It was an interesting year in the world of Iowa recruiting with several twists and turns along the way as is usually the case it seems. In our feature on the top ten recruiting stories in 2012 for the Hawkeyes, we take a look at how the classes came together this past year, a couple of surprises on signing day, the focus on early commits, and much more.

Early recruiting success

Nationally, it seems like the whole recruiting timetable gets moved up a little bit each year, but for the Hawkeyes it took a giant leap forward in 2012. By mid-July, the Iowa coaching staff had 16 verbal commitments in the Class of 2013. The previous high, according to our records, was nine which happened two years ago and this year they nearly doubled it. In a class that was expected to only be in the upper teens, much of the groundwork had already been laid before the start of August.

Two big decommits

With so many recruits deciding early in the process, there are bound to be more decommitments and Iowa was not immune to it this year. The Hawkeyes were hit hard, losing their top two ranked recruits in David Kenney, who switched to Indiana in October, and Delano Hill, who switched to Michigan in December. In both cases, it was a move to the home state school for the two players. Kenney, a defensive end, and Hill, a free safety, were not only highly ranked, but also played at key positions for the Hawkeyes, who are still searching for their replacements in the recruiting class.


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