A.J. Derby......
- Thread starter KMAC_ATTACK
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QB for City High. Dad played for the Hawks. Brother currently on the team. Will be the highest recruited player to ever come out of the state (even higher than Dwight), offers from just about everyone but USC...which may be coming.
WOOOOO City High, finally getting some freaking love.
Also: WOOOOOOO Jeremy Krueger coming to play for the good guys!
Also: WOOOOOOO Jeremy Krueger coming to play for the good guys!
That is a bit of an overstatement.....he is the 23rd rated player at his position. I'm not saying that he isn't a great prospect, but he definitely isn't the best ever. Blake Larson (I am ignoring hindsight here because for all we know Derby may not amount to anything more than Larson) was the #1 rated player at his position (OL) coming out of high school and also had a VERY impressive list, I doubt Iowa has had the #1 player at their position coming out of high school other than Blake Larson. It would pretty tough to argue that he wasn't the highest recruited player to ever come out of the state. Besides Larson there have been many other excellent recruits to come out of Iowa that you'd have to overlook to state that Derby is the best ever.
More to the point of the original post - why post this in the first place other than to evoke a response from Hawk fans? ISU never had a shot, so this really doesn't relate to anything ISU. Furthermore, Iowa's QB situation is pretty much set for the future according to reports out of spring camp.
At reserve we have two good young QB's that will be heir apparents when Stanzi leaves - thus I highly doubt Derby would see the field for more than a year at Iowa unless he were willing to take a redshirt. Derby is far from a finished product at QB - in fact he didn't even play QB until his junior year. He is very athletic, I personally would have liked to see him play safety or TE at Iowa, not QB. If he doesn't have an open mind about playing a position other than QB (which he has stated that he doesn't) I really don't see him getting on the field at Iowa anyway.
Supposedly they are.....I guess they think he may be able to play a Tebow kind of role in their O....however, as I stated, he didn't even play QB until his JR season, so I have to believe his mechanics and reads will take a lot of work at the college level. He went to a lot of QB camps in the summer to improve his game.
I'm sure the reason Florida is offering is because they think there is a small chance that he could run their O because of his athletic skill set, but even if he flops, he has the athletic skills to succeed at a different position. Essentially it is a low risk/high reward kind of offer for the Gators.
I think the kid would make an unbelievable TE or safety (or even OLB), but he has stated, quite stubbornly, that he refuses to play any position at the college level other than QB. If he is serious about that assertion, I won't be too upset if Iowa misses on him, because I think we are set at QB for awhile (though I would like to see his athleticism at TE or safety).
Sorry to disappoint you SH; I'm just sharing what I've heard and I'm a tad bit closer to the situation than you. I just got home from my daughter's softball game, where I sat with a City High graduating senior (coming to ISU next fall on academic scholarship) who's been on the football team with Derby the past two seasons. I mentioned this thread to him and he said, "all he ever talks about is Florida".
I guess there're two sides to every story, namely what A.J. is telling "recruiting web site strangers" and what he's telling his friends. He has no reason to be forthcoming with the former and no reason to lie to the latter.
Well, if he's from City High, it would be nice if he stayed home. Sounds like a Matt Gatens type story.
Iowa MUST take at least 2 QBs in this class. They didn't get one in the last class and currently only have 3 scholarship QBs on the roster. Stanzi has 2 seasons left and I think the loser of the Vandenberg/Weinke battle will transfer. Don't kid yourself, missing out on a talented legacy like Derby, at a need position no less, would be a huge blow.
You're far more confident that he will be a great QB than I am.....as I said, barring injury problems our QB situation is going to be set until Derby would be a senior anyway (and he doesn't seem like a kid who would take a red shirt). I'd rather offer a QB who played QB for 4 years in high school and isn't as much as a "project". Derby is an exceptional athlete, that cannot be denied, but whether or not he is a great quarterback could be a point of contention.
Derby's biggest upside lies in his athletic ability, and that would be better suited at a position other than QB IMO.
You're right, he didn't say he's spoken to all of them but he does, by no small miracle, know what everyone who has spoken to Derby has said.
Oh really...
Rival.com's Barry Every from the Army National Combine:
"Derby might have had the strongest arm of any quarterback at the combine."
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Tim Tebow running style and biggest arm in his class. I'd say he's got a little more going for him than just athletic ability.
No, actually they probably agree whole heartedly with my original post, wherein I said that offering Derby is a no lose situation for them, it is low risk/high reward. If he works out at QB, that is great, if he doesn't, he is an exceptional athlete that will find the field somewhere. They might not think he is a great QB, but they probably know he is an excellent athlete that has upside at positions other than QB (as well as having the potential to work out at QB).
DJK -
Think what you will, this won't be resolved for 4 years, but I don't think Derby will be as good of a QB as you think he will be in college. His first starting experience at QB was last fall as a JR against Iowa high school football competition. That alone stacks the deck against him dramatically. I just think he is more of an athlete than a QB. Of course, as stated above, this discussion is pointless because only time will tell the answer.
DJK - of those schools, are they all recruiting him as a qb - i thought i saw that some of the higher bcs schools were offering him as an athlete and not sure where he may land but is an obvious talent regardless.....
SH - My original post is not different - like you say, he has a lot of ties to the hawks and UofI. But, i'm not sure how thats any different then the Barnes situation, because he has a lot of ties to ISU so why are the two completely different situations?
I could say that ISU has a better shot at getting Barnes then EIU does at getting Derby - but realistically, both have a chance, just not a great chance.
But, to me, with these type of athletes, the allure of being on one of the top teams in the nation and playing for the national title excludes the hawks and cyclones......and these kids end up going somewhere else like Duke, UNC, USC, FLORIDA....and can you blame them....NO!!!!
There are several articles on HN about this very topic and within those articles there are direct quotes from family members of AJ Derby that say they would be very surprised if he went anywhere other than Iowa. That AJ has always dreamed of playing at Iowa and has a great relationship with the coaching staff and many of the players. He has a much better chance of getting on the field at Iowa as a QB than he does at Florida; that right there is reason enough to choose Iowa.