Rogers still sure of decision
I made mention of Brad Rogers at the end of my Keenan Davis story today. I talked to Brad this afternoon, but it’s a separate story, and I didn’t want to dive into a Rogers update in the middle of a Davis commitment story.
Rogers, the bruising, 230-pound running back from Toledo Central Catholic High School who was the first from the class of 2009 to commit to Iowa back in April, hasn’t wavered. He said he’s going to be a Hawkeye. No doubt about it.
Yet, Web site Rivals.com has Rogers listed as a possible sleeper who could gain more national attention with a strong senior season. The folks at Rivals probably are right.
You see, last fall, the player who has been compared to former Heisman winner Ron Dayne and the Cincinnati Bengals’ Rudi Johnson rushed for only 634 yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games. On paper, that’s nothing. That’s a kid with a D-III future.
But Rogers was slowed by a high ankle sprain the second half of the season. His high school coach, Greg Dempsey, told me in April that Rogers piled up most of those stats in the first five games, that he would have been the area player of the year had he not been injured. Plus, he put up those numbers while playing fullback. This fall, with his health at 100 percent, he’s going to be the feature back in Central Catholic’s offense. Expect a breakout season.
Don’t expect him to change his mind.
After Rogers committed in April, he all but pulled the plug on the recruiting process. He said he has received one call — from Kansas — but that was it. Meanwhile, he has kept in regular contact with Iowa assistant Phil Parker, and he didn’t attend camps at any other schools. Iowa was his only offer. Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, Bowling Green, Toledo and Indiana also showed strong interest but didn’t throw a scholarship on the table. Rogers said even if one of those schools came forward with an offer this fall that he plans to stick with Iowa.
“After I made my commitment, I just started working out with (his high school) team, getting ready for my senior season,” Rogers said. “I just want to have a good season. I’m 100 percent now. As long as I stay 100 percent … I just want to win our league and, hopefully, go deep in the playoffs.”
One other interesting note: Rogers wasn’t even aware of the Abe Satterfield-Cedric Everson sexual assault investigation going on in Iowa City. He said he hadn’t seen it in the news. Perhaps this story, while very serious and important on the local level, isn’t as far-reaching and damaging to recruiting as some of us had thought.
By ‘some of us’ I, of course, mean me.
