Recruiting Heating Up as it Winds Down
National Signing Day is on Wednesday and Iowa is rounding out their class with some last minute commits and a decision to be made on Tuesday.
Signing Day drawing near and Iowa’s recruiting class is nearly finished. The Hawks have landed commitments in recent days, some on scholarship and some walkons.
Decorah’s Josey Jewell committed to Iowa on Sunday, a 6-3/200 pound linebacker. He carried the ball on offense and ran for over 3,000 yards in his career but he will make his way as a linebacker for the Hawkeyes. You can check out his highlights below and also read a write up from Rob Howe with quotes from Jewell at this link.
Also committing to Iowa over the weekend was Texas receiver Anjeus Jones, from the Dallas Metro Area. Howe also wrote up an interview with Jones that you can read free of charge at this link. He is 6-3/195 and has a desire to add quite a bit more size, according to his quotes in Howe’s article. What Iowa wants to do with him is another story, but that will be playing receiver. Anyone who is on campus at the start of fall camp and is a receiver has a shot to play next year. Iowa has really gone WR crazy over the past few months and weeks and that either tells us they are not high on what they have or they want to play more receivers in the coming season. Perhaps its both, but I lean towards the former.
Iowa also received a commitment from Newark, NJ Akrum Wadley, a 5-10/175 back. Howe interviewed him and has this free write up with several quotes from Wadley, but this one was my favorite:
“I was curious. I like to see things for myself. I didn’t see any corn fields in Iowa City. I saw big buildings and they’re building new things. I saw malls out here. It was nothing like what I had heard about.”
On Monday, Pat Harty of the Iowa City Press Citizen tweeted that West Branch linebacker Bo Bower decided to turn down a full ride at UNI to walk on at Iowa. That’s a pretty big deal, but Bower is not afraid of the challenge. I’ve seen him play a few times as I go back to West Branch (my hometown) every year for a game and the kid is tough. I’ve mostly focused on him as a running back but he is one of those players who is fearless regardless of which side of the line of scrimmage they line up on. Iowa (namely Levar Woods) spent a ton of time on Bower and letting him know that they think he can come in and have a shot, but they didn’t have the scholarship for him. Bower decided he was up for the challenge.
On Tuesday, Illinois prep LB Reggie Spearman is going to make a final decision. He committed to Illinois several months back but decommitted. Iowa is on his list and I will be surprised if he doesn’t go public with a declaration for Iowa when he shares his choice tomorrow.
Josey Jewell Highlights
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Almost as good as Penn States recruiting class.