Indiana University Athletics
Even Amid a Pandemic, IU Finds Football Recruiting Edge
5/4/2020 9:15:00 AM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - How do you recruit in a pandemic?
For Indiana head coach Tom Allen and his staff, you go high tech when appropriate, low tech if you can, and always keep to these guidelines:
Follow NCAA rules.
Believe in your product.
Treat recruits and their families as if they are family – because they soon might be.
"With technology and FaceTime and Zoom and different things you can use within the rules," Allen says, "that's allowed us to build our relationships."
In normal recruiting times, relationship building comes via travel. Coaches come to homes and schools. Players visit campuses, officially and not.
But with Covid-19 restricting coaches to their homes, and IU facilities closed, face-to-face meetings are on indefinite hold.
Still, opportunity awaits those willing to find it.
Allen is.
"I feel I have actually expanded my time with recruits with the schedule we have and them being more available," he says.
Because seeing is so often believing, the video staff takes on added impact.
"Their role has been very important," Allen says. "It's probably been intensified in some ways because that's the means of communication for recruits and what we can send to them and the ability to create videos for recruiting.
"The virtual tours become a very big component. The rules have had to be adapted to the situation and modified accordingly the last few weeks to sell (recruits) on the way we can do things."
Remote or not, the competition for difference-making players remains fierce. With IU recruiting as well as it ever has (last season's 8-5 record and TaxSlayer Gator Bowl berth reflects that), keeping that edge is crucial.
"It's the fact we don't know if there will be any on-campus visits between now and the start of the season, or whenever that may be," Allen says.
Allen says he uses video technology to "simulate what the campus feels like from far away, what it feels like to be in Bloomington and show (recruits) the simple things of our facilities."
It helps to have a young, energetic, knowledgeable video staff in video director Dustin Smith and director of creative production Doug Findley, with support from senior director of recruiting Lee Wilbanks and director of player personnel and high school relations Dwike Wilson.
"Having great people in those spots has been huge," Allen says, "and our workers have done a great job and coordinate things we do for our recruits, whether it's the things we create for them from a graphic perspective or literally the on-campus simulations that we're trying to create.
"This is the time of year when we'd have a lot of unofficial visits, even official visits at times as we get into the months where we're allowed to have those, and those are not taking place.
"You've got to see (recruits). Normally you see them face-to-face. Now, we're having a Zoom meeting. Those tours that used to be face-to-face, they're now becoming virtual. Doing that is very important."
A national trend amid the pandemic is more recruits choosing schools closer to home.
"It really doesn't matter what part of the country you're dealing with," Allen says. "It's been a very consistent theme.
"I think all the unknowns about future visits or lack thereof, even just the idea of being close to home if something like this rears its ugly head again in the future. Guys have gone that route. I wouldn't say it's across the board, but it's definitely a trend."
This would be good news for IU at any time, but especially now given the projected quality of state-of-Indiana high school players graduating in 2021.
"We were fortunate," Allen says. "We had a really aggressive plan with the 2021 class and even the '22 class to get guys on campus before this all happened not knowing this was going to happen. We were just being proactive.
"We knew the 2021 class in the state of Indiana was very strong."
Remote or virtual recruiting projects are the new normal for the foreseeable future.
"There are a lot of unknowns in a lot of areas," Allen says, "and recruiting is no different. No one knows how June and July are going to play out. We have an idea and we have some projections, but no one knows for sure."
Many players commit during the summer after attending a school's camp and visiting the facilities. That might not be an option this summer.
"I think a lot of guys are going to choose to wait (to commit) if they can't take visits in the summer months until after or during the season, whenever that may be," Allen says.
"I think you get one guy saying, 'Hey, I'm going to go with what's comfortable and familiar and commit or I'm going to hold my decision off until I can see certain places.' You have to communicate with recruits and their families to see what they choose to do."
Relationship building, which is a cornerstone of recruiting, centers on good communication. IU pushes that hard, Allen says.
"We've had a tremendously effective communication system with recruits that we've been able to establish with parents working from home, players being home, doing coursework from home and working out at home. To get them on the phone and build those relationships has been a very improved area because of the accessibility that everybody has.
"That's helped us a lot because we're a relationship-driven staff. We feed off of those relationships. That's who we are. That's one of our strengths. Building those relationships on the phone when we haven't been able to be face-to-face, that's unique."
Recruiting includes grad transfers and IU recently landed a good one in former Stanford defensive lineman Jovan Swann. The 6-2, 270-pounder from Center Grove High School near Indianapolis finished second on the team with 5.5 sacks last season.
In 39 career games and 19 starts, Swann has totaled 85 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one interception, one fumble recovery and a blocked field goal. He was an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection in 2018.
Swann, a two-time all-state choice at Center Grove, has one year remaining.
"He's just such a huge addition to our team for a variety of reasons," Allen says. "He's a tremendous, high-character young man with strong leadership skills. He will help our defense."
Swann will join a solid defensive line group led by returning starters Michael Ziemba, James Head Jr., Jerome Johnson and Demarcus Elliott.
"He will make an impact right away," Allen says. "I'm very excited about his leadership. We have a very young (defensive line) room with a lot of talent. He'll have the courage and confidence to verbally lead that room.
"You can never have enough good defensive linemen in this league. He's a grown man, mature body type. He's coming in here ready to play. We really worked hard to recruit him once he made the decision to be a grad transfer. Getting an Indiana kid to come home and finish out close to family is pretty awesome."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - How do you recruit in a pandemic?
For Indiana head coach Tom Allen and his staff, you go high tech when appropriate, low tech if you can, and always keep to these guidelines:
Follow NCAA rules.
Believe in your product.
Treat recruits and their families as if they are family – because they soon might be.
"With technology and FaceTime and Zoom and different things you can use within the rules," Allen says, "that's allowed us to build our relationships."
In normal recruiting times, relationship building comes via travel. Coaches come to homes and schools. Players visit campuses, officially and not.
But with Covid-19 restricting coaches to their homes, and IU facilities closed, face-to-face meetings are on indefinite hold.
Still, opportunity awaits those willing to find it.
Allen is.
"I feel I have actually expanded my time with recruits with the schedule we have and them being more available," he says.
Because seeing is so often believing, the video staff takes on added impact.
"Their role has been very important," Allen says. "It's probably been intensified in some ways because that's the means of communication for recruits and what we can send to them and the ability to create videos for recruiting.
"The virtual tours become a very big component. The rules have had to be adapted to the situation and modified accordingly the last few weeks to sell (recruits) on the way we can do things."
Remote or not, the competition for difference-making players remains fierce. With IU recruiting as well as it ever has (last season's 8-5 record and TaxSlayer Gator Bowl berth reflects that), keeping that edge is crucial.
"It's the fact we don't know if there will be any on-campus visits between now and the start of the season, or whenever that may be," Allen says.
Allen says he uses video technology to "simulate what the campus feels like from far away, what it feels like to be in Bloomington and show (recruits) the simple things of our facilities."
It helps to have a young, energetic, knowledgeable video staff in video director Dustin Smith and director of creative production Doug Findley, with support from senior director of recruiting Lee Wilbanks and director of player personnel and high school relations Dwike Wilson.
"Having great people in those spots has been huge," Allen says, "and our workers have done a great job and coordinate things we do for our recruits, whether it's the things we create for them from a graphic perspective or literally the on-campus simulations that we're trying to create.
"This is the time of year when we'd have a lot of unofficial visits, even official visits at times as we get into the months where we're allowed to have those, and those are not taking place.
"You've got to see (recruits). Normally you see them face-to-face. Now, we're having a Zoom meeting. Those tours that used to be face-to-face, they're now becoming virtual. Doing that is very important."
A national trend amid the pandemic is more recruits choosing schools closer to home.
"It really doesn't matter what part of the country you're dealing with," Allen says. "It's been a very consistent theme.
"I think all the unknowns about future visits or lack thereof, even just the idea of being close to home if something like this rears its ugly head again in the future. Guys have gone that route. I wouldn't say it's across the board, but it's definitely a trend."
This would be good news for IU at any time, but especially now given the projected quality of state-of-Indiana high school players graduating in 2021.
"We were fortunate," Allen says. "We had a really aggressive plan with the 2021 class and even the '22 class to get guys on campus before this all happened not knowing this was going to happen. We were just being proactive.
"We knew the 2021 class in the state of Indiana was very strong."
Remote or virtual recruiting projects are the new normal for the foreseeable future.
"There are a lot of unknowns in a lot of areas," Allen says, "and recruiting is no different. No one knows how June and July are going to play out. We have an idea and we have some projections, but no one knows for sure."
Many players commit during the summer after attending a school's camp and visiting the facilities. That might not be an option this summer.
"I think a lot of guys are going to choose to wait (to commit) if they can't take visits in the summer months until after or during the season, whenever that may be," Allen says.
"I think you get one guy saying, 'Hey, I'm going to go with what's comfortable and familiar and commit or I'm going to hold my decision off until I can see certain places.' You have to communicate with recruits and their families to see what they choose to do."
Relationship building, which is a cornerstone of recruiting, centers on good communication. IU pushes that hard, Allen says.
"We've had a tremendously effective communication system with recruits that we've been able to establish with parents working from home, players being home, doing coursework from home and working out at home. To get them on the phone and build those relationships has been a very improved area because of the accessibility that everybody has.
"That's helped us a lot because we're a relationship-driven staff. We feed off of those relationships. That's who we are. That's one of our strengths. Building those relationships on the phone when we haven't been able to be face-to-face, that's unique."
Recruiting includes grad transfers and IU recently landed a good one in former Stanford defensive lineman Jovan Swann. The 6-2, 270-pounder from Center Grove High School near Indianapolis finished second on the team with 5.5 sacks last season.
In 39 career games and 19 starts, Swann has totaled 85 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one interception, one fumble recovery and a blocked field goal. He was an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection in 2018.
Swann, a two-time all-state choice at Center Grove, has one year remaining.
"He's just such a huge addition to our team for a variety of reasons," Allen says. "He's a tremendous, high-character young man with strong leadership skills. He will help our defense."
Swann will join a solid defensive line group led by returning starters Michael Ziemba, James Head Jr., Jerome Johnson and Demarcus Elliott.
"He will make an impact right away," Allen says. "I'm very excited about his leadership. We have a very young (defensive line) room with a lot of talent. He'll have the courage and confidence to verbally lead that room.
"You can never have enough good defensive linemen in this league. He's a grown man, mature body type. He's coming in here ready to play. We really worked hard to recruit him once he made the decision to be a grad transfer. Getting an Indiana kid to come home and finish out close to family is pretty awesome."
Players Mentioned
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