Anthony Donkoh (3 star, number 42 IOL) was in the same class as Alex Birchmeier (4 stars, number 3 IOL) and J'ven Williams (4 star, number 1 IOL). Franklin said Donkoh was college ready and started as a redshirt freshman. The other 2 never started, and have moved on.
2027 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
They have three OTS already committed. Two of them are their top ranked recruits including the #1 player from NJ and a four star OT from Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
I wholeheartedly agree. Fashnu comes to mind as well as a 3. Cooper Cousins was a 4 star who was college ready and has already played a lot of ball.
WE. ARE. BETTER.
until the kid flips before enrolling or enters the portal after one year on campus.
Minor detail. Campbell did not win two conference championships at Iowa State. They played in two conference championship games (which is a big accomplishment at ISU) but lost them both. That’s not a slight on him. He took them to heights they had never seen before.
WE. MIGHT. BE. BETTER.WE. ARE. BETTER.
If he was a project, like some people say. I guess it isn’t a huge loss. However, Campbell needs to do better. We didn’t make Gregory’s final seven, and Taylor is trending to Nebraska. Things can still change, of course.
A lot of kid's left who aren’t really in our traditional footprint. Are we really going to outbid everyone for Sesay? Doubtful. Are we going to snag Deshawn Hall out of Alabama? Also doubtful.
I hope I’m wrong about Campbell’s recruiting so far and that they’re just saving money for some big targets.
A lot of kid's left who aren’t really in our traditional footprint. Are we really going to outbid everyone for Sesay? Doubtful. Are we going to snag Deshawn Hall out of Alabama? Also doubtful.
I hope I’m wrong about Campbell’s recruiting so far and that they’re just saving money for some big targets.
College football is pretty screwed up right now. Good article on it.WE. ARE. BETTER.
In 2017, Iowa State beat 2 top 10 teams (top 5, actually, at least when they played them) ... #3 Oklahoma, who ended up #3 in final polls, and #4 TCU, who ended up #9. Sounds great, right? 2017 Iowa State ended the season unranked, at 8-5 after a bowl win v. Memphis ... they lost to unranked Iowa, Texas, WVU, and KSU, and also #12 OkSt (ended #14). So are those results acceptable? Getting those "top 5" wins, but ending up unranked and losing 4 games?
In 2018, ISU beat #6 WVU (ended #20). but lost to #5 Oklahoma (ended #4), and lost 3 more games (2 to unranked squads, one of which ended #25) in the regular season before losing their bowl game. Is that acceptable?
Since 2018, he's 1-5 against top 10 squads and 0-1 against top 5.
The Coach must have spent a ton of money on recruiting the transfers that filled his roster up with starters and second team players. Then he is putting together a class of solid HS kids on top of that. I suspect next year we might see a few more expensive transfers and recruits.
I honestly don't think it has anything to do with budget.
This has been Campbell's M-O. He has a system for identifying talent that fits his culture and his schemes. I bet he doesn't he doesn't even pay attention to ANY of these sites. He identifies the guy he wants and goes and tries to get them. While we've stockpiled a bunch of 3* (according to the sites), it doesn't seem like Campbell and Co are reaching or are panicking. This has been what he's done to be competitive since he was at Toledo and then ISU. And this class is way better than anything he even sniffed at ISU. Fans are truly just stargazers and I think a lot of us had to realize this is what recruiting would be like under Campbell when we hired him. And I think culture-fit and character are playing a huge part as well...maybe even priority 1 or 2 for him?
I mean he just told a top 100 QB to kick rocks and went after an under the radar guy in the same state.
Someone said it earlier and I liked it a lot, we're being built like Iowa but with an elevated layer of athleticism.
This has been Campbell's M-O. He has a system for identifying talent that fits his culture and his schemes. I bet he doesn't he doesn't even pay attention to ANY of these sites. He identifies the guy he wants and goes and tries to get them. While we've stockpiled a bunch of 3* (according to the sites), it doesn't seem like Campbell and Co are reaching or are panicking. This has been what he's done to be competitive since he was at Toledo and then ISU. And this class is way better than anything he even sniffed at ISU. Fans are truly just stargazers and I think a lot of us had to realize this is what recruiting would be like under Campbell when we hired him. And I think culture-fit and character are playing a huge part as well...maybe even priority 1 or 2 for him?
I mean he just told a top 100 QB to kick rocks and went after an under the radar guy in the same state.
Someone said it earlier and I liked it a lot, we're being built like Iowa but with an elevated layer of athleticism.
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Iowa hasn’t won jack squat. Ever. Horrible benchmark. I hate that reference. It’s not the flex some think it is.
He didn't tell him that, the kid could have committed weeks ago, no good coach is playing games with HS
recruits , especially if it hints of 7 figures.
More closer to Indiana than Iowa.
Nope, just a three star. Not good enough.
Lost in all this nonsense with a lot of posters is the fact that Indiana, in 2026, brought in (wait for it). Three 4 star recruits, and have yet to get a commitment from a 4 star recruit this year.
Guys don't understand in the portal age. Ths HS recruiting just isn't what it used to be. Campbell is bringing in more than what is necessary. Its a matter of him identifying the holes and plugging them with a handful of portal kids to maximize how good the team can be PSU is never going to be as deep as OSU or UGA. IU wasnt as deep as them last year, but how good your third team Corner is really isn't all that important.
Congratulations you used an outlier that’s happened once in a 100 years. Cignetti was bringing significantly older guys in transfer portal. You’re going to have an advantage on line play if you have a bunch of 23-24 year old guys going against 18-19 year olds. If you don’t think everybody is going to copy Cignetti’s model eventually you’re clueless which Ohio State did this portal season.
I bet you're a ton of fun at parties
Its happened twice in about three years. Stop talking about 5 to 50 years ago. ITs not like that anymore. The college landscape looks nothing like it did in 2022. Notice I said twice. Did you notice Indiana played Miami in the final.
Go look at Miamis recruiting classes from 3 and 4 years ago. Yes, they recruited better than IU, but they were bringing in as many 3 stars as 4 and 5 stars. They were recruiting nothing like the OSU, UGas and Bama of the world. It doesn't work that way anymore. If it didn't BAma wouldn't be losing games like they have the last couple of years. Has the recruiting at Ole Miss been that strong? You know that team that beat UGa with all the 5 stars.
IF you don't think free agency is more imporant than the recruiting class. We are going to agree to disagree. Experienced kids that can play are more important than 18 years olds with potential. If you are good, you'll will see were the 18 year olds with potential make you strong and you'll add experience at the weak spots with the portal.
I'll say it over and over. WE will find out how good Campbell is based on what he brings in after the season. Is he seeing the weaknesses and fixing them? You really cant do that with 18 year olds.
I think we are going to be a whole lot better than most anyone is thinking. Go look at the number of returning starters there are in our projected lineup.
Its the snob thought process of ISU starters are not good enough to win in the B10 that is leading people to believe we will lose 3 or 4 games.
Finally someone who gets it on this board. The college football world still can't handle or believe
Indiana won it all, zero five stars, and most transfers from JMU who most would consider a mid to
lower mid major conference.
Everyone's trying to figure it out while high school recruits are searching for seven figure NIL's. Teams
with multiple 5 stars in the same class will not have the same effect as in the past. Having a solid
everyday player getting passed up by a 5 star recruit will not sit well with agents or parents.
It's a new era of CFB that even the experts or the seasoned coaches have a formula to work with.
2024 Indiana had a 2026 PSU schedule. The only "big win" was Michigan and Michigan lost 5 games in 2024.
2025 Indiana was a great team and a great story line. Once apparently revolutionizes the "college" football world?
If so, who will be the best at emulating their "model?" A program that recruits at a high level and then enhances their roster with difference makers made available in the portal......or a program that recruits around #15 and hopes to outspend the big money programs for the dynamic players in the portal?
The Indiana "model" only works if other programs can replicate its coaching staff. Not happening.
If that concept is too difficult to grasp, ask yourself what is the likelihood that Indiana repeats last season's results on a regular basis.
Cignetti has stated his philosophy is to recruit production over potential. Expect them to be big players in portal every year.
Great post. I would add on that Campbell’s goal this year is to rebuild culture. That was his message to the higher-ups at PSU. Sure he wants to win just as much as anybody else does, but more than anything else his ISU guys are here to build culture in an environment where the culture went very negative in 2025 starting at the head coach level. The recruits feel it based on their published commentary, and our retained players feel it too. Campbell is only going to recruit players he feels fits his culture. Listen to Cignetti interview on the recent Josh Pate show. It was the same exact process there of building culture with the JMU guys as the foundation in year one. I listened to that interview last night and came away even more impressed with Cignetti than I was before. Josh Pate subsequently said that it may have been his most viewed interview he ever conducted. edit: Cignetti video
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I think it's highly unlikely that lightning strikes twice at Indiana. Cignetti may be a magician and bring long term improvement to what I believe is a historically bad program. However, in terms of the "apex" of his career, he probably should have retired and gone into doing color commentary on gameday and keeping "the mystic" alive. The fact that he kept the secret sauce to coaching perfection hidden for 63 years is the kind of fairy tale that fans love to swallow.
I think that the LSU, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, ND, Oklahoma, Georgia types will continue to rule "college" football because they will spend in both high school recruiting and the portal.
As in the past, every decade or so an Auburn will emerge (they have deep pockets) and run the table.
Superior talent, complimented by excellent coaching is still the formula. Lot's of schools like the one's I mentioned above, fit that description. 8 or 9 times in 10 they will be in the mix. Generally speaking (as the old coach would say) you don't make chicken salad with chicken s$$$.
If culture were the key ingredient to winning....Army or Navy would win the natty every year.
I’m pretty sure he was planning on playing both football and lacrosse at UVa as he is a high level lacrosse player as well. Jeff Tambroni
For the most part, culture defines the great team teams in college football. It’s been that way for decades. Regarding Cignetti, he learned a lot from another culture guy, Saban.
Where did I make that claim? Cignetti/Indiana model were what the most recent posts were discussing.
Why don't you head over to the VT board and check to see how Franklin is doing.
So you like Ohio States Culture? How about Michigan? How about Georgia and those unfortunate deaths associated with drunk driving etc. Remember Auburn paying Cam Newton's Pops? I especially like LSU's culture...remember "get the gat" at the White House and the money floating on the sidelines?
(406) Get the Gat challenge at the white house (Full HD) - YouTube
Cignetti worked with dozens of coaches.....Saban worked with scores of assistant coaches. Not sure what that means.
