Congrats to Bulaga

Former Hawkeye Bryan Bulaga was a key part in Green Bay's Super Bowl win last night. He was solid on left side of the line and protected Aaron Rogers all night. He also became the youngest player to ever start in a Super Bowl.

A year ago he helped Iowa win 11 games and the Orange Bowl. He decided to leave school after just 3 years and head to the NFL. Now he has a Super Bowl ring.

Rhabdo 13 news from the last week

I was so focused on signing day and recruiting last week that I haven't been writing at all about the updates on the Rhabdo 13. Here are a few things that happened in the past week:

• All 13 have been out since last Sunday, but are now being treated as outpatients and will be required to have blood test every couple of days to ensure proper kidney function. They will not be able to return to workouts (or spring practice if it takes that long) until their blood test shows that they have sufficiently recovers.
• Kirk Ferentz's signing day presser [pdf] was supposed to be about the 24 incoming Hawkeyes, but instead was largely focused on the Rhabdo cases. Ferentz answered questions openly (at least as openly as he could) and defended the coaches, specifically Coach Doyle, and Iowa's conditioning program. A couple of big items from the presser: Iowa has done this same 100-squat workout 3 other times (2000, 2004, and 2007), and there is no evidence that any of the players did anything wrong.
• The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics fired 3 staff members and suspended 2 without pay for innapropriately accessing the electronic medical records of Iowa football players.
• Several of the players that did commit to Iowa were asked about the Rhabdo situation and if it affected their decision at all. It did not appear to slow down Iowa's recruiting at all as they added 5 players after the 13 were hospitalized. All the recruits that were asked about the situation had similar responses...they talked to the coaches about it and were confident that it won't happen again.

The 2011 signing class comes to Iowa City from all over the eastern half of the United States. A large portion of the commits come from the Big Ten footprint but there are a couple of other key areas that Iowa has been building a pipeline. The Hawkeyes have done a nice job recruiting around the East Coast, specifically in Maryland and eastern Pennsylvania/New Jersey. The Iowa coaching staff, including Kirk Ferentz, have a lot of contacts in that area and it's paying off.

The other areas Iowa found recruits is in Texas and Florida. I think pretty much every D1 school finds players in Texas and Florida. Those two states just produce a ton of talent.

Anyway, I was playing around with the Google Maps API and plotted out the hometowns of each of the 24 commits. You can click on the little Tigerhawk icons and find out who is from each location.

Quinton Alston - LB

Sicklerville, NJ (Timber Creek)
6'1", 220
Scout: Rivals:

Ferentz quote:

Darryl and I stopped by there that Friday morning, the first Friday, we were allowed out after the Bowl game and as you know he had committed to another institution. So we had stopped by there and he called me later that night, he and his mom met with us at school and he called me that night. I was at my next stop, and it was great news. And then, you know, he's just a tremendous young man.

Stats: ('09) 80 tackles, 12 TFLs, 4 sacks

Video: Highlights | GoHawks Video

Quick Thoughts:
Alston looks like a middle linebacker to me. He's strong against the run and, based on his film, can meet a running back in the hole and hit him hard. Though the depth at linebacker in currently slim, I see Alston a year or two away from really competing for a spot on the 2-deeps, though he could play special teams earlier.

Most of the last minute recruiting was done over the past couple of days. Iowa had 5 players commit over Monday and Tuesday. So, the list of commits should be about 95% in place. There are only one or two players that may pick Iowa today. If neither do we may see the Iowa coaches extend an offer to a local kid or another under the radar guy.

For up to the minute results on who has actually signed a letter of intent follow the GoHawks.com blog. They are updating often with information and videos on each of the commits.

I'll update at the end of the day once everyone has signed. For now, here's the list of all the recruits expected to sign today (or that already have signed).

Jordan Lomax

Jordan Lomax silently committed to Iowa over the weekend but made it official late on Monday. He is a defensive back from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland...the same high school as Marcus Coker and recruits Cyrus Kouandjio and Darian Cooper. Over on HawkCentral.com, Lomax said that he is "trying his best" to push his fellow teammates to follow suit and come to Iowa and that he hopes the pile from DeMatha to Iowa continues. I would have to agree. DeMatha, and really the whole Maryland area has been a hot-spot for Iowa recruiting the past couple of years. Also out of Maryland are fellow commit Nico Law, and current players Jim Poggi and Anthony Ferguson (though I don't think Ferguson is still on the team).

Lomax is a consensus 3-star recruit. He played corner, safety, and some wide receiver in high school. In his video he looks like some very strong cover skills, but what impressed me more what his ability to read the offense and make a play...either coming up and making a tackle in the backfield on a run or adjusting to the ball on a pass to pick it off. So to me he looks more like a safety prospect.