Iowa And Illinois: A Tale of Two Programs

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It just depended upon which side of the Mississippi you were.

Specifically, I am referring to Coach Kirk Ferentz' University of Iowa program and Coach Ron Zook's Fighting Illini of the the University of Illinois.

It is about a four-hour drive from Iowa City to Champaign-Urbana, but given the disparate conditions of the two programs, they might as well be in different worlds.

This is no better exemplified than in each program's current recruiting situation.

With Signing Day only a few days away—Wednesday, February 3—it appears Coach Ferentz has pretty much wrapped up his class.

In fact, it appears it was wrapped up before Iowa played in the Orange Bowl.

December 20 was the date of Iowa's 21st and most recent commit —WR Kevonte Martin-Manley out of Michigan. 

Manley is considered a two-star prospect on Scout's five star scale. In other words, he is not highly recruited and his only other offers are from MAC programs.

Nevertheless, this is not an atypical Ferentz recruit. Outside of the anamolous—and some would argue, moderately disastrous—2005 class , Ferentz is more concerned with recruiting players that fit his system. Stars, 40 times, and other such measurables seem to be less of an issue for him.

Will Manley come right into Iowa City and be another Cris Carter ? Highly doubtful, but his story is reminiscent of so many other Iowa receivers—Clinton Solomon, Ed Hinkel, Ramon Ochoa.

Give him a year or two in the system and working in the strength and conditioning program and he could very well be a very solid, fundamentally sound Big Ten receiver.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, Ron Zook has never been known as a developer of talent. He is a recruiter. He brings in the big names with lots of stars.

This wasn't surprising when he coached the Florida Gators. The fact is, a monkey could recruit for Florida and have a Top 10 class.

However, Zook really turned some heads when he took over as head coach of the Illini following the 2004 season.

In his first full year, he brought in a group of commits that ranked in the Top 25. This was despite the fact that Illinois hadn't been to a bowl since 2001, and the previous season—Zook's first at the helm of Illinois—saw the Illini go 2-9 and 0-8 in conference.

Particularly notable in that group was QB Isiah "Juice" Williams, who was ranked fifth nationally among quarterbacks in that year's class.

It is also worth noting that Williams chose Illinois over Iowa, from whom he had an offer.

That year the Illini went 2-10—1-7 in conference. Nevertheless, Zook brought in an even bigger, more star-studded group in his 2007 class.

The group was ranked Top 15 nationally with its biggest trophy being WR Arrrelious Benn, the No.2 ranked receiver in the country.

What made Benn so notable was that he was from the Washingon D.C. area. It was one thing for Zook to recruit big names from within Illinois. However, for him to out-recruit schools like USC and FSU on a national level, was something else entirely.

The following year, Zook went 9-3—6-2 in conference—and Illinois found themselves with a bid to the Rose Bowl.

At the Rose Bowl, they got smoked by USC, but a statement had been made. Zook and the Illini had arrived.

Or so it seemed.

Since the Rose Bowl year, the Illini have failed to reach another bowl. Moreover, their combined record during those two seasons has been 8-16.

Now, Zook no longer can sell promise and potential. He has a tangible track record and it isn't impressive. Keep in mind, that 8-16 record is with his own, very highly ranked recruits. With all that talent, the best he has been able to eke out is eight wins.

So, here we are in 2010 and it's not looking so good for the Fighting Zookers.

What started as a promising class has dwindled as the Illini's season dwindled.

Illinois currently has 17 commits . He has picked up nine commits in the last month.

Most of those nine commits are of the two-star variety, with few, if any other offers outside of Illinois.

I can't speak for the intangibles of those two-star players, but they are the kind of players you would expect to see littered amongst Iowa's commit list.

In other words, players you do not expect to hear from for a few years, but when they've developed and learned the system, they come out of nowhere and fill a necessary role in the Hawkeye team dynamic.

Nonetheless, the reason the Illini are having such a flurry of two-star commit activity is because they are not getting the top recruits—the four and five star players—on their wish list; the players that Zook did so well recruiting in his first two-three years on campus.

Moreover, many of the higher rated recruits they have gotten seem to be decommitting at an alarming rate.

Most recently, three-star offensive line recruit Zach Bolton has decommitted from Illinois and instead, decided to play for the Utah Utes of the Mountain West Conference.

However, the biggest bomb dropped on the Illini this recruiting season was from tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz . He is the No. 2 ranked tight end in the country and is considered a four-star recruit in both Scout and Rivals databases.

He originally committed to Zook early in the season, but decommited in late November.

Instead, he has decided to give his letter of intent to Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The reasons for the change of heart had to do with the Iowa's style of play and the fact that Coach Ferentz and his staff are firmly entrenched in Iowa City.

However, his comments about Zook and his program were particularly damning. Specifically, he noted, "I wasn't happy with what is going on at Illinois. "

Regarding attending an Illini game, he further commented, "I saw the fans weren't into it. There wasn't a lot of fan support. Illinois wasn't playing well. And I never saw the tight end on the field."

So, it appears the two programs are at a crossroads of sorts.

Zook has to turn his program around. If he doesn't get to a bowl game next season, it is fair to assume that his time in Champaign-Urbana is done.

And the sledding will not be easy. Most of those early, highly ranked recruits have graduated. Zook is going to have win with player development and coaching, neither of which are considered his strong suit.

Meanwhile, Ferentz is coming off arguably the biggest victory of his career. His Hawkeyes just won a convincing victory over ACC champ Georgia Tech, in the Orange Bowl.

Furthermore, 2010 might be even better than 2009, as there will be a lot of returning starters and upperclassmen.

I wouldn't say Ferentz' place in Iowa City is as safe as, say, Joe Paterno in Happy Valley, but Ferentz does have about as solid a position in modern day college football as one could have.

In closing, if Zook is to have a far, far better program than he has ever had, then he might need to pull off a miracle.

And if Ferentz manages to push his program to far, far greater heights than it has ever reached, Hawkeye fans could be smelling roses—or, dare I say, a Fiesta—next year.