Cedar Falls' Boettger selects Hawkeyes
Iowa appears to want to have recruiting pretty well handled before the season starts.
The Hawkeyes offered Cedar Falls athlete Ike Boettger after a performance in Iowa's prep camp at Kinnick Stadium. Boettger, 6-5, 220, played QB one day, went home and grabbed some pads and played tight end the next. If everything stays on course, Iowa will have six tight ends on scholarship in 2013.
"I've been talking about it a lot with my family and just figured why not. I mean I love the coaches, love the campus, and love everything about it, so I just decided to go ahead and do it today," Boettger, who threw for 750 yards, nine TDs and one interception at QB for the Tigers last season, told HawkeyeReport.com.
Boettger planned to visit in July and decide then, but decided he had seen enough. He didn't have any other scholarship offers, drawing interest from Iowa State.
Boettger makes it back-to-back Cedar Falls Tigers to pick the Hawkeyes. He'll join freshman Barkley Hill, a highly productive running back for Cedar Falls who'll be a freshman at Iowa this fall.
"I actually just talked to Barkley and he's excited for me to come down there with him next year," Boettger said. "He said he loves it down there. He's working out with the team and everything is going great."
Iowa will try to make it 3-for-3 in 2014. The Hawkeyes already have offered Cedar Falls junior-to-be offensive tackle Ross Pierschbacher. Pierschbacher holds offers from Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Boettger gives Iowa 13 commits for the 2013 class and caps a whirlwind week for Iowa recruiting. Since Thursday, four preps have committed to Iowa. St. Louis wide receiver Derrick Mitchell Jr. started the surge Thursday followed by Andre Harris, another St. Louis wide receiver, and Ohio O-lineman Sean Welsh.
Welsh told HawkeyeReport.com that Iowa said after Friday his offer would open up to other recruits if he didn't move. Iowa has clearly sped up its recruiting. It could be the influence of new assistant coaches or the installation of assistant Eric Johnson as a nearly full-time recruiting coordinator. Rivals.com lists Johnson as the primary recruiter for five of Iowa commits.
It also could be Iowa's desire to have recruiting corralled before the season starts, thus allowing coaches, including new offensive and defensive coordinators (Greg Davis and Phil Parker, respectively), to concentrate on teaching and implementing new systems.
Head coach Kirk Ferentz did acknowledge this spring that the national trend in recruiting has been a faster trigger on commits. Of the 101 scholarship offers HawkeyeReport.com lists for Iowa, 67 of those prospects already have made commitments. Ferentz said this spring that he expects Iowa's class to be around 20.
David Kenney, DE, 6-2, 250 Pike High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) ****
Derrick Willies, WR, 6-3, 190 Rock Island (Ill.) High School ***
Delano Hill, FS, 6-1, 190 Cass Tech High School (Detroit, Mich.) ***
Colin Goebel, OL 6-4, 275 Naperville (Ill.) North High School ***
Nathan Bazata, DT, 6-2, 270 Howells (Neb.) High School ***
Brant Gressel, DT, 6-2, 283 Centerville (Ohio) High School ***
John Kenny, LB, 6-2, 210 Caramel (Ind.) High School ***
Nic Shimonek, QB, 6-4, 205 Mildred (Corsicana, Texas) High School ***
Malik Rucker, CB, 6-0, 175 Cooper (New Hope, Minn.) High School ***
Derrick Mitchell, Jr., WR, 6-0, 185 Vashon (St. Louis, Mo.) High School ***
Andre Harris, WR, 6-1, 170 Kirkwood (Mo.) High School (unrated by Rivals.com)
Sean Welsh, OL, 6-3, 275 Springboro (Ohio) High School ***
Ike Boettger, TE, 6-5, 220 Cedar Falls High School (unrated by Rivals.com)
* = Rivals.com’s star rating