Iowa director of recruiting Tyler Barnes spent a few minutes with us on Signing Day to discuss the addition of a new punter to the Hawkeye program and how they found him. He also gives us the back story on graduate transfer Coy Cronk and how recruiting has changed over the years.

Q: How does the process of finding a punter work?

BARNES: I’m sure you have heard of Pro Kick Australia and I would guess that 99% of the Australian punters come from those guys and they do a really good job. If you look at the Ray Guy Award finalists and semifinalist the last seven or eight years, they are filled with guys that have come though there. They have video up about their guys and they try to find the right fit and match personalities of those schools with their guys.

We have known about Tory for a while and Coach Woods was able to get down there during the contact period and see him and meet him and his family. Having Sleep-Dalton here last year and him having success certainly helped us and I think they know each other a little bit. It’s hard to argue with the results that they have produced and level of prospects they have had in their program. It will be good to get him on campus and have him transition from Australian football to American football.

Q: Coach Ferentz mentioned Coy Cronk and how you had a relationship with him. How did that help you guys get him as a graduate transfer?

BARNES: I can’t remember where I was driving, but Coach Ferentz sent me a text and asked if I knew anything about Coy and I said yeah, he broke my heart when I was at Vanderbilt. I was fortunate enough to have a pretty good relationship with him and his parents. He was in the portal for about 24 hours at that point, so I told him to let me get in touch with his dad. Then it worked from there, so it might have had a little bit to do with why he is here.

More than anything, I think it had to do with the offensive line tradition at Iowa. I think that was the biggest selling point with Coy. It will be good to have him here. One thing Coach Ferentz says is that whether you get a recruit or not, you always leave things in good standing with a thank you note and it might end up coming back to you with the way the transfer portal works.

Q: What kind of feedback have you gotten from LeVar on the punter?

BARNES: I will let him dive into the specifics. He has done a great job with the special teams the last few years and he knows what he’s looking for. They are doing something right down there with their training program. Taylor is 22, so he’s not 27 like Sleep-Dalton. He’s a mature kid who has been training for this for a while.

Q: You guys are off to another pretty quick start in recruiting with the 2021 class. Do you know how big it will be and how do you feel about it so far?

BARNES: We feel great. The numbers are always fluid. They always change during the spring and summer. We have an idea, but nothing concrete. We keep going about our process and identifying our type of guys and getting them on campus and in front of our coaches.

Q: It seems like everything is basically done as far as recruiting in December. How do you feel about that?

BARNES: It’s different. I think the biggest thing is what I said in December, we have to stay true to our process. A lot of kids are offering a lot of kids and maybe trying to force their hands, but we do a good job of being up front honest with kids, parents, and high school coaches about how we operate and what we intend to do. I think when there is a level of communication that our coaches are able to have with those kids it helps. Certainly there are offers going out to kids earlier and earlier, but we are fortunate to have 21 years of history here with Coach Ferentz, Coach Doyle, and Coach Parker and others on our staff and we have certain areas and regions that we can rely upon. We are not having to reinvent our culture and we stay true to our process and that is the most important thing.

Q: Has the December signing period kind of taken away most of the drama around signing day?

BARNES: I don’t know if I would go that far. We always want an uneventful signing day. We are not a put a hat on the table and pick one type of school. It’s certainly not as drama filled as it once was and it has certainly changed, but there are new challenges like getting ahead on the next class. Also there’s signing during bowl prep, so that’s hard on the coaches with everything that goes into that. You learn and adapt with each class and make changes.

Q: Was Craig a recruit for Kelvin Bell?

BARNES: He was. He knew Tyrone Tracy and his family pretty well from AAU basketball and if you get a recommendation from the Tracy family it goes a long way for us. He goes to a military academy and is kind of wise beyond his years. He’s very mature, wise beyond his years, and a very good football and basketball player. Coach Bell is, we call him the king of Indiana and he does a really good job over there. He knew a long time about him and we probably waited too long to offer him because he had a lot of places to pick. But, Coach Bell was honest with them and I think the relationship that he built with him and his family early on was a huge part of why we got him.

Q: Coach Ferentz was asked if he was a guy who would play in his first year?

BARNES: I will let you guys and the coaches figure that out. I let you guys write those articles. (laugh) I can give you my predictions after they graduate.

Q: Are you the main person going into the portal? Do you know what you are looking for there?

BARNES: We don’t swim real deep in those waters, but we are starting to be aware of who is in there. We have our staff keep an eye on it and stay aware of who is in there and they compile a list daily. Then we have some guys who supplement their information and sift through it. That is just a different type of recruiting, even with Coy, he was a Big Ten football player so he didn’t need all the flashy stuff. It was almost a business decision for him. The biggest thing is finding guys who fit into our locker room and the culture here.

Q: Has the process just sped up almost too much with guys from the 2023 class already getting offered?

BARNES: I don’t see us offer too many of those guys. There is always some unknown, but we have to just stick to our process and being diligent about it. You have to do your homework and ask the right questions so you can know as much as you can. The tough part is you get these guys on campus and you want to learn as much as you can, so you try to get them here as much as you can to get our staff in front of their family. It’s getting tougher, but we have been able to stay diligent and steady with our process and make sure we are finding the right guys.

Q: Does that help you guys because you don’t have as many de-commitments?

BARNES: I think so. We don’t pressure kids. We encourage them to go see places and see what you feel you need to see. Hopefully you see those places and decide that Iowa is the place you want to be. If not, that’s fine. When we offer you, it means we want you.

Q: Is it nice to get the classes basically done early on?

BARNES: Sure. As long as they do well in their senior year. (laugh) It is nice. The calendar has sped up and you don’t want to get to the end and shop hungry because if you are taking guys that you don’t know a whole lot about it can be pretty scary. At the same time we have had some pretty good football players that we have taken late. We talk about it all the time, if you know everything you think you need to know about a kid and you have seen everything you need to see and you know their family, you feel good about taking them early. Then you can kind of shift to the next class, but you are also still recruiting other guys in case something happens.

Q: Has it changed how you view college football? You kind of know how most teams were built and how they get their guys?

BARNES: We had some of our recruiting interns did down with us this year and had them go through their entire two deep of a team we were playing and re-write their recruiting profiles, like offers they had, honors they achieved, and then look at that. We look to see if we can learn something from that. A lot of the kids were on our board at one point. We look at it differently, probably like coaches do. It’s always a little different when you look at them and say why didn’t we offer that guy in high school or like Coy, who broke my heart at Vanderbilt. It’s fun to keep track of if you are a recruiting nerd like I am.