D
Derek Young
Guest
- As you know he got the K-State and Iowa offers in November. But this recruitment really didn't get going until December. Iowa probably lead headed into the final month because it appeared to him that playing time was more available at Iowa, but that argument ended up evening itself out. In part because of how good of a job Seiler, Klein and Braet had done with his recruitment. The initial thoughts on Iowa were because of how much production was leaving because all the starters were leaving and they were all 3-year starters. Add that into the fact that Iowa had the physical therapy program he wanted, and they entered December ahead.
- First official visit was to K-State. Went super well. Especially the family. They wanted him in MHK. All the way around I do believe. Was told K-State tried to show how much ties they had to Iowa, and how it was replicated and all that but also close to home. Tom Hayes even showed him a ring he had won at Iowa. Some in his corner still believed he was going to commit to Iowa on his visit to see Kirk Ferentz and company in Iowa City. But that didn't happen.
- Then in-home visits began. Seiler was by. Seth Wallace of Iowa was by. It was a pretty intense tug of war but the tide was beginning to change. The buzz around Iowa was dissipating a bit and floating a bit more towards Nebraska, who had just offered. Scott Frost and company had recruited him and identified him at UCF but knew they had no chance. So there was a bit of familiarity.
- The Huskers stopped by, specifically assistants Erik Chinander and Barrett Ruud. It wasn't a trip that blew them away but Honas really liked Ruud. Frost came the following week and they set up an official visit to Nebraska that obviously went well.
- Bill Snyder was scheduled to make an in-home visit with Will Honas, along with Seiler. He called it off because of the banquet. This had been reported by us. Instead of Snyder, Seiler dropped in surprisingly much earlier in the day. It was at the Honas home in Wichita. His parents were not there. It was just Will and Seiler and that is a one-on-one visit that I believe was the catalyst of the late push by K-State.
- Snyder followed up with the in-home visit the very next week and had Sean Snyder and Blake Seiler with him. That also went super well. Will had some questions that Bill Snyder answered directly according to sources. One of those questions was whether or not he was going to still be coaching. Snyder affirmed to Will that he would be the head coach for his two years in Manhattan. Will also asked him about the reports and rumors of multiple defensive assistants on their way out to which Snyder came off very surprised and said he was not aware and was of the belief everyone was staying put.
- Sources indicated to me around Sunday or Monday before NSD that Iowa and Wisconsin were eliminated from contention. The Badgers had offered late. So after Monday, the decision came down to K-State and Nebraska. Iowa and Wisconsin continued battling but were not seriously being considered according to what we know. There was some late action from Penn State and I think Honas waited as long as he did to see if the Nittany Lions would offer but they did not.
- Wednesday was a tough day. Kansas State was starting to feel like the pick. There's definitely some folks that think he was going to sign with K-State that day or the next day. But then the presser happened and it seemed to turn the wrong the way after that and Nebraska became the pick.
- I'm not going to put this in a vacuum and say they lost Honas because of that press conference and how it did not coincide with the message during the in-home visit. But it was a small thing in a big pond of factors. And sometimes when things are as close as they seemed to be, the small things get magnified.
- First official visit was to K-State. Went super well. Especially the family. They wanted him in MHK. All the way around I do believe. Was told K-State tried to show how much ties they had to Iowa, and how it was replicated and all that but also close to home. Tom Hayes even showed him a ring he had won at Iowa. Some in his corner still believed he was going to commit to Iowa on his visit to see Kirk Ferentz and company in Iowa City. But that didn't happen.
- Then in-home visits began. Seiler was by. Seth Wallace of Iowa was by. It was a pretty intense tug of war but the tide was beginning to change. The buzz around Iowa was dissipating a bit and floating a bit more towards Nebraska, who had just offered. Scott Frost and company had recruited him and identified him at UCF but knew they had no chance. So there was a bit of familiarity.
- The Huskers stopped by, specifically assistants Erik Chinander and Barrett Ruud. It wasn't a trip that blew them away but Honas really liked Ruud. Frost came the following week and they set up an official visit to Nebraska that obviously went well.
- Bill Snyder was scheduled to make an in-home visit with Will Honas, along with Seiler. He called it off because of the banquet. This had been reported by us. Instead of Snyder, Seiler dropped in surprisingly much earlier in the day. It was at the Honas home in Wichita. His parents were not there. It was just Will and Seiler and that is a one-on-one visit that I believe was the catalyst of the late push by K-State.
- Snyder followed up with the in-home visit the very next week and had Sean Snyder and Blake Seiler with him. That also went super well. Will had some questions that Bill Snyder answered directly according to sources. One of those questions was whether or not he was going to still be coaching. Snyder affirmed to Will that he would be the head coach for his two years in Manhattan. Will also asked him about the reports and rumors of multiple defensive assistants on their way out to which Snyder came off very surprised and said he was not aware and was of the belief everyone was staying put.
- Sources indicated to me around Sunday or Monday before NSD that Iowa and Wisconsin were eliminated from contention. The Badgers had offered late. So after Monday, the decision came down to K-State and Nebraska. Iowa and Wisconsin continued battling but were not seriously being considered according to what we know. There was some late action from Penn State and I think Honas waited as long as he did to see if the Nittany Lions would offer but they did not.
- Wednesday was a tough day. Kansas State was starting to feel like the pick. There's definitely some folks that think he was going to sign with K-State that day or the next day. But then the presser happened and it seemed to turn the wrong the way after that and Nebraska became the pick.
- I'm not going to put this in a vacuum and say they lost Honas because of that press conference and how it did not coincide with the message during the in-home visit. But it was a small thing in a big pond of factors. And sometimes when things are as close as they seemed to be, the small things get magnified.
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