FB: American Rivers Conference

[the_mayne_event]

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Just a thought for the wartburg fans out there.. think if cody kelly or hammas transfered going into their senior years.   what if a week before camp started last august, hammas decides to up and leave wartburg for central or coe.  that would be the 180 of the situation now.  how would you feel?  betrayed? abandoned?

the players didn't know about the transfer until monday when the papers went through, and they found out through other sources then him.

i know that reaburn wasn't the most personable guy in the conference.  he was hard to get along with at times but at the end of the day he's supposed to be your coach, not your friend.  hands down flat out the guy knows his stuff.
I agree with Charlie.  you have to look at the durability factor of suckow getting 25-30 plus handoffs in a game.  why not take 15 handoffs and 10 or so receptions and let northern pound it out for 25 times and wear the defense down, which would be the best for the TEAM?  i know neil, hes a good guy, not a selfish person, but he's ACTING like a selfish player

[Ash Park]

DoubleOT the two guys that are at Coe now I should say didn't transfer to Coe right away. Kelvin Lee went to UNI right after Cornell and took a shot at walking on there. When that didn't work out he was going to transfer back but the record from the 05 season didn't sit well with him and we didn't have the nutrition part of his major. The other guy that is there now is Aaron Hadenfeldt. He quit school before last season started working and decided to go to Coe over this summer. With Hadenfeldt I'm just glad to see him back in school trying to get a degree even if it is at Coe, but the way he handled the situation from what I have heard was pretty shady. The Cornell players I think were pretty upset about it and I know that coach Dillon was upset.

Cornell numbers have been lower in large part because of the admissions office. I heard that they are bringing in around 35-40 guys this year which will help significantly. Some of those freshmen will see playing time. Last year the total roster I believe was something like 50 guys. With this large recruiting class they should have 70.

There is definitely huge potential to play right away at Cornell. They are looking for players that can come in right away and make an impact on the program. Cornell, Grinell and I hate saying this but I have to be fair Coe were all named the Ivy League Schools of the Midwest this past year.

[Ash Park]

I should have mentioned as well that there have been several changes in the past year at Cornell in effort to make Cornell athletics better and the facilities. The admissions office and everyone on campus is making an effort to get more athletes for all the sports teams. They are expanding the weight room, new wrestling room, new indoor track. They are trying to work with MVHS to play their games at Cornell then they would go into together for field turf and lights at the football field. There would also be new bleachers and a press box.

[NewEra]

CollegeFootballFan...let me just echo Ash Park's take and maybe add a bit here and there...you asked why the fewer numbers and dismal predictions for Cornell.  As far as the numbers go, Cornell is arguably the most selective school in the conference as far as admissions go, in part due to their unique academic calendar, they draw from a national/international base of students.  This obviously narrows the field for would-be student-athletes.  Secondly, Cornell went through a coaching regime change a year ago, its recruiting numbers temporarily suffered as a result of the switch...it had also had a couple years with light recruiting numbers a few years prior.  Finally, the on-field success of the program has dwindled as the lack of depth has hurt the team...a losing record is a hard sell for recruiting, and of course until the school does anything different than post losing seasons than predictions must continue to label them as bottom dwellers.
That having been said, there are some reasons to look long and hard at Cornell as a recruit.  First, the program is in good hands with Coach Dillon who took over the program last year.  He is an extremely successful coach with a reputation for turning programs around...albeit to this point they've been high school teams.  He seems though to have translated that experience to recruiting...again, word through the grapevine is to expect the largest and most talented recruiting class ever to arrive in Mount Vernon next weekend.  The roster should inflate from a pre-graduation 50 or so to 65-70.  Like I said earlier, Cornell draws from a national base of applicants and its football recruiting is no exception. For this reason you won't see their recruiting class getting a lot of hype on an Iowa Conference board. Cornell's roster is nearly half and half iowa kids to out of state.  Places such as Cali, Texas, Arizona, and Florida are producing the next group of prospects.  Beyond the encouraging progress in recruiting is the progress in the program itself.  Cornell is one of only a handful of IIAC schools to now have a dedicated Strength and Conditioning Coach.  The school also doubled the size of its weight room, upgraded all equipment, and re-furbished its indoor arena this summer.  If your young guy is looking for a place to have an impact and get in on the ground floor of what could be an improving program...all while earning a nationally respected degree, then look into Cornell and see if its a fit.  I'm not going to come out and say the Rams are going to tangle with the Wartburgs or Centrals this year but I'd recommend keeping an interested eye on the program over the next few years, it seems like they might be on the upswing compared to their rivals 17 miles to the west...

[footballdaddy]

CFF,
My advice for any freshman going to any colege program,and expecting to make an instant impact,is to scale back your expectations.Making the jump to collecge football is a HUGE step for any high school player.You may have been one of the best,or maybe the best,player on your high school team,but you're now among 100+ who were the best on their high school team.And while there are always exceptions,and most of those aren't at skill positions,every year every program loses freshmen who had high expectations and found out that not only weren't the best at their position,they wern't even the best freshman.

I don't want to discourage your son,he can have a very bright future,but his goal should be to work hard,learn evereything he can,and get as much experience as possible,wether varsity,JV,or practice.If he has the skills,he will play,just maybe not as fast as he would like.

[DoubleOT]

Adding to what NewEra wrote, the word on the street is the offseason commitment at Cornell is one of the best in many years. This is due to the new coach instilling a positive attitude, and him getting the players hungry to win. Also I am guessing this has to do with the strength coach working with the players, in previous years the coaches didn't pay attention to who was and who wasn't at workouts.


I agree Footballdaddy...players have to be ready to work, and realize that they are lucky to be playing college football, no matter what level, and that ultimatly they are there for an education, football is just a bonus.

[DoubleOT]

I forgot, one thing I don't agree with what  footballdaddy said, is that players should not scale back their expectations. All players should come in expecting to start, and play and practice for that goal. Now with that said, they need to realize that coaches will play the best players, and that all they can do is work hard, and if they dont start, play harder on JV and potentially make the coaches play them...

[Ash Park]

Yes the commitment from the players this year is something that has not been around for awhile. In years past there was probably a group of 10 guys that were truly committed to the weight room and conditioning, now from what I have seen and heard it is every guy on the team. They had a good number of guys stick around for the summer and working out with the strength coach. They will be a much stronger and more physical team this year.

[footballdaddy]

What I'm saying is if a player shows up and expects to play because they were a stud in high school,they will be disappointed.

I agree wholeheartedly that every player shoud be prepared to fight for a position,wether a freshman or a returning starting senior.

[CollegeFootballFan]

This is good information on the board now.

FD/DO

Based on the feedback, we will take a serious look at Cornell.

This is a very humble kid that has been told it's harder to succeed as you move up the pyramid. There are a lot less colleges than high schools in the country. I consider it a major accomplishment to play college football at any level. There is no easy level to play football at the college level nor should any expect to dominate the lower NCAA levels.

The kid knows he will have to raise his game to break into the line up at any school. The kids goal is to go to a school where he can play versus waiting until his junior/senior year to get playing time. Therefore, where every he goes, it's can only be a goal to play as a freshmen.

The D1 programs have 85 scholarship players and really only play around 30 in a season. That leaves about 50 players not getting an opportunity to play, do what they love, given they probably have invested 8 – 12 years to playing football.

Don't think that we are underestimating the talent/play at the DIII level, we are not. We have placed a priority on the education first and looking for a place to play.

However, if you are a talented player, you should enter camp with the goal to play now and adjust to the talent level when camp starts. This kid has the confidence and it shows on the field. There are some freshman that is ready to play DIII ball now. Sometimes it's difficult to get your opportunity to show what you can do when there are established starters. Sometimes the coaches are blind to new options.

I heard IIAC is one of the toughest conference in DIII. Is that true? What are the other good conferences?

[NewEra]

The IIAC is one of the toughest leagues in D3.  I forget where I saw it but a national publication ranked it as either 4 or 5 out of the nearly 30 conferences.  The Ohio and Minnesota athletic conferences are in the top 5 respectively as well as the Wisconsin-Illinois Athletic Conference (WIAC).

CollegeFootballFan, I would encourage you to check out the Cornell College recruiting DVD available for free viewing at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wZZxJRm9vc

there are also a few other cornell videos there

[DoubleOT]

The IIAC is definitly one of the toughest, and because of that it actually hurts the conference nationally. Because there are such good teams, any one can win any game or weekend. This means a team such as Central or Wartburg may lose a couple of games, but in other conferences could win all the games (although Central did go 10-0 last year). Because teams lose a couple of games, they get overlooked in comparision to other teams in the nation. This causes the IIAC teams to get lower seeds in the playoffs, and ultimatly a better team than they otherwise would be playing.

I have read many articles that say the IIAC chokes when it comes to the playoffs, and that is partially true, but that is due to the competiveness of every conference game. All the teams look at each week especially games 5-10 as playoff games. Try playing 8 playoff games, before the playoffs, its got to be tough, because teams never get a week off.

[footballdaddy]

CFF,I hope you know that I wasn't hammering on your son specifically,just talking in general terms.I'm sure we all know stories of all state players who couldn't hack it at the collegate level and quit before the first game.

I hope your son has a great senior season and finds the school that fits his educational and athletic needs.Any school in the IIAC will have opportunities for him and he'll have the satisfaction to have played with and against the best.

[wildcat11]

The IIAC is definitly one of the toughest, and because of that it actually hurts the conference nationally. Because there are such good teams, any one can win any game or weekend. This means a team such as Central or Wartburg may lose a couple of games, but in other conferences could win all the games (although Central did go 10-0 last year).

Double OT,

Curious....How would you rate the West Region Conferences?  When I mean rate, I mean the "best to the worst".

[DoubleOT]

Well obviously all I have said has been my opinion, and I am biasas. But I would probably rank it like this:

1.  WIAC
2.  IIAC
3.  MIAC
4.  SCIAC
5.  NWC
6.  Ind

Although I do believe Central and Wartburg could play very well against most of the WIAC. Whitewater & La-Crosse are very good teams, and they put WIAC above IIAC.