1 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,240 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:22,880 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cat's 3 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:29,440 GAIL and Clavio joining you. It is Monday, the 19th of May. 4 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,000 It's a surprisingly busy time right now in IU athletics lot 5 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,680 going on and we're going to have not just IU athletics going on, 6 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,000 but we've got Pacers, we've got Indy 500. 7 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,640 It's just a whole lot of stuff going on in Central IN right 8 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,120 now. And we're going to talk IU 9 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:48,040 today. Lot of going, a lot of stuff 10 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,520 going on in the recruiting world. 11 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,200 And we've got Zac Browning from on three and the Hoosier joining 12 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:54,720 us. Zac, good to see you. 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,160 How you doing? I'm good, Galen. 14 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:58,560 I'm doing well. Summer. 15 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,600 Nice to be home, nice to relax a little bit. 16 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,600 How are you? Fine, also feeling the same, 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,319 enjoying the warmer temperatures. 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,840 I could do without the EF 2 tornadoes in town, but 19 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,640 everything else has been fine so far. 20 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,720 You know, but should be an interesting conversation. 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,880 We're going to talk recruiting. Zach's been burning it up on on 22 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,400 the website and on X getting information out to the peoples. 23 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,600 We greatly appreciate that. We want to talk about some of 24 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,240 that 'cause I know it's certainly of interest to many of 25 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:27,880 you. Before we do that real quick, 26 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,440 just a reminder were brought to you by Home Field Apparel, your 27 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,480 place to go for the finest in college fashions, the softest 28 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:38,240 fabrics, the coolest designs, and of course, Indy 500 Apparel, 29 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,280 Pacers Apparel, Fever Apparel, as well as IU and any other 30 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,000 college you might think to buy apparel from. 31 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:49,680 Use the code Home 23. Get 15% off of your first order 32 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,880 and you may have to actually go certain places to get home Field 33 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,400 apparel. You can order the Indy 500 34 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,400 collection they dropped on the side or you can go to the gift 35 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,040 shops at the Speedway. There's an exclusive to the Game 36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,840 Bridge Team store T-shirt that's pretty cool. 37 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,160 It's Boomer in an IndyCar kind of celebrating the dual 38 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,080 heritages of May in Indianapolis. 39 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,960 So I had to those places. You can't use the code there. 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:17,560 You can try you actually you should. 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,120 If you go to the game bridge team store, tell them Crimson 42 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,920 cast sent you and you want 15% off and let me know what their 43 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:25,800 response is. I'm quite fascinated. 44 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:30,160 But anyway, Hope Field apparel are presenting sponsor here on 45 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,120 the back home network. We certainly appreciate them. 46 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,680 Also, reminder, subscribe to us on YouTube, just search back 47 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,760 home network on YouTube and join us there as you get to watch 48 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:40,760 this interview as opposed to just listening to it. 49 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,680 All right, Zach, let's dive right in. 50 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,280 We were talking before the show and I was like, we could do 51 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:48,400 football, we could do basketball. 52 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:49,400 We're going to do a little bit of both. 53 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,640 I want to start with football because it's the sport that I 54 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:56,840 think more people are like really excited by right now. 55 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,760 And Indiana has definitely made some moves in this recruiting 56 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,520 cycle that I would argue kind of highlight a very different 57 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,600 recruiting, not just philosophy, but a different mix of players 58 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,040 that they are suddenly in line for and are starting to get 59 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,840 commitments from. Why don't we start with what 60 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,600 stuck out to you over the course of this last month or so, as 61 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,880 we've started to see some of these verbal commitments coming 62 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,760 in from pretty highly regarded football players both in state 63 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,600 and out of state. I think you've got to hit the 64 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,480 nail on the head right there. Obviously, Curse Signetti, the 65 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,720 success that Indiana had last season, we assumed it would 66 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,720 translate eventually to the recruiting side as well. 67 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,040 And we've kind of seen that already take shape throughout 68 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,840 the first offseason, the first real offseason Curse Signetti's 69 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,160 had at the helm of the Hoosiers. And what stands out to me, 70 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,600 Galen, is that the guys that he's brought in, the handful of 71 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,960 guys has gotten verbal commits from Indiana's 2026 class stands 72 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,520 at 9 guys currently. It's not just the 73 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,160 run-of-the-mill Indiana three star after three star after 74 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,360 three star. These are talented guys on 75 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,120 three, has a handful of these recruits ranked in the top 100 76 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,480 or in the top 150, the top 300, etcetera. 77 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,920 Indiana has a #1 ranked recruit in the state of Indiana coming 78 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,320 to play next year, which is not something that the Hoosiers can 79 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,360 say, not something that Tom Allen could really say during 80 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:20,920 his tenure and stuff like that. But I think it's the quality of 81 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,040 the players. We know that Cursinetti can do 82 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,800 more with less, but now he's going to have an opportunity to 83 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,200 do more with more. I think that'll be the exciting 84 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,960 thing. He's got not only the quantity 85 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,000 of players coming in in this recruiting class, but he's got 86 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,680 the talent as well. If you look at the recruiting 87 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,400 classes between Indiana and Michigan, Michigan just right 88 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,680 now slightly ahead of Indiana, I think they're ranked 9th in the 89 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,600 Big 10 per on three. Indiana ranked 10th in the 90 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,400 conference for 2026, but they both have the same number of 91 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,240 four-star recruits right now. Indiana has two and Michigan has 92 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,880 two, which is not something that we've been able to say in years 93 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,480 past. Yeah, I mean a lot there to 94 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:57,200 dissect. I mean, let's start with maybe 95 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,400 the most recent recruit that they picked up. 96 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:04,480 Gabe Hill, defensive lineman out of Naperville, IL, has a high 97 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,800 school teammate who's joining the roster this year. 98 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,520 And but this is a highly sought after guy. 99 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,640 He's a top 300 recruit in pretty much every service. 100 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,960 I think on three has him at 2:49 in the country. 101 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,240 This is not the type of recruit Indiana normally gets. 102 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,600 I mean, we've seen them pull four stars on very rare 103 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,400 occasions, but they're generally offensive players at skill 104 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:29,080 positions, which are probably the hardest guys to rate. 105 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,440 When you get to lineman, when you get on on either side of the 106 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,440 ball or, or you know, players like that, it, it means 107 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,960 something to land a four-star like that, Especially when 108 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,360 you're going up against the Wisconsin's and the the 109 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,560 Illinois's and the teams that Indiana really hasn't recruited 110 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,920 well against historically. Yeah, not just in the case of 111 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,440 Hill, not just Iowa, Wisconsin, LSU was involved, Texas A&M, 112 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,080 Notre Dame, who's an in state and even closer to Naperville up 113 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,960 there in Chicago. But again, going back to what 114 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,400 you said at the beginning of that, there is an IU recruit in 115 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,920 the class of 2025 that's from Naperville, Jacob Bell, a 116 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,400 quarterback who was originally committed. 117 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:07,800 The Ball State flipped to Indiana. 118 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,360 And I think what stands out is that's not the only case of 119 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,920 Indiana kind of developing recruiting networks. 120 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:15,440 I guess I would call that Indiana. 121 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,280 There's a number of instances where Indiana's reached out to a 122 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,080 handful of guys from the same high school as some of the guys 123 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,120 on the current roster. Indiana's kind of developing the 124 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:27,120 networks and Chicago, Naperville in that kind of areas, a very 125 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,000 important kind of place to be able to recruit, especially if 126 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,960 you're Indiana. You can't just recruit in state. 127 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,760 In Indiana, you got to go reach into Chicago, got to reach into 128 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:36,600 Ohio. We've seen Indiana do both of 129 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,400 those things. But what stands out to me about 130 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,800 Hill, and he said it himself, he just, he said they're a team 131 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,360 with a lot of ambition, a lot of things to prove. 132 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,520 So it's exciting. He said he loves Curtis Agnetti. 133 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,680 And I think when you're talking to any recruit, whether it's 134 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,680 football in the class of 2026, whether it's the class of 2027, 135 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,480 anybody you talk to on the recruiting trail about Indiana, 136 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,960 Curtis Agnetti always comes up. Yes, the relationships with the 137 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,040 kind of more on the site recruiters, the likes of Mike 138 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,360 Shanahan and like that their names get brought up. 139 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,120 Yes, the connection between them is important between them and 140 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,760 the recruit, but not just that you have to be able to recruit 141 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,840 as the head coach. And I think that we're seeing 142 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:22,120 kind of the pull that Kirsten, Kirsten that he has as a 143 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:23,720 recruiter. I mean, you can see the quote 144 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,000 right there. He's got the pull he's kind of 145 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,040 got, for lack of a better way to put it, he's got the aura Galen 146 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:30,960 like that. Some of these recruits like they 147 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,400 like to follow. He's got rizz, he's got 148 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,120 recruiting rizz, Zach. But it's it's interesting too, 149 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,520 like using going into the same well that you've gone to for 150 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,480 past recruits, even if they're just one cycle previous. 151 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,640 It's almost like it's like using influencers in your recruiting 152 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,840 process. You know, I mean it, it kind of 153 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,160 worked with Fernando Mendoza in a different way since they 154 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:54,440 already had Alberto Mendoza on the roster. 155 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,920 And and I'm certainly that helped to grease the wheels a 156 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,920 little bit to make that happen. But you know, you, you make some 157 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:03,840 interesting statements here. And I think it's worth noting, 158 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,920 you know, Signetti, you know, the whatever you think of the 159 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,360 bravado that Signetti carries himself with when he's talking 160 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,520 to the press about his team or when he's talking to fans. 161 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,040 Some people like it. Some people are like, this is a 162 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:18,960 bit much. But it really does seem to carry 163 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,640 well with high school football players and transfers because 164 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,120 he's a confident guy. He has a clear plan. 165 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,080 And I think sometimes we underestimate how much those two 166 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:34,840 things resonate with players and parents when often times they're 167 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,559 dealing with coaches that don't want to commit, you know, that 168 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:40,280 they or or don't have that, you know, for whatever you want to 169 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:42,440 say about. Like Tom Allen, who was clearly 170 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,200 a very passionate guy, could really communicate that passion 171 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,920 pretty well, but was kind of short on details and it kind of 172 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:50,240 showed up. And in the types of players he 173 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,360 brought in and the way that the developmental cycle work thus 174 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,480 far. And certainly going back to what 175 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,240 you saw Signetti do with the way he recruited James Madison, 176 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,320 there's a real clear through line that he can point to with 177 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,400 not just him but also his assistants about, hey, we've 178 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:08,120 said we're going to do XY and Z, and here's the proof in the past 179 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:10,800 of what we've done that can take you to that level that you want 180 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,680 to get to. You're exactly right. 181 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:16,080 And I think we're kind of seeing the power that a that building a 182 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,480 strong coaching staff around a guy like Signetti has. 183 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:21,680 I mean, these are $1,000,000 assistant coaches. 184 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,440 That's not something Indiana has ever been able to claim on the 185 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,320 football side of things. You look at Mike Shanahan, 186 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,600 that's $1,000,000 assistant right there. 187 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,800 You look at Brian Haynes, he's making more than Mike Shanahan 188 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,000 at this point. So these are guys that have been 189 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,280 paid and compensated not only because of what they can do, X's 190 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:39,200 and O's, YS in the middle of the game, in the middle of the 191 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,040 season, but also what they can do on a recruiting trail. 192 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,200 And not just identifying talent, but actually landing that 193 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:46,560 talent. And I think that's another big 194 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:50,000 important thing as well. Indiana is competing not only in 195 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,720 state with the likes of Purdue, with the likes of Notre Dame was 196 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,920 a big time school, but regionally with Ohio State. 197 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,480 Indiana one of the the second ranked recruit right now in 198 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:03,560 Indiana 2026 class Henry Olinger is an athlete from Columbus 199 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,840 right out of Ohio states backyard. 200 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,720 So Indiana being able to go into those places that's not 201 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:10,600 necessarily strictly the state of Indiana. 202 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,320 I mentioned Casmir Hicks, defensive back, the number one 203 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:14,440 rank recruit, the state of Indiana. 204 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,760 He's already coming to Indiana, but not just the in state guys 205 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,800 because it's a little bit different on the football side 206 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:22,680 and basketball side. Yes, you need to be able to 207 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:26,080 recruit in state for football, but you also have to be able to 208 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,160 spread out, especially if you're Indiana in the Midwest. 209 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,120 And we've kind of seen that. We also have seen cursing Nettie 210 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,600 with that kind of Pennsylvania, that Pittsburgh background. 211 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,480 He's reached into those regions a little bit as well. 212 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:38,200 But you got to be able to recruit not just the state of 213 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:39,640 Indiana, but the Midwest as a whole. 214 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,200 And we're seeing that not only with Curt Signetti, but Mike 215 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,200 Shanahan, Brian Haynes. I mean, you mentioned the plan 216 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,560 that's there's a, there's a reason Indiana strength and 217 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:50,760 conditioning coordinator was so highly sought after and why he 218 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,680 got a raise to stay in Bloomington because that's part 219 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:55,520 of the plan. You come here to IU, maybe 220 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,520 you're 6 foot two, 275 lbs. You come here, you spend a 221 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:02,680 summer here and all of a sudden you're 15 lbs of muscle heavier. 222 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:05,680 I mean, that's the kind of plan that Curse Signetti has for his 223 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:08,520 players and that's what, as you said, resonates not only with 224 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:10,440 the players but with the families as well, which is an 225 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,120 underrated part of the high score recruiting. 226 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,120 You know, the, the recruiting Indiana and the Midwest thing is 227 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,320 really interesting because this was not something that Allen's 228 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,160 staff did. They, they were very focused on 229 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,320 what they knew, which was Florida and a little bit of 230 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,360 Georgia. And and, you know, you look at 231 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,520 the heat map of where a lot of those recruits came from, that 232 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,680 was where they were coming from and they had some successes. 233 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:33,880 I mean, clearly you get a Michael Panics out of Florida. 234 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:35,640 You know, there's some other players that came out of that 235 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:37,080 that realm. It's not that it's bad. 236 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:41,560 It's just that you you, you know, there's a certain level of 237 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:44,040 competition you have to engage in if you're going to recruit in 238 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:45,520 the Midwest. And one of the things I think 239 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:47,760 people misunderstand about the state of Indiana is there's 240 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,120 actually a good amount of football talent in the state, 241 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,280 but it is historically gone elsewhere. 242 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,720 It is not gone to IU, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame. 243 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,240 You know, Alabama comes in, takes a guy and then that that 244 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,120 level of three stars that you can normally build off of his 245 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:07,720 developmental pieces. Well, they've been going to 246 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:09,840 Iowa, they've been going to Michigan State, they've been 247 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:14,200 going to Wisconsin. And it's interesting, you know, 248 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,040 when Kurt Signetti got hired, one of the things I remember us 249 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,920 talking about was, well, they really do need to go right at 250 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,040 the Midwest and see if they can make some inroads. 251 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,000 Now going 11-1 of the regular season and making the College 252 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,760 Football Playoff helps a ton, but it's also the fact they've 253 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:32,280 restocked talent wise. Like they look like a team 254 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,000 that's going to be here to stay. You know, they're ranked in some 255 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,640 poles at this point. And you know, you're not going 256 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,080 to win every battle, But if you can win a decent amount of the 257 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,640 battles in state, if you can go get, you know, not just like you 258 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,320 said, Casmir Hicks, but they, you know, they got Trevor Gibbs 259 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:51,280 from Crown Point, who I think was the number three player and 260 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,200 #4 player in the state. You know, they've got a couple 261 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:56,440 of other guys that they're kind of on the, on the threshold 262 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,280 perhaps of getting, they've got what, 3 or 4 guys that on threes 263 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:03,960 classified as like elite prospects in one form or 264 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,360 another. I mean, that stuff really does 265 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:08,760 stack up. And what they're, they're 8 or 9 266 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,360 commits deep into a class that's probably going to be about, you 267 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:18,040 know, 2223, I'm guessing. And you know, they've last year 268 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,280 they were 53rd in recruiting. And that was not really a good 269 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:23,520 representation of what Kurtz Ignaty was going to be able to 270 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,160 do. This is really the first time 271 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:27,920 we've seen them recruiting against the big boys with a full 272 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,400 year under their belt. That's all really exciting, I 273 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,600 think, if you're an IU fan. You're exactly right on three 274 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,880 currently has Indiana ranked 31st in the country, 10th in the 275 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,440 Big 10, the 2026 class. And you bring up the fact that 276 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,240 Indiana has multiple top 10 ranked recruits in the state of 277 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,240 Indiana in this class of 2026. That hasn't happened since 2022. 278 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,720 That's the last time Indiana had two top 10 ranked recruits from 279 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,400 the state of Indiana. They go elsewhere as you 280 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,880 mentioned, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, those types of 281 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,120 places. Indiana has three this year. 282 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,920 The last top 10 recruit period that Indiana got from in state 283 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:04,120 was Tyler Cherry and you know, his injury struggles are what 284 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,400 they are, but Indiana could walk away from this 2026 class Galen 285 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:11,960 realistically with four probably top 10 ranked recruits, not only 286 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,800 just in the state of just in the state of Indiana alone, which is 287 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,360 eye opening for Indiana because you have to be able to win that 288 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:20,160 win your state. Once you can win your state, 289 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,760 then you can kind of go out IP talked about with a guy like 290 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,920 Henry Olinger, go out to Columbus, get him Gabe Hill and 291 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,360 Naperville. I mean it starts with winning 292 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:29,920 your state. That's obviously the foundation 293 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,360 with the new can kind of branch out from there. 294 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,600 And I think the thing that Indiana has going for it, 295 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,200 they've got that foundation of this class. 296 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,640 There's 24 stars in it right now, 7 three stars according to 297 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,840 on three. The talent is still there. 298 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:46,200 The talent is still out there there. 299 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,320 There's still plenty of uncommitted 4 stars. 300 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,000 There's still plenty of top guys. 301 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,240 I mean, if you look recently, Indiana in the final five for 302 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,360 another 4 star recruit, another four-star defensive lineman and 303 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,320 Cameron Mccaney, he's got Indiana in his top five. 304 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:04,360 His official commitment date is set for a couple of weeks in the 305 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:06,800 future, so not yet, but that's one to keep an eye on for 306 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,480 Indiana. Another four-star that would put 307 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:10,400 here. I'll explain it this way. 308 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,960 If Indiana were to land both Hill and McKinney, I was doing 309 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,360 some research earlier, those would be the third and fourth 310 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,440 highest ranked defensive line recruits. 311 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,520 Ever since Indiana football and recruiting websites have started 312 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,160 to kind of track that stuff. You've got Dassan McCullough and 313 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,360 you've got Darius Latham back in 2013. 314 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,960 So I mean, you've already got. One of those guys got a big, big 315 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,040 asterisk by their name since they it was a family connection 316 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,120 that that, you know, I think you could say brought them here at 317 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,160 least as much as anything else. And, you know, obviously Darius 318 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,960 Latham was a was a a great addition and was a stalwart on 319 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,560 that line. But yeah, no, it's it is 320 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:50,520 fascinating And and I think, you know, for a lot of IU fans who 321 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,160 are still trying to process how to feel about last year and how 322 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,040 to feel about where IU football is at, this was always the class 323 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,360 where I was like, OK, this is going to tell us if this is real 324 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,240 and if this is resonating. And, you know, it's in football 325 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,880 recruiting, so much of it's about networking. 326 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,200 So much of it's about, you know, what coaches you know, as you 327 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,960 know what you know what, who your coaching staff knows. 328 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,280 You know, Taylor's talked about this a bunch on our podcast. 329 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,040 Like what, what camps are you going to? 330 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,920 Who are you talking to? Where are you in the mix? 331 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,520 And this is a really well respected coaching staff, as 332 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,040 we've seen, you mentioned, not just strength and conditioning, 333 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,520 nearly getting hired elsewhere, but you know, Brian Haynes was 334 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:31,560 potentially going to go get hired elsewhere. 335 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,480 He got a raise. It's clearly a staff that the 336 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,720 big boys have noticed and they're going to be a force to 337 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:40,480 be reckoned with as long as they're here. 338 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:42,960 And I think it's going to be interesting watching them 339 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,320 continue to try to lay this foundation down. 340 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:50,360 And as you think about like where Indiana lands, we've, you 341 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,520 know, on on this show, we've been saying for years, it may 342 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,800 not be sustainable for IU to try to go after four stars and five 343 00:16:57,800 --> 00:16:59,680 stars because they've just historically done poorly with 344 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,240 four stars and five stars. Like for every McCullough who 345 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,440 played really well with came in, you'd get I mean, you go back 346 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,359 and look at any of the classes from the last five years and and 347 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:10,760 you know, anybody that was ranked above a 3, it's like 348 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,119 maybe there was a reason that they slipped through the cracks 349 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,119 of the upper echelon. Obviously, we'll take a wait and 350 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,599 see approach with this current staff and what they're doing, 351 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,760 But this feels different from a recruiting perspective. 352 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,400 It just it feels a lot more stable and it feels like there's 353 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,319 a specific plan and the fact they're recruiting so well on 354 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:32,120 the defensive line, an area that's historically been a 355 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,000 difficult spot for IU to compete against, especially with the Big 356 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,120 10 lines they deal with. It's just a lot of exciting 357 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:40,240 things all at once. And I think that's maybe the 358 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,680 biggest thing, the defensive line, the offensive line, those 359 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:45,840 two areas. Because I asked Kirstenetti 360 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,200 after that Notre Dame game, after Indiana season was over, I 361 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:49,960 asked him, you know, what's the biggest difference here? 362 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:51,560 2 losses of 0, Ohio State, Notre Dame? 363 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,120 What's the biggest difference between programs like that, 364 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:56,760 teams like that in your team right now with how it's 365 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:58,800 constructed? And he said the death was one 366 00:17:58,800 --> 00:17:59,880 thing. So obviously the recruiting 367 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:02,280 class, having deeper recruiting classes helps with that. 368 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,280 But he also said just the sheer size in the trenches, the 369 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,360 defensive lineman, the offensive lineman, if you're a four or 370 00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:10,760 five star defensive lineman or an offensive lineman that's a 371 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,640 four or five star, you are that because you're 6 foot 6, like 372 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:15,680 330 lbs. Like that's just something you 373 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,960 cannot teach the four stars and the five stars, they get that 374 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,240 ranking not only because of their production, but just 375 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,440 because of their sheer unteachable size. 376 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,720 So if Indiana is able to recruit more guys like Gabe Hill, he's a 377 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,760 four-star defensive lineman, He's got that unteachable size 378 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:31,040 that you just can't do anything about. 379 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,760 He's right now 62275 and that's before he gets on campus. 380 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,000 He's still got another year of high school football to not only 381 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,440 play, but to grow physically as well. 382 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:43,480 So when you're looking at that and you're looking at the 383 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,800 offense of a defensive line, that's really where you got to 384 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,560 get your money's worth. That's where you can get all the 385 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:50,920 three stars you want. Of course, Iowa, Wisconsin, 386 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,720 those types of schools have a history of turning the not as 387 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,240 highly touted 4 star and five star guys into those behemoths 388 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,640 that you see in the Big 10. But Indiana, if you can recruit 389 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,280 those guys because there's the debate stars don't necessarily 390 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,560 matter, but they kind of do for that interior offensive line, 391 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,280 that defensive line as well in the trenches because those guys 392 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,120 are just big. Well, and look, I mean, I think 393 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:17,560 it's Ari Wasserman has done a lot of really good work at where 394 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:19,920 I forget who Ari is. Is Ari at on three now? 395 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,560 I've lost track of who's with who at this point, but he's done 396 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:28,640 a lot of really fascinating studies into, you know, who 397 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,520 exactly gets to contend for national titles every year. 398 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:32,880 Now. It's a little bit off now 399 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:35,560 because we're in a 12 team playoff era, probably soon to be 400 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,480 a 16 team playoff era as opposed to four or two. 401 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:45,040 But it's very clear that stars matter if you want to compete 402 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,640 for titles, if you want to compete for playoff spots. 403 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:50,440 And one of the things to keep in mind about Wisconsin and Iowa, 404 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,720 like they've had their moments, you know, but they've largely 405 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,280 been teams that have been in the 8 to 10 win range. 406 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,720 They've been on the outside of that conversation looking in. 407 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,280 By and large, I us got grander ambitions than that right now. 408 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,240 And I think, you know, once you taste the College Football 409 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,000 Playoff, and now especially given that the pathway is not 410 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,560 quite as difficult to get there as it used to be because there's 411 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,040 more spots available and because you're in the Big 10. 412 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:17,520 You've got to recruit at that level. 413 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,560 And it's it's just jarring in a good way to think that IU has a 414 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,360 sales pitch that's working and has a group of people who seem 415 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,040 to be able to deliver not just the sales pitch, but can back it 416 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,800 up with actual demonstrated, you know, history about what they 417 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:34,920 can do in pretty much every position on the roster. 418 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,560 And. Especially when you look at the 419 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,000 Big 10, the addition of the West Coast schools doesn't 420 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,720 necessarily impact Indiana that much because there's kind of 421 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,400 different regions. I mean, the West Coast schools 422 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,040 aren't necessarily dipping into the Midwest all too often. 423 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,040 I mean, you look at the top five classes in the conference right 424 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,960 now, USC is 1, Oregon is 3, Washington is five, UCLA is 425 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:56,880 ranked 7th. So the West schools, West Coast 426 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,640 schools have come in, they've kind of dominated the recruiting 427 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,360 front out West. They've kind of taken over. 428 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,920 Where was the PAC 12? And they've kind of dominated 429 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,520 out there. But that doesn't necessarily 430 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,600 affect Indiana. Again, I go back to what I was 431 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,320 saying earlier. Indiana's class is currently 432 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,560 ranked 10th in the twenty 26th class. 433 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,920 Michigan is 9, Iowa is 8. Indiana's ranked ahead of 434 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,600 Illinois, ahead of Wisconsin, ahead of Michigan State. 435 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,280 And this is before Indiana really kind of picks up even 436 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:22,880 more steam. I mean, there's still plenty of 437 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,280 guys that are left not only in state but in the surrounding 438 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,680 areas as well. So Indiana very, very far from 439 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,160 being done in this class, but you look at it right there. 440 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,760 I mean, this is no longer a team that we've seen. 441 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,080 If you Scroll down, Galen Indiana's been right next to 442 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,920 Purdue the last handful of years and they are not with Chris and 443 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:41,560 Nettie. Well, and it's interesting 444 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,200 because like the delta between where Indiana's at at 10th and 445 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,400 where Penn State's at and 4th is not that great. 446 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,200 I mean, you're talking about a couple of points. 447 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,200 You know, I mean, Penn State's got a lot more four stars and 448 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,680 that's what's propping them up. But Washington and Maryland are 449 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,200 basically only where they're at because they each have a single 450 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,080 five star. And who knows if those guys are 451 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:01,720 even going to sign with those teams. 452 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,440 I mean, you know, we've seen some late breaking changes in 453 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,640 some of these things and so it's going to be interesting. 454 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:12,080 This is a steady progression for IU and the nice thing for IU 455 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,640 football, we can kind of close on this for the football part of 456 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:19,080 this is that, you know, used to be the the recruiting rankings 457 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,400 were basically the end all be all of where you were going to 458 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,400 be as a program in three years because that was going to be 459 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,560 your talent pool. Now with the transfer portal, 460 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,000 you can add whatever you need on top of it. 461 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,960 You can't disregard football recruiting like you have to have 462 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:34,680 good recruiting classes. That's where all of your 463 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,800 development comes in. But you know, if Indiana is 464 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,040 somewhere between 6th and 10th in the Big 10 recruiting 465 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:46,880 rankings regularly and then can add high producing players out 466 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,240 of the transfer portal who want to come and play in Kurt 467 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,000 Zignetti's system, that's really the formula. 468 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,880 Like, I don't think Indiana, like it's like, why is USC 469 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,960 ranked number one in the recruiting rankings for this, 470 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,120 You know, for the Big 10? I mean, it's because they're 471 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:02,240 USC. Same reason why Ohio State's 472 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,200 where they're at. The idea that IU is going to 473 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,320 punch through and get to that echelon seems fanciful, but that 474 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,680 doesn't mean they can't compete with those teams because I mean, 475 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:18,440 USC regularly recruits very well and is not a team that really is 476 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,760 really had a lot to show for that on the field, and I think 477 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:22,080 that's an important thing to remember. 478 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:24,960 Yeah. And just to add on to that, 479 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:29,120 Indiana right now, 10th, you have to go back to 2022 again, 480 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,080 that's that Dasan, Mccola, Travelle, Bolin, Omar Cooper, 481 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,280 Nick James kind of class where the last time Indiana had a top 482 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,400 10 ranked recruiting class. And that's where this will be 483 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,720 kind of the determining factor. This will kind of be the season 484 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,800 because obviously those 2022 kids, they committed after that 485 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:47,280 2020 season, which was pretty special for Indiana. 2021 didn't 486 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:49,720 and go so well for IU. And then you saw the kind of 487 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,320 fall off and recruiting back down to the regular levels in 488 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,000 2023. So this will be a year the 489 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,120 recruiting, the momentum is only can only go as far as far as you 490 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,120 win games on the football field. So if cursing that he's able to 491 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,160 win and consistently win and keep that going and maybe not 492 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,320 make the playoffs but continue to be that caliber of football 493 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,200 team, then the recruiting mentum will surely follow. 494 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:16,640 A lot to be excited about and obviously we'll see if anything 495 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,560 else pops in this cycle of the recruiting. 496 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,720 Now just a quick dates reminder for everybody. 497 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,680 We're we're in a commit period here right now for football. 498 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,920 What should we expect calendar wise as we move through summer 499 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,800 and into fall? Right now, as you mentioned, 500 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,600 kind of the commit cycle, there's also Indiana's doing and 501 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,040 a lot of teams around the country are kind of do focusing 502 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,360 a little bit on the 2027 class right now, kind of sending out 503 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,960 those offers, maybe the 2028 class as well, but kind of 504 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,240 sending out those offers, doing some scouting, checking out some 505 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:48,840 of those younger high school guys. 506 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:51,280 Then as you get further along into the summer, kind of flips 507 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,880 back, it's visit season, it's camp season, those 2026 guys 508 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,480 will get on campus, it's prime time summer. 509 00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:58,960 They're done with their high school seasons. 510 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:00,520 They're not even seasons, but they're done with their high 511 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,280 school years as far as schooling is concerned. 512 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,080 So they'll be able to get on campus again. 513 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,320 And then you kind of see kind of another wave of high school 514 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,760 commits after once again, after once their school year is done. 515 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,920 And then after that point, it's kind of one of those situations 516 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,160 where there there will be a handful of guys left. 517 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,640 Again, the camps that visits, those kind of are big things 518 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,360 that you have to look at. So look at more 2026 guys kind 519 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,200 of scheduling visits, getting on campus. 520 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,200 A lot of those guys already have visits scheduled. 521 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,080 A lot of them are kind of waiting for a visit here or two 522 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,600 where Indiana football have a lot of guys in June, July come 523 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,640 and visit. And then you've got 2027 that'll 524 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,320 kind of take shape, that'll get kind of pushed towards the 525 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,040 rearview mirror kind of the back seat come June. 526 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,520 So June, July, keep an eye out on those months for kind of the 527 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,080 2020 sixth class because you've got all those camps, whether 528 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,920 it's a big man camp, offensive line, whatnot and stuff like 529 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:52,480 that. Guys will be getting down to 530 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,920 campus June, July. Those are the hot months once 531 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,560 that twenty 26th class kind of ramps back up. 532 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,840 Let's switch gears and talk basketball. 533 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,200 As you know, Darren Devries got hired and then it felt like we 534 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,000 were in a waiting game and there were jokes about are they going 535 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,960 to have enough people to put on the roster or you know, what's 536 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,080 going to happen. Then they fill the roster over 537 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,640 about a 3 1/2 week period with a ton of transfers. 538 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:19,680 Then everything kind of slows down. 539 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,840 Then the coaching staff finally gets announced and you know, we 540 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,400 find out you got Kenny Johnson coming in. 541 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,080 You pull in a new assistant coach who you know was a 542 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,760 recruiter at Tennessee. You've got Drew Adams who comes 543 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,200 in. And then all of a sudden the the 544 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,960 offers start flying. And man, it's been hard to keep 545 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,920 track, Zach, as we're not only getting offers, we're starting 546 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,960 to get visits scheduled. What stuck out to you on the 547 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,400 basketball front in terms of both, like where the commits are 548 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,760 coming from and what types of players Darren Devries and his 549 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:53,400 staff seem to be trying to go after? 550 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,440 Well, Galen, I think it's really clear that positional 551 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,000 versatility, the kind of ability to play multiple different 552 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,680 positions, do multiple different things on a basketball court is 553 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,520 really the headliner for Darren Devries and his staff. 554 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,600 You look at the transfer portal commitments, there is plenty of 555 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,800 positional versatility there. I mean, there's not a guy taller 556 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,120 than 6 foot 8 on. I know that's been talked about 557 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,840 at great length, whether that's a good idea or not, but that's a 558 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,360 conversation for another day. But you've got plenty of 559 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,080 versatility. You've got guards that are 6 560 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:21,480 foot 6. You've got guards that are 6 561 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:22,960 foot three. You've got wings that can handle 562 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:24,800 the ball. You've got plenty of guys that 563 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,120 can shoot, and that's just the transfer portal class alone. 564 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:30,520 You look at the kind of high school guys that Indiana has 565 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:35,120 kind of begun to offer and trying to schedule visits, it's 566 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:36,760 again more positional versatility. 567 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,400 There's guys that are guards, but they can shoot, they can 568 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,920 play off the ball. There's forwards that are 6869, 569 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,160 they can drive, they can space the floor a little bit. 570 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,440 You know, it's all about positional versatility. 571 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,960 That's kind of been the name of the game when we've seen that 572 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,400 with the guys at Indiana brought in not only in the transfer 573 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,880 portal, but also the guys at NDA has watched this past weekend in 574 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,680 the first live period in session 2 for both EYBL and Adidas. 575 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,520 Three SSB versatility. That's the name of the game. 576 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:06,440 Versatility shooting as well. You guys, Indiana wants shooters 577 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:07,960 as well. That's kind of been a common 578 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,000 theme, but positional versatility shooting not only in 579 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,120 the transfer portal, but also in the recruiting class. 580 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,280 That's been the name of the game so far for Darren to reason the 581 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:19,280 staff. Let's kind of break down a 582 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,520 little bit what each of these assistant coaches is bringing to 583 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,040 the table right now. Let's start with Drew Adams. 584 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,640 We heard from Drew Adams. If anybody watched that, the 585 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,560 players Perspective podcast that Hoosiers connected. 586 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,120 Sydney Parrish interviewed Coach Adams last week. 587 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:37,440 I think it was. And you know, obviously Drew 588 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,880 Adams not not a a new name to people around Bloomington. 589 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:42,760 If you've been around long enough, he's been at Cincinnati 590 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:46,360 here recently. I mean, overall thoughts on what 591 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,720 he's bringing to the table in terms of his recruiting like 592 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,520 Umbrella I guess and and what you would expect to see in terms 593 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,880 of the types of recruits that that he's going after? 594 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,040 Yeah. I mean, Drew Adams, his kind of 595 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,440 recruiting specification, his expertise, I guess you could 596 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,800 call it, is Indiana Elite. It's the state of Indiana. 597 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,480 He was a coach, he worked with Indiana Elite. 598 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,640 He's really close with that Indiana Elite program and let's 599 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,280 just say Galen, that is not a bad program to be close with 600 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,120 that. There's plenty of highly touted 601 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,920 guys that come out of that program year in and year out. 602 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,160 Plenty of highly talented guys on 2026 and 2027 classes that 603 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,680 put on phenomenal shows this past weekend. 604 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,000 Indiana, Drew Adams specifically, but Darren 605 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,640 Devries, Rod Clark, Kenny Johnson, those types of guys. 606 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,720 They were watching those Indiana Elite teams. 607 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,160 They were in Iowa on the three SSB circuit. 608 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,200 So Drew Adams, Darren Devries, they got a good look at those 609 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,480 guys. Some of those guys like Jason 610 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,600 Gardner, junior from Fisher Scoopers, Zachary Anthony 611 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,320 Thompson is one of the top ranked players in the 2020 sixth 612 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,560 class. He plays for Indiana Elite too. 613 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,560 And what's curious about Indiana Elite? 614 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,400 It's not just Indiana guys, it's kind of Midwest guys. 615 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,400 I mean, you mentioned Anthony Thompson, he's from Western 616 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,280 Reserve, Ohio. I mean, that's not a guy from 617 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,480 Indiana. But again, that Indiana Elite 618 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,880 connection, the state of Indiana as a whole, even Cincinnati a 619 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,400 little bit, we saw that Drew Adams almost got Flori Badunga 620 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,640 to commit to Cincinnati before ultimately committed to Kansas. 621 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,000 So those connections plentiful for Drew Adams, not only just in 622 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,400 the state of Indiana, more specifically though with Indiana 623 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,720 Elite, which is a fantastic AAU program. 624 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,560 You also, of course, a new name in the mix, Rod Clark, the 625 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:30,440 former Tennessee assistant. This is kind of a different type 626 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,400 of coach than what we've seen Indiana higher in in past 627 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,720 cycles, but certainly brings a lot to the table as well. 628 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,880 What where is where is Rod Clark's kind of locus of control 629 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,480 from a recruiting perspective? It's interesting. 630 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,040 He doesn't necessarily have an expertise. 631 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,280 Now obviously he came over from Tennessee, so he came over from 632 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,000 Tennessee. So he's got plenty of 633 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,240 connections with kind of the Tennessee area, but he's much 634 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,400 more of a national guy. He's Simply put, just a great 635 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,040 recruiter. I was talking to one of the 636 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,120 Tennessee Rivals guys after Rod Clark got hired. 637 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,200 I was like, hey, give me the rundown of what Rod Clark brings 638 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:06,600 to the table from a recruiting standpoint. 639 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,160 And he just, the word he just kept on repeating was elite. 640 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,080 He's just an elite recruiter. Almost got Nate Ahmed, who's one 641 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,880 of the top guys in the 2025 class to commit to Tennessee. 642 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,680 And he's got plenty of guys, whether it's Dalton Connect who 643 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,400 helped get via the transfer portal, Kennedy Chandler. 644 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,600 I mean, these are guys that were developing and Rod Clark helped 645 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,280 to get them to where they were to to Tennessee. 646 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:31,040 And so I think that's the biggest thing. 647 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:35,480 Rod Clark, he's got kind of, again, you go back to Kirsten, 648 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,400 he's got the aura, he's got the RIZ people in the recruiting 649 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,960 game, people around the country, not just in the Midwest, not 650 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,560 just in Tennessee, not just around Indiana, but as far to 651 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,000 the West Coast, to the East Coast as well. 652 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,200 They know who Rod Clark is. He's got a reputation for being 653 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,480 an elite recruiter. Now, it's not necessarily just 654 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,040 in one place. Now, if we do look at somebody 655 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,840 who Indiana offered earlier today, Trey Thompson, he's from 656 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,840 Tennessee and Rod Clark work I know is leading the way kind of 657 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,560 on that recruiting front. That's a new offer for Indiana. 658 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,120 But Rod Clark's kind of leading the way there because he is from 659 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,280 Tennessee. He's known Thompson for about 660 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,600 around a year and a half now since he was recruiting him to 661 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,440 Tennessee, but not necessarily any regional expertise, kind of 662 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,600 just an all around dog. I would I would describe Rod 663 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,520 Clark as he's he's an elite recruiter. 664 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:21,680 He does it around the country. He's people clamor for Indiana 665 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,080 to land those kind of five stars, those top 10 recruits. 666 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,320 That's Rod, that's Rod Clark. That's what he does. 667 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,120 And then we've got Kenny Johnson, who if you've been 668 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,080 around IU basketball at all, you're very familiar. 669 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,080 Kenny Johnson brings the DMV with him. 670 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,600 And this is where I, I think the immediate impact of, of any of 671 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,480 these hires, like it feels like it was the most pronounced as 672 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,840 there were a ton of DMV related offers. 673 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,160 And now a couple of visits that that we've seen come out of 674 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,720 this. And yeah, this is, this is a 675 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,200 coach that we're familiar with. We've seen what you can do 676 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,200 already with IU recruiting in this area. 677 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,160 And it looks like he's picked right back up where he left off 678 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,840 and then some, frankly. Yeah, and Kenny Johnson, he 679 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:03,880 should likely excel in the NIL era. 680 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,920 I know the last time he was in Bloomington, there was some 681 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,400 things that he wasn't necessarily allowed to do in the 682 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,680 recruiting front. But I mean, he can go out, shell 683 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,320 out the money, kind of do that kind of stuff now. 684 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,080 And you mentioned the DMV era and area. 685 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,160 And it's not only that, he kind of has that kind of northeast 686 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,160 area, a little bit further and north than just the DMV because 687 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,440 he was at Georgetown. So he's kind of reached into the 688 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,240 New York, New Jersey, that kind of area as well. 689 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,640 But Kenny Johnson, again, very well respected. 690 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,600 He's as much of an expert on the DMV as a guy like Drew Adams is 691 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,440 with Indiana Elite in those types of programs and the DMVI 692 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:38,680 mean you think about Victor Oladipo, you think about those 693 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,880 types of guys in the 2026 class. There's a handful of guys from 694 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,480 the DMV from that Maryland era area. 695 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,960 And so it'll be interesting to see because you've kind of got 696 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,400 two kind of new entrances to that DMV area. 697 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,960 Obviously, you've got Kenny Johnson is now with Indiana. 698 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,200 He is one of the top recruiters in that area. 699 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,960 Now Buzz Williams with Maryland, he's going to have to try and 700 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:00,680 battle it out. So it'll be interesting to see. 701 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,120 Indiana obviously has some recent, historic recent 702 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,440 recruiting battles with Maryland Derrick Queen, but we'll see if 703 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,199 Kenny Johnson can kind of help out in that situation because as 704 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:14,239 you mentioned, he's got the DMV and he's kind of been active. 705 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,000 He was the guy that I believe actually offered Trey Thompson. 706 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,159 If we're talking about recent recruits, he was the guy on a 707 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:21,400 phone call that actually offered Trey Thompson. 708 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,560 So it's not to say we talked about True Adams of Indiana 709 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:25,760 Elite. You talk about Rod Clark 710 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,080 nationally and Kenny Johnson and the DMV. 711 00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:30,679 They're strictly held into those areas. 712 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:33,560 They're they're going to spread out and do more than just that 713 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,480 one specific area. But if there is an area of 714 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,920 expertise, obviously with Kenny Johnson, it's there. 715 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,040 When you get into the three players we've seen so far that 716 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,840 have scheduled visits for June of this year, I think you can. 717 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,520 They've got Kenny Johnson fingerprints on them. 718 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,440 You got latrell Ullman, who's the highest rated of the three 719 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,840 players that are visiting. I think it's what, 40th or 41st 720 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,440 in this upcoming class? And he's from Richmond, which is 721 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:01,000 of course, in that's the V part of the DMV of you've got Sammy 722 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,000 Jackson coming in. And then you've also got Prince 723 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,440 Alexander Moody, who we've heard. 724 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,040 And again, as you say, kind of provisional versatility. 725 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,080 All those guys are between 6 four and six eight. 726 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,760 You'll, you'll probably see some other ones pop up here as well. 727 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:18,160 Are you surprised that we've seen this much action this 728 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:19,720 quickly? I mean, you kind of have to do 729 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:23,120 this in this era, but it does feel like we went from no news 730 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,120 to a ton of things happening all at once with basketball 731 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,600 recruiting. I mean, that's kind of how it 732 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,480 works just with the calendar of the high school basketball 733 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:32,840 recording. Obviously this was the first 734 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,080 live period session this past weekend, So really the first 735 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,560 time that Darren De Vries, the coaching staff has been able to 736 00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:40,680 go out and kind of see guys in person. 737 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,600 Obviously there were some guys that when you bring in bring in 738 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,400 a completely new staff, you've got guys from all around the 739 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,200 country, Kenny, John, all those types of guys. 740 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,600 They're going to kind of bring some offers with them. 741 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,280 You kind of see that with some guys like a literal Allman like 742 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,520 Sammy Jackson, Prince, Alexander Moody. 743 00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:58,040 Those are kind of guys that Kenny Johnson had been 744 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,880 recruiting and I was continuing to recruit elsewhere. 745 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,200 Rod Clark's the same way with a guy like Trey Thompson. 746 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,120 So you've kind of seen that carry over. 747 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,280 And so no, it's not necessarily surprising. 748 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,000 It's just Indiana, it's weird, they're kind of playing with a 749 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,680 different type of hand because they haven't been on the ground, 750 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:15,000 they haven't been kind of doing this. 751 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,080 I mean, Darren Devries hasn't been recruiting any of these 752 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,160 guys to Indiana. I mean, if you had that 2025 753 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,160 class at West Virginia, those guys are all now gone. 754 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,000 But now he's got to shift gears completely and try and figure 755 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,040 out a class in 2026 for Indiana. But we've seen Indiana be 756 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:29,880 aggressive. We've obviously talked about the 757 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,200 positional versatility, I think being aggressive. 758 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:36,080 And I think what Darren Devries has done is he's shown how 759 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,800 active he can be on the recruiting trail and how active 760 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,120 he's was willing to be. Obviously that was one of Mike 761 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,240 Woodson's things that he didn't necessarily please Indiana 762 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,800 basketball fans with was maybe how inactive sometimes he was on 763 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,280 the recruiting show. I know here at the hoosier.com, 764 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,800 we talked to Trey Thompson earlier, that guy that the kid 765 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,080 that got the Indiana offer this morning, he said that Darren De 766 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:57,840 Rees actually texted him over the weekend. 767 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,080 They they watched him play on the Adidas three SSB circuit. 768 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,040 And then he got that text from Darren De Rees. 769 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,000 I believe his exact quote was somewhere along the lines of if 770 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,240 the head coach was texting you, you've done something right or 771 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:09,880 that's pretty special, something like that. 772 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,920 So I think the ability and the willingness to show that he can 773 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:14,400 go above and beyond. I mean, even in the transfer 774 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,960 portal, you go back to Lamar Wilkerson, Wilkerson said that 775 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:20,000 he flew on the plane Darren of Reese did to go meet with him. 776 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,520 So he's shown that he's. Might have been in the room 777 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:25,080 while he was zooming with field of 68. 778 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:26,400 It's possible, right? Yeah. 779 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,680 So, yeah, I mean, Darren, the reason sown his willingness to 780 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,800 go that extra mile, go extra far and beyond. 781 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,080 And I think that will stand out when you look at some of these 782 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:36,880 goods because like we talked about with the football side, 783 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,320 you're not just recruiting the kid, you're recruiting kind of 784 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,040 the high school coach, the AAU coach and the parents as well. 785 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:43,960 Yeah. I mean, it makes a big 786 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,640 difference. And we talked about this, well, 787 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,000 many of us talked about it over the last couple of years, like 788 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,480 you just, you can't leave recruiting to your assistance 789 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,440 and you really need active assistance as well as having an 790 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,200 active head coach. Like it's not an either or. 791 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,120 And you mentioned like Indiana is playing catch up with this 792 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,060 class 'cause you know, for a lot of these guys, there's been in 793 00:38:02,060 --> 00:38:06,080 depth conversations and, and interactions and, you know, 794 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,640 attempts at getting guys to commit for a couple years now. 795 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,880 I mean, who was it? Tony Bryant is a good example of 796 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:13,720 that. Like he was offered by Tennessee 797 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:15,800 by Rod Clark while he was at Tennessee. 798 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:17,640 And then now Indiana's jumping in. 799 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,160 That'll be a tough one to make up ground on just cause of how 800 00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:23,600 how coveted he is as a recruit. But those are the kinds of 801 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,800 things where you're almost going to need a two year cycle with 802 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:30,000 basketball, much like we saw with football where you only you 803 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,640 had to go through a full season to really start to make inroads 804 00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:36,160 on the recruiting trail with the guys that you want. 805 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,640 And you got to paper it over a little bit with Portal or you 806 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,040 got to find a couple of guys who are willing to take a crack on 807 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,400 you because you've got more playing time. 808 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:44,960 And that's one of the things I think it's going to be really 809 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:48,640 fascinating with this class for Indiana basketball is they 810 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:52,160 purposefully went after a lot of veteran Portal guys, guys that 811 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,720 have only got one year. They don't have a ton 812 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:59,640 necessarily like left in the tank for the following season. 813 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,120 You may get a guy here or there who decides to stick around for 814 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:04,640 whatever reason. You're obviously going to have 815 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,080 more portal signings, but that's going to have to be attractive 816 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,880 to some of these top rated players in this next class 817 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,280 because there's going to be a lot of playing time and you're 818 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,280 going to be playing in the Big 10 of the team that people are 819 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,720 going to be paying attention to. Yeah, I think that was something 820 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:21,800 that Latrelle Allman specifically noted when I talked 821 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,760 to him after he got that offer and then eventually scheduled an 822 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,200 Indiana visit. He said there's just so much 823 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,920 opportunity to go to Indiana and be a household name. 824 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,120 And I think despite kind of the lack of recent success for 825 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,400 Indiana, there's still just kind of something about Indiana. 826 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:39,240 These kids, they grew up, they know about it. 827 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:42,840 They know what you can become at Indiana, the type of folk hero 828 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:46,760 you can become if you come to Indiana and you produce in that 829 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:48,080 type of way. And it is, it's interesting 830 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,280 because this is almost, you mentioned that we, we mentioned 831 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,480 Indiana's kind of playing behind in this recruiting class. 832 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,120 It's almost kind of like a transfer portal type of 833 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:57,800 recruitment strategy for Indiana. 834 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,280 It's kind of short expedited process and he has to go, you 835 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,000 know, go quickly. Typically think of the high 836 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,080 school recruitments and that's years over years. 837 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,920 But this is just one year. Indiana really only has a couple 838 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:10,360 of months before a lot of these guys decide to commit, probably 839 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,480 prior to the start of the high school basketball season. 840 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:13,960 And it's also interesting because. 841 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,520 When you look at the transfer portal class, there's I mean the 842 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,240 Tucker Devries, the Reed Bailey, there's some top tier elite 843 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,320 transfer portal pickups. But Indiana kind of went a lot 844 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,800 with that kind of under the radar guy, the guy that maybe 845 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,240 necessarily isn't the four or five star transfer, isn't a top 846 00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:34,320 100 transfer but fits into that Daren debris system. 847 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,920 But you've kind of seen that not shift, but be different on the 848 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,080 recruiting front and far. The high schoolers are concerned 849 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:41,680 because Indiana's shooting for the stars. 850 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,120 There's pretty much every guy that Indiana's offered. 851 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,560 There's a couple of guys outside the top 100, but most of them 852 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,440 are four or five star guys. Most of them are top 50 guys, 853 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,680 some even in the top ten in their respective recruiting 854 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,400 classes. So Indiana not necessarily 855 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,440 waiting to go with those lower end guys and kind of the Purdue 856 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,880 strategy where you get those two three stars and you kind of 857 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,760 build out the roster like that. Indiana, Darren Devries, they're 858 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,720 kind of shooting for those upper echelon guys, but they're upper 859 00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,280 echelon guys that still fit that mold of positional versatility 860 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:12,480 of shooting. So we'll see if Devries and how 861 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:14,440 many of these guys he can actually land. 862 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:16,240 Yeah, it's going to be interesting. 863 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,720 And look, this is in this era, basketball works so much 864 00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:22,000 differently than football in terms of the way that you accrue 865 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,120 talent and who you can put on the floor. 866 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:28,080 It's a less there's a lot less long tailed development in most 867 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,880 cases with guys. And I think you see this like 868 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:36,800 Dusty May took a year at Michigan and it wasn't like he 869 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,280 blew the doors off the joint with the recruiting class for 870 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,520 2025. I mean, they've got a, you know 871 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,440 what, a pair of four stars and and I think an unrated recruit. 872 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:49,080 And then they've got a bunch of guys that are transfers. 873 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:51,640 They're really good transfers, though, maybe the best transfer 874 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:55,600 class in the whole portal. But you can you can cobble 875 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:57,920 things together across both. And I think what we've talked 876 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:01,720 about one of the big debates in IU basketball circles was what 877 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:03,280 do you even need to worry about recruiting? 878 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:07,080 Clearly you do, you know, I don't think it's something you 879 00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:09,360 can just say we're just going to go in the portal and that's it. 880 00:42:09,720 --> 00:42:13,160 But I use in this unique spot right now where they have a 881 00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,520 couple of really, well, they have three like really good 882 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:20,040 recruiters, like among the best recruiters, you know, in college 883 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:21,640 basketball. They're going to be doing a lot 884 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:25,200 of work on that front. And as we've talked about on 885 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:29,480 this show before, it's not necessarily about who you get to 886 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:33,520 commit and come as a freshman. It's about what relationships 887 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,120 can you build with the guys. So if they go somewhere and it's 888 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,280 not actually what they thought it was going to be, or you 889 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,280 suddenly have a spot open for them to be a starter when 890 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:44,320 they're a sophomore or junior and they want to transfer, well, 891 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,640 now you've got that relationship that you've built up as opposed 892 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:48,040 to having to start it from scratch. 893 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:52,120 I mean, how many times have we seen a guy that was recruited by 894 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,080 a team in high school, went somewhere else and then ends up 895 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:56,360 there at the transfer portal? I mean, it happens so much. 896 00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:59,200 You definitely in this day and age of recruiting, you cannot 897 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,160 burn any bridges as a as a head coach or as an assistant coach. 898 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,120 You have to be able to keep and maintain those connections. 899 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:07,680 I think that's also a big part of it. 900 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:12,120 Gone are the days of 5-6 plus player recruiting classes from 901 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:14,600 the high school ranks. You're not looking to Indiana's 902 00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:18,000 cast a decently wide net. There's around 10 to 15 offers 903 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:20,160 that have gone out in the last month for Indiana. 904 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,680 The 2020 sixth class alone, you're not looking to land all 905 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,880 those guys. There's no need to bat 1000. 906 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,520 If you get two or three of those guys, I'd say you're pretty 907 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:29,440 happy with that type of recruiting class. 908 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:33,960 The, The only schools in the Big 10 that signed more than three 909 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:38,160 players in their recruiting class for 2025 are Washington, 910 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,920 Penn State, Rutgers, Northwestern. 911 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,400 And I think, well, I guess Illinois is in there too. 912 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,560 Other than Illinois, I think you could look at all of those teams 913 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,120 and say those are teams that are in trouble right now in the Big 914 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,600 10 in terms of trying to figure out where they fit and how 915 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,360 they're going to land people. And they're also, I think all 916 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,440 four of those teams are teams that don't have much of an NIL 917 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:00,280 budget. So they have to go to the high 918 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,280 school ranks. Whereas Indiana has the benefit 919 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:05,680 right now of of having money to play with in the NIL portal 920 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,320 while also having money to play with when it comes to straight 921 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,600 up recruiting. And of course, you throw 922 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,400 Illinois in there, but half of those commits, two of those four 923 00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,400 are international guys. So they kind of do it a little 924 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:17,480 bit differently. Brad Underwood likes to reach 925 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:18,840 into that international kind of pool. 926 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,120 But you bring up Dusty May. I mean, if you look at Indiana's 927 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:24,760 class again, it'll just like in football, it's right behind 928 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,560 Dusty Mays, the 2025 class. Francisi is a fantastic player. 929 00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:31,400 He'll be great for Indiana, maybe not near 1, but eventually 930 00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:34,800 throughout his Indiana career. And you look at it, I mean, even 931 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:39,080 the top teams, I mean Purdue doesn't have a great ranked 2025 932 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,040 class. I mean, they have the 14th 933 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,480 ranked class in the Big 10 for 2025. 934 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:45,800 But again, it's not necessarily about the stars. 935 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:48,440 That's where kind of basketball and football are different 936 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:52,920 because you can get a three star guy that's 6 foot 8 and 220 lbs 937 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:55,560 and is that an athletic guy? But you can't necessarily get 938 00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:57,880 that three star that's going to be a behemoth on the offensive 939 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,240 line in football. So the stars, they don't matter 940 00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:04,240 as much for basketball, I would say, as they do in football. 941 00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:06,560 Of course, first, you still want that top and talent, That top 942 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:08,480 and talent. We saw it Duke did this past 943 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,040 season with kind of that freshman class, those of those 944 00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,360 top end guys. But there's multiple ways to do 945 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:14,960 it in basketball. We've already seen Darren De 946 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,360 Breeze has had the ability, not just here at IU but with West 947 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,480 Virginia too, to kind of build his teams through the transfer 948 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:22,320 portal. But it'll be interesting to see 949 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,240 how he balances both moving forward and kind of what an 950 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:28,800 ideal high school recruiting class quantity wise looks like 951 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,880 for him moving forward. Zac Brown and great stuff. 952 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,000 Really appreciate you sharing your insights. 953 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,360 And if you want to catch Zach, he's got his Twitter feed up or 954 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,160 his X feed up in the the floor. The video here. 955 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,760 But if you are listening instead of watching, it's at Zach with 956 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:48,680 an H Browning 17. You can catch his work the 957 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:53,240 Hoosier on on three. I highly recommend it and Zach 958 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:56,480 enjoy the rest of the summer. Hopefully we'll talk again as we 959 00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,440 get some more recruits committing or or what not. 960 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,000 It should be a a wild ride for both football and basketball 961 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,440 this summer. Absolutely, Galen. 962 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,120 Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it. 963 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:08,400 Absolutely. All right, thanks to all you 964 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,480 folks for tuning in. This is Crimson cast once again. 965 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,840 We'll be back with a lot more podcast coverage later on this 966 00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,800 week, so be sure to stay tuned. Subscribe on the YouTube 967 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:17,600 channel. Hit us up on 968 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:20,840 substackcrimsoncast@substack.com. Our thanks to our presenting 969 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,000 sponsor, Home Field Apparel. We will catch you folks on the 970 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,560 flip side. Stay never daunted, bring back 971 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:28,240 the Bison. Hope you check out the new video 972 00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:29,320 today. We'll catch you folks on the 973 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:34,080 flip side. So everybody, I think I said 974 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,160 catch you on the flips of like 3 * I apologize YouTube audience 975 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:37,400 for that.