APTalk about your hometown discount.
Gunner Kiel is the nation’s top-rated quarterback in the Class of 2012 according to Rivals.com, and has been offered a scholarship by such programs as Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, USC and Wisconsin. The Columbus, IN, product, however, has decided to stay in-state, and thus given head coach Kevin Wilson his biggest verbal commitment by far since he took over the Indiana program last December.
In a conversation with 24/7 Sports.com ($ link), Kiel confirmed that he has given his non-binding commitment to the Hoosiers. Kiel made his decision today.
“It was just the best fit for me,” Kiel told the website. “I woke up having that gut feeling and felt really good about it and my parents were excited about it too.
“I’m really excited I’m committing to Indiana and I’m ready to get things started, and I’m really glad that it’s over so I can enjoy my senior year and know that I’m going to go somewhere.”
It’s been rumored of late that Kiel had narrowed his myriad choices down to the Hoosiers and the Tide.
In addition to being Rivals‘ top-rated pro-style QB, the recruiting service also rates the 6-4, 220-pound Kiel as the No. 19 prospect at any position in the country. As a high school junior, Kiel threw for over 2,700 yards and 36 touchdowns. He also rushed for 600 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2010.
Good for him. It is BS what the big schools tell HS athletes that they will have an easier time being noticed by the NFL scouts. If you are good, you will be found.
Will he still be so excited when he goes 4-8 every year?
murraychadwick says:
Jul 27, 2011 4:24 PM
Will he still be so excited when he goes 4-8 every year?
I’m sure he will. Most high school kids would love to play D1 ball while most of them either play D2 or don’t even go to school. And why sit behind a starter for a few years when you become the face of a university and possibly build it into a national contender and put them on the map?
Worst decision of his life. Toil in mediocrity and anonymity at a basketball school, or go to the state that worships the Crimson Tide, and be a national star. Somebody took their stupid pills.
The Updykes were so sure they were going to get him. Maybe this kid had his eyes opened by the mess Bama is currently in with their quarterbacks and wanted no part of it.
Staying home can be a good thing. It’s kids like this that can help a program build and be more competitive–WHY THE HATE????
He can play anywhere and make it to the NFL—even as a 1st rd pick if he has NFL talent….ie….
Brett Favre—Southern Miss
Ben Rothilsberger—Miami OHIO
Daunte Culpepper—UCF
Kurt Warner—Northern Iowa
Rich Gannon—Delaware
Those are just some of the Qbs and there are 100′s at other positions as well.
Why not RESPECT a kid that is willing to do his own thing at his home state school…..
I wish him well and hope he comes out on top!!!
I love it. I’m always in favor of staying with the home team and making them a contender. I think they’ll be pretty good pretty soon under Kevin Wilson.
Of course anybody who has followed this recruitment was expecting this. After Missouri took Maty Mauk and Oklahoma took Trevor Knight, the writing was on the wall.
Transfer….
Good for him. Pick the home state school. Their new coach just got the talent to build around.
The only Problem I have with this: His brother is penciled in to be the starter for IU this year and is a RS Soph. So will Gunnar take a redshirt to sit behind his brother for a few years?
His dad played for Notre Dame, thats where I saw him going?
@John Taylor: it bears mentioning that Gunner’s older brother Dusty is currently battling to win the starting QB job at Indiana.
@ blitz4848
First off Daunte Culpepper was a bust, Warner wasn’t drafted and Gannon only had 3 good years in the league & the SB make him look like an A$$ Clown at that.
Second to build the program at Indiana he’d have to stay there for the full 4-5 years. I say that, cause unlike at U of Miami, Florida, Texas, USC there isn’t a lot of talent in Indiana to just draw from, like Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll or Mack Brown had going into the job. I think it’s great and he stayed home, but it will take a couple of season’s (3 would be my guess) before the program is going to at least the Gator bowl.
Maybe the kid looked at what Kevin Wilson and his offense was able to do at Northwestern and Oklahoma. I think Wilson has had pretty good luck with Bradford and Landry Jones.
mdnittlion says:
Jul 27, 2011 8:27 PM
@ blitz4848
First off Daunte Culpepper was a bust
——————————————————————————————————–
By what measure? Certainly not by any logical one…
@ cosanostra71
Playing from 1999-2009:
1. only being in 3 pro bowls,
2. not winning anything in Detroit
3. Being benched for Drew Stanton
4. tanking in Oakland
*Ending up in the UFL
*NO RING
That’s what you call a Bust if you ask me, don’t forget his failure in Oakland led to the JaMarcus Russell Era
Realistically, IU will continue to be stuck in the Big Ten also rans for years to come. Additinally, the Favres/Culpeppers/Rothlesberger/etc spoke about earlier were big fish in little ponds, IU is nothing close to that. If he wanted to go to the NFL, he’ll sign as a free agent, as his game will not grow in Indiana.
From a career perspective, not a smart move. From a local yocal point-of-view, local boys does good.
I wish him well, The Music City Bowl awaits.
Coach Wilson was a vital part of Sam Bradford’s development and put up record offenses.
IU recently completed incredible facility upgrades as well which has been a hit with players/recruits.
Both his brothers will be there and family and friends nearby Gunner has a very good oppprtunity to make a huge impact in Bloomington.
Plus, IU has put together some decent talent recently: Randle El, Tracy Porter, Kris Dielman, Saffold, and Hardy who unfortunately had his career derailed by injury.
Good for him. Huge pick up for Wilson and IU.
I wonder how much he is gunna get paid? If IU did this legally, then mad props to them. But idk…
what a way to start a new era at IU! now hopefully he can get some help for the defense before he arrives so they have a chance of winning some of the high scoring games they always end up losing because the defense can’t stop anybody
I’m amazed there are so many Hoosier fans on here. More power to the kid, if it makes him happy as well as his family and he gets to play at his state university, nothing else matters.
Too bad for him, that state is Indiana. If Indiana rose to mediocore it would be a marked improvement.
As for the question posted earlier: “And why sit behind a starter for a few years when you become the face of a university and possibly build it into a national contender and put them on the map?”
I admire that and could understand that if you’re going to a middle of the road school without a history of any great sucess.
But, Indiana football is terrible, has been terrible and may rise up to average but a national contender? Hahahahahaha… maybe if he can recruit about 50 others of the Top 100. They’ll be lucky to finish fourth in the Big Ten + Two (and you could say one of those other two is Indiana).
I don’t hate Indiana. Why would I? They’ll be just as insignificant four years from now as they are today.
The only thing he learns at Indiana will be how to lose.
I hope he proves me wrong, and I’d honestly love to see it. But he won’t. At least they MAY make a bowl or two (as long as GoDaddy and PapaJohns are still in business).
Hopefully for IU, some solid skill players follow suit. I’m sure coach Wilson will have this team bowl eligible in 2 years or less. Not many saw this coming, and so soon. This has to be a kick in the nuts for Danny Hopeless and Purdue. I still cant see IU getting over 8 wins regardless of who they have. But it will be nice to see them as a middle of the pack team for once. They need to start recruiting these Ft. Wayne boys. they’re all going to N.D. and purdue.
Sooner fan here, and upfront I’ll say congrats to Indiana and Kevin Wilson. You got a good one, one that we’d have liked to have been a Sooner. I wish the young man well, and hope that he does good at Indy.
That said, gorilladunk and xli2006 are probably giving Wilson WAY too much credit for the successes of Bradford and Landry Jones. (xli2006 = “Coach Wilson was a vital part of Sam Bradford’s development and put up record offenses.”
gorilladunk: “I think Wilson has had pretty good luck with Bradford and Landry Jones.”
Nothing against Wilson, (and I’m sure that he took all the credit for Bradford’s and Jones’ development), but the credit belongs almost entirely to the guy who was the quarterback coach at the time and is now our co-offensive coordinator: Josh Heupel.
Wilson, while OK as an offensive coordinator, constantly made glaring play-calling errors that were incredibly damaging, especially in the red zone.
Hopefully, he will leave the play-calling to whoever he has selected as his OC.
OK, Wilson rant over. Just wanted to point out that some on here are giving him WAY, WAY too much credit for OU’s quarterback success.
@ paulbrownsrevenge:
His dad played for Notre Dame, thats where I saw him going?
No, his UNCLE played at Notre Dame, not his dad. I read that Kiel had narrowed it down to IU and Bama, presumably largely based on the distance factor, and the fact that he had kin at IU.
Good for Gunner (love that name!) if he wants to stay home, I wish him well. I think that if he wanted to compete against the best and be coached by the best, that he made a mistake, but it’s his to make…
Josh Heupel may very well have coached to Madison Square Garden in 4 years, had he chosen OU.
Again, his choice. Good luck, Gunner.
Good for him and welcome to the Big 10!
Unless he’s a mama’s boy I can’t believe he passed up an opportunity to play for Stoops or Sabin.Josh Heupel, is the QB coach at OU not Wilson, Wilson wasn’t even a good offensive coordinator at OU , he was however better than Chuck Long. Yes I know Heupel is now co-offensive coordinator now. But he did one heck of a job with Bradford>
Awesome news! The Hoosiers finally have a solid player to try and build a program around. I think this decision says a lot about the kid’s character and willingness to put in hard work. Then again, that tends to be the Hoosier mentality. Also, for all those people talking trash about the state, Notre Dame and Purdue aren’t consistently bad. Why should IU have to be?
@ mdnittlion
First off, ONLY 3 pro bowls? Most quarterbacks don’t even get that. Second, who DOES win with the Lions or Raiders, with the exception of that 1 year. And third, you’re right, he doesn’t have a ring, but neither do Marino, Fouts, Esiason, Gabrial, Kelly, Bledsoe, Moon, or Tarkenten. I guess they all suck too…
@blackwellsooner
Bradford called Kiel personally to vouch for Wilson’s development abilities…
@ jchardwi13
Ya 3 Pro Bowls in 10 years means you suck, sorry if I have to explain the math to you. If you can’t get even that it means you shouldn’t be in the league, what are you a Brady Quinn or Joey Harrington fan? By the way both Jim Plunkett and Rich Gannon league MVP both won with the Raiders, you got me on the Lions one though.
As for the list of guys you mentioned I’ll break it down for you:
Moon – Blow to much of his career in Canada, if it weren’t for racism me might have won a ring, plus he didn’t get the best coaching in Houston
Fouts & Marino – Both of these guys were system dudes and the system was throw, they were both pretty one dimensional players. We put them in this special category because of all the stats the accrued. At the end of their careers the numbers fall off horribly, because they couldn’t make the throws anymore if they had more of a skill set it might not have been so bad. They didn’t suck Fouts defense did & but I will say did Marino when it came to beating the 1990′s Bills.
Gabrial – Look at the numbers & wins and you tell me that’s all I’m going to say
Kelly & Tarkenten – Get all this credit cause of all the postseason wins and everybody lets them slide about the SB loses. Go back and watch some footage from each guy in the Super Bowl and you’ll see some bad decisions on each guys part that a dude that was really great wouldn’t have made. Plus each guy was surround by hall of famers so like Steve Young is it really fair they get so much credit?
Bledsoe – Ya he sucked no doubt about it, the one time he had to lead a team in the Super Bowl and he couldn’t do it. The one ring he has is by default, I personally know he bought Tom Brady an expensive watch after the game to thank him for leading the team to victory.
Boomer – Ask any Jets fan how good he was. At the end his play was so bad the Jets spend a fortune getting the guy who had just lost the SB the year before, anytime Neil O’Donnell replaces you, its a sign you suck.
So know not all the guys you listed sucked just Bledsoe & Boomer they really weren’t that good.
@mdnittlion
Not getting to the Pro Bowl at least half of your years means you suck? Thats ridiculous. There are too many quarterbacks in the league and too many extenuating circumstances for that to be a reasonable expectation.
As for the Raiders, my bad. 2 MVP’s in 60 years, how could I have ever thought they’ve sucked as an organization…
Finally, in regards to Esiason and Bledsoe, what you’re trying to tell me is that a couple bad years at the end of a guy’s career negates the entire thing?
Btw, Gabriel won 75% of his games, so im not sure what your point was there.
Regardless if IU is a basketball driven school or not, a Blue Chip QB signing is a huge deal to this football program. Granted, there were a few games they got absolutely shillacked last year, they lost to Michigan by a TD, Northwestern by a FG, and Iowa by 5. That’s 15 pts from possibly being 8-4. The signing of a highly touted player such as Kiel could possibly be that “foot in the door” IU needed to start building talented players around him in the next few years. I’m not saying that Kiel is Moses leading IU to the Promise Land, but building a winning and respected program has to start somehow, and by the time he’s done, he just may have changed the stereotype of IU football.
Kiel can do for IU what Brees did for Purdue. Build them up a little, maybe squeek out a B1G title and go to the Rose Bowl, but then the program slowly fades back to mediocrity (or worse).