Top 2014 Lineman Commits to Iowa
Cedar Falls offensive lineman Ross Piersbacher is a four-star offensive lineman and has ended his recruitment early by picking the home state Hawkeyes.
The 6-5/270 pound Piersbacher had offers from Iowa, Iowa State, Boise State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and others and had interest from Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, USC and Stanford, according to Rivals.com. Oregon had even sent coaches by his high school to see him in recent months. He visited Alabama for their game against Auburn.
Given the 4-8 season Iowa just completed and some of the negativity surrounding the program in the fanbase, Piersbacher’s commitment is good medicine for Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz has generally been able to pull in solid offensive and this will add to that legacy.
Rob Howe of HawkeyeInsider.com tweeted that Piersbacher’s decision came down to Iowa and Notre Dame and that reports of Brian Kelly’s flirtations with the NFL factored into his decision. Kelly has been linked to mutual interest with the Philadelphia Eagles opening as well as being rumored to be a candidate for the Chicago Bears opening. You can read Howe’s interview with Piersbacher here.
Rivals and Scout rate him as a four-star prospect, with Scout ranking him as the 4th best offensive guard prospect in the nation.
You can see his video below these tweets:
Pierschbacher also said that ND getting 4 OT verbals in ’13 class helped Hawkeyes. Feels better chance to play earlier at Iowa.
— Rob Howe (@HawkeyeInsider) January 12, 2013
Pierschbacher said he was going for some “shock value” by breaking his own commitment on twitter.
— Rob Howe (@HawkeyeInsider) January 12, 2013
Pierschbacher said that it came down to Notre Dame and Iowa. Said Kelly interviewing w/ Eagles got him thinking.
— Rob Howe (@HawkeyeInsider) January 12, 2013
If you have it available, play “In Heaven There Is No Beer.” Pierschbacher commit is a win.
— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse) January 12, 2013
Landing Pierschbacher and making Orlando Brown’s top 8 is a great start in recruiting for Iowa in 2014, especially coming off a 4-8 season.
— Pat Harty (@PatHarty) January 12, 2013