCO transfer Chris Grant is an explosive athlete that will play free safety for the Hawkeyes. Looking at the squad, he's probably the best option at backup free safety. The team has no plans to redshirt him.

Redshirt guys - This is a long list. Almost all of them. I'll highlight two categories that could have been pressing for playing time at other schools:

Offensive Studs: - QB Willis Delaney, HB Zade Mitchell - The Hawkeyes recruited all-everything athlete Zade MItchell out of Alabama and promptly made him a running back. Mitchell was impossible to beat as a high school QB with a combination of speed, quickness, and arm talent that would make most teams line him up behind center despite his 5'10" height, but Mitchell should make a very solid running back.

Defensive tackles: Adi Omara, Broady Hightower, Jase McAndrews - Iowa have really gone hard after defensive tackles, and now they have eight of them. That's too many. I can't see all of these guys sticking around. The fact that none of these guys got a look at the starting roles is a little baffling.

The Rest: HB Isaac Neilands, WR Jovan Gibson, G David Beck, T Steve Wilson & Steve Washington, OLB Ryan Tompkins and James Fagan, CB Bret Harris, and safeties Rodney Cook, Roosevelt Lindsey, Gavin Greene, and Marc Rogers.

Swing and a Miss - So, the Hawkeyes stacked up players at positions that were already filled. Meanwhile, they have all of two tight ends, and could still use a true #1 wide receiver. They should have went balls to the wall recruiting those two positions, and they should have added at least one high quality defensive end. Instead, they'll queue up a bunch of talent at non positions of need this year and wait for it to mature. It's the long game, and we'll have to abide by it for now.

[Hellisan]

Rudy Geiland, Staff Writer

"Call me Josh" Mack will see more responsibility this year.

Vessel (top) and Polk (left) should be the lifeblood of the offense this year. Nathan Malone has worked his way out of total obscurity. Fullback J.J. Harris Jr. is back and should be a bigger part of things than ever.

Just call me Josh!

Nobody really asked, but Joshua Mack showed up at spriong practices and announced he'd like to be called, just, "Josh." Not Joshua. The national championship winning quarterback will have his choice of first name with a media that's all too happy to please, but Mack will have a lot on his plate this year. With Larry Lloyd now gone, the team is expected to spread the ball around more this year. That could be hard, due to the fact that the isn't a real established wide receiver room. There's a clear cut number one as we understand it with Nikolai Vessel, but after that it really falls off. The line has some question marks as well. Mack will be in charge of winning despite everything being different, so wish him luck.


Malone much improved - But Mack named starting QB

Iowa QB Nathan Malone has impressed the coaching staff in camp, but he's always been pretty good at gunning the ball around an indoor practice facility. Despite the coaching staff seeing him as greatly improved this year, he was never given too much consideration for the starting role. After all, Joshua, I mean, Josh Mack won a national championship last year. It would be ludicrous not to name Mack the starter .So that's what Coach Clark has done.

"Josh has proven he knows the offense. He had over 300 attempts last year and was able to get better as the year progressed. We expect he'll improve again this year as the season goes along," said Coach Clark. "I wasn't necessarily happy with how he looked in Spring Ball compared to the way he looked at the end of last season. We're installing new offense and he's going to have to pick up the rest of it later. He's probably going to need to work a little harder moving foward, but here and now, he's my starter," said Clark. "We know he can get the job done.".


Can Polk win the Mackey Award this year? Can Vessel take a step forward?

Even with Nick Vessel around, Hayden Polk is probably Iowa's most consistent performer catching the ball. As a freshman last year, the 6'4", 249 lb Polk caught 58 passes for 855 yards and 8 touchdowns, dropping only one pass all season. That compares to 52 catches for 768 yards and 4 touchdowns for Vessel. Most onlookers think Iowa will pass the ball at least 70 more times this year than they did last year, which would mean more targets for both players.

Vessel has been impressive in camp, showing off the hands, route running, and running after the catch ability that makes him so unique. Polk has continued to show off sure hands and great route running, although he needs work as a blocker.

Other than those two, it's anyone's guess who will be productive catching the football downfield.

The team has good options this year in the dinking and dunking game. Running back Shakur Becton has sure hands and can run routes out of the backfield. Fullback JJ Harris Jr. has once again caught the eye of coaches, manhandling defenders at times with a massive stiff arm, and retaining his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield at will. The Hawkeyes will need everyone at their best this year without the all-consuming ball carrier known as Larry Lloyd around.

2024 Offensive Preview

Vessel pulls off an animation I've never seen before in practice