My Two Cents: Indiana's Player Development Skills Trump Recruiting Rankings
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For a year and a half now, I've promised you there would be no math. Just words, lots of them.
But sports is all about numbers, too. We need to use them, but when we do, I always break them down for you.
So let's take a couple of examples today. Indiana is currently ranked No. 7 in the country in this week's Associated Press college football poll. That group of seven, in order, includes Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Cincinnati. Outside of the undefeated Bearcats, those names are perennially near the top.
The bluest of bluebloods.
So on Wednesday, it was the first day of the early signing period, and as you would guess, the rich keep getting richer. No. 1 Alabama had the top-ranked recruiting class and No. 4-ranked Ohio State finished second. No. 3 Clemson ranked fifth in the 247Sports composite, Texas A&M was seventh, and Notre Dame ranked 10th.
Indiana, ranked No. 7 in the country, finished with the 62nd-ranked recruiting class. Let that sink in for a minute. In their new group of friends, we had a No, 1, a No. 2, a No. 5, a No. 7 and a No. 10 to go along with the Hoosiers' No. 62. Heck, even Cincinnati (No. 44) finished way ahead of them.
That's a lot of numbers, but I promised you there would be no math. So let me sum it up quickly for you.
At Indiana, all those numbers don't mean squat.
There are many reasons why the Hoosiers ranked so low. A lot of it has to do with the fact that their class was so small. Because they have so few seniors, they signed only 13 newcomers and one transfer, D.J. Mathews, a receiver/returner who's coming over from Florida State.
Indiana ranked No. 12 out of 14 Big Ten teams, and that doesn't mean squat either. Knowing this class was small, they targeted what they needed and moved on. The small class melded together nicely and it made for a boring signing day when everyone who was committed stuck to it. There was no last-minute drama, and very little news.
And that's good, too.
The reason for all that really got validated the next day, when Tom Allen was named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year by both the media and the coaches. It was a no-brainer, and I won't be surprised if he garners some national attention, too.
He's earned it. Indiana finished 6-1 this year, and their only loss was to unbeaten Ohio State, where the Hoosiers lost on the road by seven and had the ball in their hands with a chance to tie in the final minutes.
Aside from that, they've beaten teams that have dominated them for years, beating Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin all in the same year for the first time ever.
And if you had to pick one reason why that's finally happened, it's because no one develops players better than Tom Allen and his coaching staff. And it's not even close. That's what has been separating Indiana from the rest of the league this year. They are the best team in the Big Ten outside of Ohio State, though Northwestern and even Iowa might argue a liuttle.
But not with me. Indiana is a clear No. 2 in my eyes.
Indiana had 16 players earn some sort of all-Big Ten recognition this week, and four guys in Indiana's dominant defense earned first-team honors.
None of them were highly-ranked recruits. You hear me? Not a single one of them. That tells you all you need to know about player development at Indiana.
It's not about recruiting stars, it's about developing stars.
"Just think about that list of guys who are on that all-Big Ten list,'' Allen said a few days ago. "(Defensive tackle) Jerome Johnson had no Division I offers out of high school. He came from a small town in Mississippi. I knew his head coach and we brought him here on an official visit and we hadn't even offered him yet. I had to convince everybody here to take him, because I wasn't the head coach yet. I had to go through a film session of the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game and show clips of him playing.
"I had to keep saying that this is a guy I believe has a chance to be a special player. We saw that potential in him, and he's developed into an all-Big Ten player.''
He's not alone, either.
"Micah McFadden was not a highly recruited guy. He had two Power 5 offers, and we were one of them,'' Allen said. "We've talked a lot about him before, and now he's a first-team all-Big Ten linebacker. (Here's my detailed story from last month on McFadden: CLICK HERE)
"Tiawan Mullen is another guy. He's undersized, but he's just so confident in the way he plays. He just bought in and believed in this program. We know the story of how he came in my office, and about how he wrote down the 50-26-10 numbers. From his first day here, he was ready to change things. And he has.''
Those numbers had to do with consecutive losing seasons (10), the bowl-win drought (26) and the Big Ten title drought (50). Having winning seasons and winning bowl games seemed realistic, and now so does actually winning the Big Ten.
You look at 2021, and you've got to figure the Hoosiers have a good chance, especially with practically their entire team coming back. They've done it by turning average recruits into stars.
"And Jamar Johnson, (the Hoosiers' safety), it's the same thing with him. He had some offers, but he wasn't some big national guy. He believed in us, and we believed in him and he's made some positive changes in the way he did things on and off the field and now he's first-team all-Big Ten.''
And that's just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Indiana plucked Ty Fryfogle out of small-town Mississippi. He was a two-star recruit that no big school really wanted. Indiana told him to come to Bloomington, and if you work hard, you might turn into something special down the road,
It took time, but no one's worked harder the Fryfogle and now he's been named the Big Ten's top receiver. There are four-star and five-star receivers all around the league, but it's Fryfogle who was voted the best. That's saying something.
Indiana's coaching staff – including the weight room guys past (David Ballou) and present (Aaron Wellman) – basically just add a star when these guys get here. I believe that to be true
This success during the past two years – the Hoosiers are 14-6 overall and 11-5 in Big Ten games – helps change the narrative on the recruiting trail, too. Allen knows it, his assistants know it and now recruits are learning all about the Indiana culture – and winning ways – too.
And that's not changing.
"In recruiting, we can say this is what we were able to do with these guys,'' Allen said after signing day on Wednesday. '' These guys (that Indiana signed on Wednesday) fit this culture, they fit what we're looking for. Our guys here right now, they bought in, they believed and they developed, and the product on the field is indicative of that. That's as valuable as anything.''
What has made Indiana so successful is finding pieces to perfectly fit the puzzle. They've done a great job of sharing the right message. Kids see it, believe it, then make it work. We've learned that a lot in the last two years.
"You want to personalize all of this,'' Allen said of his recruiting message. 'We want to tell them, this is how we see you, and then as they come here, we want them to be able to buy into the team.
''If you try to get recognized first, it never works. That whole concept is what we want, and that's where I see the benefit coming. Because when you win, then the individuals get the recognition anyway,''
Back-to-back great seasons will likely pay off in a big way in the Class of 2022. There's still a lot of unknowns, but that should be Indiana's largest class in several years. They will get into more doors now too, and they will have a shot at higher-ranked athletes, especially the ones who buy into all this success. What won't change, though, is only taking guys who fit into this system. Character matters.
This train, it's rolling down the tracks now, And it's not slowing down anytime soon. So don't worry about those rankings.
At Indiana, that's just fuel to the fire.
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