11 Comments

  1. quigley

    “There’s also the state’s demographics, which are very white and also often rural, which makes for tough evaluation.”

    Why does the fact that the state has a lot of white people make it difficult to evaluate talent?

    • ianaboyd

      That was mostly in reference to the talent being rural, because that means it’s spread out, the competition level is less good, and many of the best players are multi-sport stars with major growth potential once they focus on football and S&C.

  2. quigley

    I was hoping OU would poach Heacock with this hire. He’s done good work at Iowa St with a cap on recruiting.

    • ianaboyd

      Grinch seems to prefer to hire in network, he’s had Grinch in his sights for a while now I think.

      Woulda been fascinating to see if Heacock had been up for that.

      • Philly Frog

        You meant Riley prefers in-network, yes?

        And by in-network, you’re referrning to the Mike Leach tree, yes?

        • ianaboyd

          Yup, or just coaches he’s worked with or who have worked with guys he knows. That’s how he’s tended to do it.

          • ianaboyd

            For instance, he interviewed but passed on K-State S&C coach Chris Dawson in order to hire old co-worker Benny Wylie, which was maybe the biggest mistake of his tenure, that or retaining Mike Stoops after the Georgia loss. Obviously Grinch was in-network as well although that one made more sense to me because he wanted to hire someone that he knew could work alongside a spread concept and in an Air Raid practice environment.

            It makes sense to do things that way but obviously it has drawbacks. With Wylie and Grinch we’ll see how it goes and the success of the Grinch era will hinge in no small part on the success of the Wylie era.

          • Philly Frog

            Oh I def agree with the practice environment comment.

            If you don’t go good-on-good during the week then it’s hard to turn on that light bulb on Saturdays, even if you’re starting all seniors and juniors.

            I don’t recall whether it was you or someone elsewhere who mentioned this was a problem with the OU defense under Mike. What good is depth if you don’t use it?

  3. […] I’ve written already this offseason on how McDonald’s position as the Sam LB is a sort of nickel/space position. He’s on the perimeter a lot but he’s really a rangy linebacker. Eisworth is a true safety that gets involved in the box a lot, so you can count him as the nickel or the dime. Iowa State is essentially playing with 5.5 DBs, their deployment of Eisworth as a third deep safety gives them (or anyone else using this scheme) some leeway with who plays the nickel/sam spot. […]

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