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

[Deuce2223]

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

I am not sure what the cutoff is and if it really is tied to Awareness in all honesty (but I am pretty sure it is) is when you have a someone play QB with Awareness under 50 you can not audible at the line at all. Couple seasons back when I was at Auburn I put my #3 RB at QB because he had like 82 THP and 81 THA and with 81 speed I figured he would make a great Wildcat QB and then my #1 went down which promoted him to #2, then my #2 got hurt and I had to play him full time but I have some plays in 5 WR sets where I like to send the inside guy on a out route and I couldn't change the plays. Same thing happens if you leave home field advantage on when playing schools rated way higher then you. When I played Notre Dame this year with my FR QB I couldn't change any of my plays at the line (which personally I think is cool to a extend because the stadium was crazy loud and most Freshman would/should be rattled in that experience).

Nice thing is if you don't enjoy the new offense, and decide Malone isn't the answer you got 2 great options..

[Hellisan]

2021 Offseason - Part 4




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

At a minimum it has allowed me to have a lot more fun in recruiting because there are talent holes on my team not just senior ones. And with doing my system the way I do it, it admittedly does take a long time. Personally, when I'm finding the yearly improvement for each player, I sort them by tier and RNG them one by one - each one is like a freaking BIG DEAL to me because of what it could do to my roster. Some guy I just redshirted gets a 0 improvement. Or some guy that did that LAST year and that I really need to be good this year - yet has a low work ethic rating... Gets a +6. If a guy gets a +6 in a normal offseason cycle o.k. that's kind of cool. With this, it's huge! Free safety Jay Cook getting his career essentially back on track with a +6 when the average a guy in his range should get is like a +2.5 on average per year. If he does that twice and avoids a major regression he could outdo expectations big time in terms of OVR. I have seen players with very good ratings turn out to not have much improvement. This system has been critiqued (perhaps fairly) that you don't want to "know" how good of a work ethic your players have, but I just think having a roster that has some realism to it - with even two players with a similar work ethic at the same position improving in different ways - is a big deal and overrides the negatives. Doing it with my system and the way I do it admittedly takes me several hours, but this is THE moment of my entire dynasty year and I am not in a hurry to get through it. This is where running MY dynasty separates from the cool but somewhat limited one EA created.

However, hours can be cut off by not doing it entirely the way I do it, or by using a system such as the one created by KHawkeye - thread. What you could do to save time is just do an excel spreadshsheet with a randbetween for every guy, and the random rolls for every tier, and just go boom, and then edit each guy to a rating without worrying about the "type" of improvement they get (basically keeping them the same type of player their entire career) if you just want the roster to have some winners and losers.

Another potential critique is, what if this creates a super team... Well I have had very few players improve so much that it gets lame or unrealistic. In eight seasons of improvement data I have two times where a guy got the maximum +12 and two other +11. In those seasons, the worst was the first year (2014), I had an average improvement of +2.17 (just awful) with 12 guys getting worse than a -1 in improvement. This year was +3.50 on average and moreover, a lot of useful players getting very clutch increases. Sophomore QB Nathan Malone hadn't improved hardly at all as a 3-star from the state of Iowa, then got a +8 to be competitive with the incoming freshman - and he has a better arm. The average improvement for the players with more than a 0 in improvement in this offseason was 4.73 which is pretty similar to what you would see with a normal unedited offseason.

Unfortunately, both of my 5-star recruits this year have rolled D-grade work ethics. It's a good thing they're talented and will probably be useful no matter what - but they won't rise to 99 barring a miracle. For instance, Jordan Kijenmij (gonna have to learn how to type that name a little quicker) - Starting as a 79 OVR freshman, with an average of 2.5 improvement per offseason predicted for his range over 3 offseasons if he stays utnil a senior, the most likely scenario is that he'll be in the range of around an 87 OVR as a senior. However, the range of reasonable outcomes is from around 83 to 92 if I had to guess. and it could be higher or lower than either But he'll still be an 84 speed monster with adequate strength and good moves and low AWR (most likely, not guaranteed) no matter what the OVR says. Running back/wide receiver ATH Nick Vessel (made into a WR) had an even worse ethic rating so his 81 OVR is likely to result in the same OVR as a senior that Kijenmij would have. However, he'll still be a wide receiver with running back moves and power once he gets the ball even if he never gains a a point of improvement. It was a bummer to see that happen. However, the trade off is I have a walk-on and a 1-star starting on my offensive line this year. So those players that you pick up with low 60's ratings because they're in your state or you want them for depth could become really good.

------------------------

The manual progression system has an explanation thread in the main NCAA Forum ,and if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask, also there are a couple others using it that have improved it to fit what they are trying to do, like itsbigmike - excellent changes to decrease the time taken. I added something two offseasons ago and have continued doing it that allows for the players to improve their ETH (work ethic) rating through how well they trained. When a player improves at the very top of their individual range they will get a +5 in ETH so they move up to the next segment of improvement possibilities. On the other hand, if they "improve" at the low end of the range (often a minus improvement) they will then move down -5, into the lower tier, for the next season. On the right you can see the players that gained or lost work ethic points and what their 2021 work ethic will be. I'm considering changing that to anyone who gets the Top or second to the top, or lowest or second to the lowest, letting work ethics wax and wane a bit more.

Another thing I did this year for the first time is that I took all the players with last year and did a randbetween of 1 to 2 for each of them. Everybody that rolled a 1, they do the same time of improvement and sub-improvement as they did last year. This just makes them more likely to go on a certain path a little longer. Every player that rolled a 2, they have their type and sub types re-rolled like all of them used to.

In addition to being fun and interesting, a custom improvement setup if run correctly can limit the constant improvement at every single position and result in holes that need to be actively managed or patched by the coach through additional recruiting or position changes, and challenge the team's depth.



Cuts

Due to the larger than average class we pulled; in - just to show we could translate a great season into a great class - There were a number of cuts to make, unfortunately.

There were a number of players on the list that were sort of ... Not approved. Happens to every team, we've seen that. A 40 OVR Walk-on QB named Wesley Brown had "not taken no" for an answer and had been attending every workout and event possible but simply didn't have the talent to remain.

Aside from that type of player which I won't mention moving forward,, here are the cuts including some that were tough:

Bobby Williams - We offered Bobby to join the team and it was sort of a sight unseen deal. He turned out to be a gem, but with 82 speed. With a few players to cut, unfortunately, Bobby was the last cut we made. It was quite a painful cut.

Most of the remaining cuts were a bit easier.

Eric Graham was a walk-on holdover from New York, a fullback that was our only backup last year but was never going to get into the game unless all of our tight ends and running backs, and backup offensive linemen were injured first. When we signed a fullback and an athlete who was converted to fullback this past year, - and considering the fact he was taking up one of the 2 or 3 "dreads having" heads that another more useful player could be rocking, he was a no brainer.

Brian Tillman was a starting wide receiver. He actually led the team in touchdown receptions last season and was pretty reliable. However, he was dismissed due to multiple team violations and an offseason arrest. (one of the lowest citizenship ratings on the team). Coach Clark is like most coaches. If the guy is a bad guy but doesn't actually get in trouble (or get found out or do something truly heinous)... Voila, no problem. However, when it made the headlines and the team didn't really need him so much due to an influx of talent... Also voila.

Ryan Williams - Also a holdover walk-on 68-speed guy that was an extra body (linebacker) and also taking up a dreads head.

[Hellisan]

Hawk Blog

Underdogs have seized the chance to make
something of themselves at Iowa

Let's face it. Iowa will probably never be the type of school to sign an entire recruiting class from IMG academy who can track down a quarterback in their sleep but unable to find the variable in 1+X=3. They will be sticking with the midwest, instead of Florida and California because frankly: That's how Coach Clark wants to do it. Want to see a coach give you his dirtiest look? Suggest to him that something he has done successfully using his preferred method should be done differently.

Aside from a preference against long travel to the coasts for recruiting, Clark likes that there are all different types of players on his roster. Those that were highly touted, and those who were not. Those who grew up in big cities and those who grew up... In Iowa.

"I think the locker room is better when you have players from varied backgrounds that get to know each other, and appreciate each other for their own situations and the things they bring to the table. We have some guys who grew up playing video games and others who grew up raising cattle or farming land. Watching the kids get to know and love one another is one of the best aspects of what I do. There's a lot of tedious work involved but that is a perk. I think that filters all the way down to where the game is on the line and it's time to dig deep."

With that being said, Coach Clark named several players who may not have been immediate stars who have put themselves in position to contribute to the team greatly in 2022. Here we talk about three of them with Coach Clark.

Quarterback Nathan Malone is a redshirt sophomore from Cedar Falls. Malone has a strong arm but lacked significantly in accuracy and does not have the athleticism of an Eddie Allen. After his freshman year which was spent as a redshirt, Clark said Malone actually looked a little less impressive the next preseason. Same arm, but hadn't learned much and looked slow making reads. Fast forward to this year, and it's a 180-degree difference.

"We had a talk and he seemed to understand that as a guy with some talent he can't just hang around and expect to get better. He would have to ask questions, be more involved even if he's not playing. He's made some big changes and he's definitely in competition to be the starter on this team this year. "

The article two years ago said: Strong-armed local kid with some athleticism to him. He's going to have to work hard in his career to become a starter, but it's possible.

Malone has not been named the starter and has two talented freshman to compete against this season. Undoubtedly, the Hawkeyes will continue to look for a quarterback this year in recruiting. No matter what happens, the hard work required for Malone to compete is going to remain.

------------------------------------------------------

Derek Walton - When Walton made the team in 2018, he was a 281 lb. freshman who was not anticipated to be able to start for the Hawkeyes at any point in his career. The size was o.k., but the strength and skill were severely lacking.

"He probably wouldn't be viewed as a future starter by any team in the country, to be honest," said Clark. "Based on what we saw initially. Then we started noticing - We don't have to push this guy to work out. He's like an effing Marine! Stuff like that gets you pumped as a coach. I think he would be starting for the majority of the teams in the country this year, and he'll probably start for us ahead of Alec Gehlhausen who is a year younger."

Walton now bench presses nearly 400 lbs. and still reminds Clark of a Marine. Bald head and all.

------------------------------------------------------

Darius Fountain - Clark actually recruited the lightly regarded Fountain (1 star) out of North Dakota as he liked his size and athleticism combination with decent strength.

"He was more projectable than Derek for sure," said Clark. "What you get though is a pretty similar kid. He has improved every single year and often times comes in looking totally different than the year before . That's a fun thing about this job."

Fountain will likely line up just to the left of Walton on the starting offensive line, at right guard. Lined up with Walton and Fountain will be four-star recruits Bryan Suydam, Alonso Morris, and Gino Pollino - All of whom were projected big time NCAA starters in high school.

[Deuce2223]

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

So I had been pushing for Mack or Harkless, but now that I know Malone is from Cedar Falls, he has my vote. That's where my Dad was born and raised. I only got a chance to visit my grandparents twice in my life before they died, (5 yrs old and 10 yrs old) as we only went back every 5 years and when I was 15 I was busy playing on a American Legion Summer Baseball team, and by the time I was 20, I was married and owned my own house.


Hopefully the kid can become a star. I am pulling for him..


Other then my years with Auburn, I always have tried to focus on local/regional 3* and 4* talent to build my programs, but BSU,Oregon, even Washington State have to go after Cali kids cause the reality is we just don't have enough D-1 talent coming out of Idaho/Oregon/Washington/Utah/Montana ect.. With WSU I really try and look for kids from Idaho/Washington/ Montana/Alaska/Hawaii even but you know nobody really wants to live in Pullman, when the best night life we have to offer is the local bowling alley or a trip out to the hills to try and tip over a cow.

[Hellisan]

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

So I had been pushing for Mack or Harkless, but now that I know Malone is from Cedar Falls, he has my vote. That's where my Dad was born and raised. I only got a chance to visit my grandparents twice in my life before they died, (5 yrs old and 10 yrs old) as we only went back every 5 years and when I was 15 I was busy playing on a American Legion Summer Baseball team, and by the time I was 20, I was married and owned my own house.


Hopefully the kid can become a star. I am pulling for him..


Other then my years with Auburn, I always have tried to focus on local/regional 3* and 4* talent to build my programs, but BSU,Oregon, even Washington State have to go after Cali kids cause the reality is we just don't have enough D-1 talent coming out of Idaho/Oregon/Washington/Utah/Montana ect.. With WSU I really try and look for kids from Idaho/Washington/ Montana/Alaska/Hawaii even but you know nobody really wants to live in Pullman, when the best night life we have to offer is the local bowling alley or a trip out to the hills to try and tip over a cow.

I hope you have great memories from those two years. I have decided to go ahead and name Malone the starter actually, following some practice time. Moose mentioned it's funny seeing people have some commonality and another one I can put down is I, too, traveled to the midwest exactly twice when I was a kid. Other than that, the circumstances were different as it was the family farm of my step father (who my mom would later divorce) that we were visiting. It was still a pretty cool experience to be honest. You can't do things like ride around on a moped everywhere and shoot a snake with a shotgun in the city.

I think the key for Malone to be successful is not to ask too much of him. I'll Justin Herbert him to some extent, let him get the ball out of his hands with simple throws and handoffs to a talented group of skills players including two very competent tight ends and a fullback in Nate Richardson who really improved in the offseason quite a bit, and then take some shots downfield when the situation calls for it. If he can distribute the ball efficiently without trying to make too many high level throws early in games, we could have a pretty good offense.

[moose141]

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

On the commonalities, for sure it is always fun. You two have the local connections, and I'm guessing myself and Careless Whisper at least are from similar neck of the woods seeing as he chose CMU and has pretty good knowledge of the Western PA scene it seems like!

I always love seeing the results of the progression system that you do Helli. It creates so many storylines in and of itself when guys either have great progression or no progression at all, as you can come up with any number of storylines or reasons for why those things happened. So much fun. I still think I'll stick with my typical just random number progression regression, though I think after going from my initial 8 regression - 2 progression number to 8/4 this year, I may bump it up to either 10/4 or 12/4 this season just to spice things up on the depth chart a bit more and add some more storylines! Always love the innovation that you bring.

Excited to see Malone get the start, him being the more conventional starter will make it interesting to see how your offense changes to fit him in, and I'm sure Harkless will still get some gametime no doubt. Sucks to see the tough work ethic rolls for your 2 stud recruits, but like you said they should still improve slightly and are already good enough to continue to make an impact.

I like the thought of something (for myself, not to the extent that you do progression) like a roll where I just compare the roll to the player's awareness or something like that to determine if they get hit by regression, just to make awareness ratings valuable or something like that since I don't want to go the full work ethic route but want to have some level of fairness or justification in the proceedings. Thanks as always for providing the inspiration!

[Hellisan]

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

On the commonalities, for sure it is always fun. You two have the local connections, and I'm guessing myself and Careless Whisper at least are from similar neck of the woods seeing as he chose CMU and has pretty good knowledge of the Western PA scene it seems like!

I always love seeing the results of the progression system that you do Helli. It creates so many storylines in and of itself when guys either have great progression or no progression at all, as you can come up with any number of storylines or reasons for why those things happened. So much fun. I still think I'll stick with my typical just random number progression regression, though I think after going from my initial 8 regression - 2 progression number to 8/4 this year, I may bump it up to either 10/4 or 12/4 this season just to spice things up on the depth chart a bit more and add some more storylines! Always love the innovation that you bring.

Excited to see Malone get the start, him being the more conventional starter will make it interesting to see how your offense changes to fit him in, and I'm sure Harkless will still get some gametime no doubt. Sucks to see the tough work ethic rolls for your 2 stud recruits, but like you said they should still improve slightly and are already good enough to continue to make an impact.

I like the thought of something (for myself, not to the extent that you do progression) like a roll where I just compare the roll to the player's awareness or something like that to determine if they get hit by regression, just to make awareness ratings valuable or something like that since I don't want to go the full work ethic route but want to have some level of fairness or justification in the proceedings. Thanks as always for providing the inspiration!

Thanks for putting up with my advertisement every year. Glad you're doing something it's 100X better than nothing, and especially so if it makes it more fun for you. Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed the crazy improvement this offseason, I know I did.

[Hellisan]

2022 Internal Recruiting Communications

Notes taken by assistant to coach Clark from several emails and meetings

With spring practices underway it is time to discuss recruiting. I want a report from each region on talent in the area.

We have a unique situation for the upcoming year when it comes to recruiting. We have no needs - *officially* - and just seven seniors on the roster this season. Even assuming that 3-4 players may leave early or transfer this season including David Bryant, D.J. Halloway, and other players we may not be anticipating, we will not have a large number of free and clear scholarships to hand out next season.

Taking these factors into account, we are instructing scouts and recruiting coordinators to focus efforts differently for this year.

-Typical sized board - 30 or so players
-Different priority criteria - Talent, Unique qualities are the priority rather than willingness to sign. Don't be conservative.
-Go after the highest quality players and players with unique skills / qualities that we have any reasonable expectation to compete for.
-Goal is to sign 11-12 players
-Even Signing just 3-4 of these players - or even fewer - will be acceptable
-Exceptions - We need to get two linebackers and at least one cornerback, and need to recruit some speed at safety. That's 3 or 4 players that we can look at from the angle of signability a little more. Other than that, be smart about it but go big.

Even for those 3-4 players that we need to focus on look significantly at talent in addition to the likelihood of signing. The remaining resources will be directed toward signing the upper crust and/or players that will make a significant impact on our team moving forward. I will not be critical of failures. For each player we are considering, give me a rundown on what they offer that makes them unique.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2022 Recruiting Memo Response

Notes taken by assistant to coach Clark from conversations with scouts and assistant coaches

Coach,

Attached please find a rundown on the various players we are looking at most seriously. Any additional questions or suggestions based on what you're looking at so far, let me know.

Offers

The list below is in no particular order, although players we are most serious about are generally toward the top.

We are making firm offers to the following players:

DT Jerry Adams - He looks like a tough sign but if we can find a way to get him interested, he offers an incredible combination of size and ability that none of the other DT's we've looked at can match. He's known as "Yung Bull" (sic) because he just runs right through people at the high school level. We think he'll be doing the same thing in college.

OLB Dez Dillon - Another player unlikely to sign. At 6'6" and 242 lbs. out of Oklahoma, he has freakish athleticism and incredible coverage ability. To say he looks like a man among boys at the high school level is an incredible understatement. From our early scouting efforts, he compares favorably to Bryant.

TE Hayden Polk - One of two TE we will offer so far. Unlikely to sign. A total freak athletically. He runs like a wide receiver and is almost impossible to take down one-on-one in the open field.

TE Salvatore Hernandez - One of the two recruits who have Iowa at the top of their list with the kind of talent we're looking for with this small class. "Sal" as he is called is 6'7" and has good athleticism. You can't teach size, and there are signs he could also be a good blocker as well as a dangerous red zone threat.

FS Dawit Cunningham - Speedy free safety with skills that should translate somewhere in the secondary. Has Iowa #1 on his list. Due to the need for safeties we are offering him ahead of some more "sure-fire," talents but we are very confident he will be a good player.

CB Jaren Guzman, Jr. - Jaren is one of the fastest people in the state of Texas regardless of age and has incredible coverage skills and a feel for the game. Like all these players we are still scouting him but he is the most complete defensive back prospect we have looked at so far.

MLB Terry Burrage - Terry looks like a solid linebacker. He wants to play for Iowa. He's small, but there may be some upside we're trying to suss out. Regardless, he is projected as a very solid tackler that could be coached to play anywhere in the linebacking corps we need him. Fast enough to play outside.

Additional offers have been made to Carlos Morton, Jarvis Melbert, and Laterion Thomas, however, we will have limited resources to commit to them early on.






I know a lot of people don't scout. I normally don't scout and really change much based on the outcome because there are typically few players Iowa has a chance to land anyway and like most of you I don't go after non-recruited guys mid stream. I do enjoy my setup which is just the first scouting level so you only unlock 25% at a time, this makes me commit a lot of resources to see who good players are and limits the number of points I can put into players. This season, to some extent, I'll definitely be choosing which players to go after based on the scouting (if there are options) since we need so few.

Also, I had a question for you recruiting experts. I have never bothered to track the scouting outcomes until now. When speed is scouted and changes, does that mean their 40 time then changes back on the list of players? Or is their actual speed ALWAYS identical to the 40 time you see early on? Which would be lame. as. hail.

[Careless Whisper]

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

I can't help you on the scouting front since I never did so in both the older titles and "newer" gen, but I will say that I liked how you did that recruiting update and that you're taking more chances in this cycle - something that should be expected of the two-time defending champs.

You don't have to answer this in case you have Coach Clark's future plans in mind already, but is there a potential scenario where he leaves Iowa? Hard to think there's a better job out there coming off the titles, but I'm just curious.

[Hellisan]

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

I can't help you on the scouting front since I never did so in both the older titles and "newer" gen, but I will say that I liked how you did that recruiting update and that you're taking more chances in this cycle - something that should be expected of the two-time defending champs.

You don't have to answer this in case you have Coach Clark's future plans in mind already, but is there a potential scenario where he leaves Iowa? Hard to think there's a better job out there coming off the titles, but I'm just curious.

Thanks man. It will be interesting to see how many guys we can get. I'm not above playing dirty in a few cases.

I get asked that question a lot, and without insinuating anything about why you're asking, I sometimes wonder if people think Iowa is a boring team / dynasty idea / etc. Maybe because it's in the sticks or has only one uniform (I appreciate that, most of my favorite uniforms in sports like the Dodgers and Penn States out there haven't changed much). I like the stadium, the conference, all that stuff. I also like that it's seemingly a real challenge to get players to come to Iowa even after winning back to back titles. I could do a better of of leaving some holes for more players to be interested but instead I always fill them with 1/2 star Iowans a year before we have a hole. The only thing lame to me is that some of the accessories like gloves are just so outdated it's tough to make the players look modern when editing them. I think that's probably the same for every team though.

At this point, I might chance modding if it could allow me to use different gloves and maybe even update other things. I think a lot of that is only if you're doing TB.

I haven't got the urge to go somewhere else yet, at minimum I would want to cycle through a few more classes of players and even then I've kind of become a fan of Iowa so I see it hard to just see uprooting for the sake of it. edit: Think of this a little like a grand experiment with my progression/regression system.... I want a good deal of full career data from many players.

Sorry for the long winded answers. I'm verbose.

[Deuce2223]

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

I don't think people find Iowa boring, I think most are just use to seeing dynasties were people bounce to other schools after several successful seasons unless it's a Team builder dynasty where the thread is built around a school and not a coach.

Honestly I have been offered Iowa a couple times but have never gone because there is no way I could follow in Coach Clark's footsteps. I am however very intrigued to try maybe Minnesota at some point, probably my favorite Big Ten school.

[Careless Whisper]

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

Thanks man. It will be interesting to see how many guys we can get. I'm not above playing dirty in a few cases.

I get asked that question a lot, and without insinuating anything about why you're asking, I sometimes wonder if people think Iowa is a boring team / dynasty idea / etc. Maybe because it's in the sticks or has only one uniform (I appreciate that, most of my favorite uniforms in sports like the Dodgers and Penn States out there haven't changed much). I like the stadium, the conference, all that stuff. I also like that it's seemingly a real challenge to get players to come to Iowa even after winning back to back titles. I could do a better of of leaving some holes for more players to be interested but instead I always fill them with 1/2 star Iowans a year before we have a hole. The only thing lame to me is that some of the accessories like gloves are just so outdated it's tough to make the players look modern when editing them. I think that's probably the same for every team though.

At this point, I might chance modding if it could allow me to use different gloves and maybe even update other things. I think a lot of that is only if you're doing TB.

I haven't got the urge to go somewhere else yet, at minimum I would want to cycle through a few more classes of players and even then I've kind of become a fan of Iowa so I see it hard to just see uprooting for the sake of it. edit: Think of this a little like a grand experiment with my progression/regression system.... I want a good deal of full career data from many players.

Sorry for the long winded answers. I'm verbose.

I don't find Iowa boring at all, and agree with you on the uniform front - simpler is usually always better! Just wanted to pick your brain to see if you had another destination or challenge in mind for Coach Clark in the not-so-distant future.

[Hellisan]

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

I don't think people find Iowa boring, I think most are just use to seeing dynasties were people bounce to other schools after several successful seasons unless it's a Team builder dynasty where the thread is built around a school and not a coach.

Honestly I have been offered Iowa a couple times but have never gone because there is no way I could follow in Coach Clark's footsteps. I am however very intrigued to try maybe Minnesota at some point, probably my favorite Big Ten school.

Right on. Well if you ever want to do them, you should, it would be something totally different than our ground and pound approach has been I'm sure of that :-)

I don't find Iowa boring at all, and agree with you on the uniform front - simpler is usually always better! Just wanted to pick your brain to see if you had another destination or challenge in mind for Coach Clark in the not-so-distant future.

Gotcha - Right on. Maybe that was some of how I used to view Iowa before I fell in love with the team (I'm even rooting for them in other sports) bleeding through Maybe a little projection lol

Also, I had a question for you recruiting experts. I have never bothered to track the scouting outcomes until now. When speed is scouted and changes, does that mean their 40 time then changes back on the list of players? Or is their actual speed ALWAYS identical to the 40 time you see early on? Which would be lame. as. hail.

I was able to answer this question... I did a little experiment and tracked 40 times and when speed changed, so does the 40 time back on the recruit. So the 40 time should be viewed as the team's estimate of how fast he could run a 40. Not what he reports his 40 time to be. Same with the others like bench press etc.

[Hellisan]

Preseason Interview with Coach Clark

Coach Clark Preseason Interview
Presented by America Needs Farmers

With Coach J.D. Clark coming off back to back National Championship wins, it won't be surprising to note that he's not resting on his laurels. We tracked down Coach Clark for first ANF interview series interview in quite a long while.

ANF: Safe to say that quarterback is the biggest question mark on the team this year?
Coach Clark: Fair, and an understatement (Laughs). I knew last year that it would be a challenge this year and it has been. In practice, it's obvious these kids are still learning the playbook, still digesting the various details they'll need to take us where we want to go. They're doing a good job, it's just a lot on their plate. Remember all those times when you would ask me why we won the game? What did I usually say?

ANF: We had Eddie Allen...
Coach Clark: And they didn't. I said that a lot because I felt like it was true. A lot of those games I felt could have gone either way. Even with Eddie, we lucked out to get numerous wins that were necessary the past couple of years to win a championship. Well, we don't have Eddie now. The margin for error is totally gone now. We have to win a different way, figure out a way to be a different team completely.

ANF: It seems like you have some options though.
Coach Clark: We plan to redshirt [Joshua] Mack. He's a freshman out of Utah. The other two complement each other pretty well. I've said I prefer not to run two quarterbacks out there before. Well, that doesn't mean you won't do that if the situation calls for it. I think this year, you might see one quarterback take the team down the field but if it's a goal line situation, you might see the other guy in there. Or if one is struggling, the other might take over. We'll put them in a position to best use their talents. However, I'm hoping that one of them will win the job outright. Even though we can still use them interchangeably, one would be the top dog and that would be welcomed by me. Right now we don't have that. They're working it out.

ANF: This year there's a wrinkle with a Big Ten game to start the season. What do you think about that?
Coach Clark: I think I'm glad it's not the Buckeyes (Laughter). You know, we as coaches can get set in our ways and I would prefer to have somewhat of a warmup game this year. With that being said, determining the schedule is out of my pay grade and I know they have a lot of balls in the air. It's a juggling act and they're trying to make a schedule that works for everyone. Heck, it's going to be a night game. An opening game at 8 p.m. We don't want that either. I guess that's when they wanted us on TV. We'll play Maryland in our opening game in week 2. We'll play the game that's on our schedule each week and we don't have too much say over it. But I'm glad it's not the Buckeyes (smiles).

ANF: Take us back to that play to beat Oklahoma and win the National Championship. What happened there? Did you think you stood a chance?
Coach Clark: In a nutshell, ,that would have been a good time for them to play some prevent defense. Normally, you see them guard the end zone with at least four guys that are standing there waiting for the ball to come down. You've seen that a hundred times, right? A lot of times they'll say playing prevent defense lost a team the game. Well here's a play where they should have run a prevent defense, and instead they left D.J. sort of one-on-one. They had their best coverage guy on him, but when you make a good throw there, anything can happen, and D.J. [Halloway] is a talented kid with a knack for huge plays at the right moment. It was an incredible moment in time and one I'll always cherish.

ANF: Why is Kenard Goodman still the starter?
Coach Clark: Wow, coming right in on me with that one. High cheese! Larry [Lloyd] has done some really good things and he has cultivated a good following. Larry Legend, I heard they are calling him. Maybe one day he'll be a legend. He's a hell of a runner. But Kenard's a good player too. He's also a good deal more versatile than Larry. You might know that Larry ran for nearly 1,200 yards last year. Well, Kenard had nearly 1,300 yards of total offense and that was with us as a coaching staff favoring Larry toward the end of the game. He has that crazy ability to just get stronger as the game goes on which really helps us in the second half. So I would wrap up and answer your question by saying two things: Kenard is very good, and two, this is what worked for us last year.

ANF: The media seems to think the SEC is the best conference in football. It has A+ conference prestige to just A- for the Big Ten. What do you say to that?
Coach Clark: Not to talk down to you or anyone in else in the media, but we do what we do and we leave that other stuff to you (smiles). At the end of the day, determing that stuff really isn't up to us. The permanent record is written in ink by the media. But thank you for the chance to weigh in. They have a couple more teams in the Top 40 this year as you know, and maybe the lower level of the Big Ten is having a harder time right now. But there's a pretty simple response to that, which is: Scoreboard. The Big Ten has won the championship every year I've been in the Big Ten. That's Wisconsin, Ohio State, and them good old Hawkeyes twice. Who won before that? The ACC with Clemson. Who won before that one? Ohio State again. Hell, the SEC hadn't (sic) won a title since I've been a head football coach! The Big Ten is the best conference in football. I can't see why anyone else would say otherwise. That's the deal (smiles).

ANF: You'll have a chance to back that up this year, traveling to Auburn and hosting Alabama.
Coach Clark: We're looking forward to it, for sure (smiles).

ANF: Last question. What's the most improved aspect of this team this year?
Coach Clark: I think it will be the pass rush. I think an improved pass rush is going to lead to maybe more turnovers than we were able to get last season. But we'll see. We have some talent, got some new talent, and the guys who are coming back all look better than they ever have. They all put in the work and now we're going to see if they can live up to the hype again.

ANF: Thank you Coach.
Coach Clark: Always a pleasure

[Hellisan]

2022 Team Preview

2022 Team Roster and Preview