[Bumped. And Bucket, man, whenever you're running low on a word count, quote liberally. come on, did college teach you nothing?!--OPS]

Someone posted this on one of the other Hawkeye-related sites, and I thought it would be good to share here.  Nothing really new or revealing, just a nice little interview.

Enjoy.

Here's a great question and response about Erik Campbell:

DNS: How has wide receiver coach Erik Campbell influenced or impacted your game?

DJK: (He has been a) major, major influence. I can’t even put it into words. He’s basically taken over my entire life as a football player, a student, a role model to others, and being a good citizen. He’s always preaching to me, if you live well and do well as a student, then you will play well. There are so many examples of that from this last year, and it all goes hand-in-hand with what he says. Not to mention the guy has proved it all the way across the board. He’s one person I can honestly say wants to see me do well. He’s one of the best things to ever happen to me. I’m just embracing the opportunity, and feel blessed to be able to work with him.

[Bumped. Goddammit.--OPS]

(from KCJJ-AM) 

Hawkeye Arrested in Road Rage Incident

Lang

3-20-09

An Iowa football player has been arrested after his alleged involvement in a road rage incident earlier this year.

Starting defensive end Adrian Jarrell Clayborn is accused of assaulting a cab driver just before 2am on January 20th. He turned himself in at Iowa City Police headquarters just after 2:45 Friday morning. 

According to Iowa City Police, Clayborn was stuck in a traffic jam near the corner of Bowery and South Johnson Streets when the cab driver honked at Clayborn, leading him to exit his vehicle and confront the man. The 20-year-old St. Louis native then reached in the driver’s side window and struck the man in the face, causing minor injuries. The attack finally stopped when Clayborn’s friend dragged him back to his vehicle.

Clayborn, whose listed address is on East Washington Street, is charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury, a Serious Misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,500 fine.

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Ok, seriously, road rage?  In Iowa fucking City?  Is there really even enough traffic there to become legitimately jammed?  I could see if he were maybe from like, Quasqueton or some such tiny place and was freaking out at all that "city traffic," but he's from St. Louis!  An actual major-ish metropolitan area with horrible traffic!  WTF???

ISU football to hold open tryouts.

http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/50353-isu-holding-football-tryouts.html

The official press release is here:  http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=3669319

AMES, Iowa – Current ISU students interested in trying out for the Cyclone football team can meet with the football staff about that opportunity at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Hunziker Auditorium of the Jacobson Athletic Building. Each individual must bring a copy of their current physical and insurance card.

I'm not sure if I've reached the required length for this post yet, so just let me conclude by saying HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It will be 15 years next month since Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer.

He was 32.

Thank you, Bill, for everything. It's all just a ride...

The World is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round, and it has thrills and chills and is very brightly colored, and it's very loud. And it's fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they've begun to question, 'Is this real, or is this just a ride?', and other people have remembered, and they've come back to us and they say 'Hey, don't worry. Don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.' and we KILL THOSE PEOPLE.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, but just haven't gotten around to posting it...

While ZK is routinely hailed as a terrific recruiter, and indeed, one of the best there is, I would argue that in reality he is not a great recruiter at all.  Good-ish, maybe, but he's by no means the wizard he's made out to be.

It is indisputable that he is a great evaluator of talent and an excellent salesman.  But if he were truly a great recruiter, he'd get kids who were 4 & 5-star athletes who also fit into his system, are coachable (i.e., can be made even better), and most importantly, who maximize the potential for winning seasons on a regular basis and who can/will turn Illinois into a perennial powerhouse (as opposed to a competitive-ish team with the occasional flash of brilliance). 
It was the same at Florida.  He could lure great talent and sell said talent on the program (although with Florida's pedigree it probably didn't take all that much salesmanship), but the on-the-field results were still marginal at best.

Ron ZK is not a great recruiter.  He is merely a collector a great athletes.  He's like a vintage/antique sports car collector who doesn't know how to drive. 

By comparison, Tressel is a fantastic recruiter (the best in the B10).  For that matter, I'd argue that Ferentz is pretty goddamn good too.
ZK?  Meh, not so much.

In another Hawkeye-related corner of the webnets, Storminspank made an excellent analogy about this:  "It'd be like buying a bunch of Porsches to drive through Alaskan terrain.  While they look good and are fast, you need a Chevy truck or just an old hard working Dodge to fit your attack of plan.  If you recruit for the sake of recruiting, are you that good of a recruiter?  On paper, yes.  In practice, absolutely not."

"Recruiting for the sake of recruiting."  Exactly.

Also, is anyone else reminded of ZK when they see this guy?:



For some reason every time I watch UFO Hunters all I can think is "Holy crap!  That Ron ZK knows how to stay busy!"

Since the aISU game, there's a scene from a movie that has been playing itself over and over on a loop in my head whenever I think about the offensive anemia & impotence we've seen over the last couple seasons or so.  

That scene is from the movie "Aliens."

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