to say that I am glad we are back. I haven't had a chance to put one of
these together for quite sometime but I have a lot of information in football
and basketball that I will share with users.
football players in the Class of 2005.
This class brings back the bread and butter of Iowa while being loaded with
linemen. These top linemen have been making visits. Tyler Blum
and Andy Kuempel both finally made their official visits to Iowa over
the past two weeks. The interesting thing about Kuempel's visit is that he
had to leave on Saturday night and head over to the Five Seasons Center for a
basketball game. He made it back in time to see the Hawkeyes snag some of
the other top linemen in the country, including Rafeal Eubanks of Minnesota and
possibly more silent commitments.
As for the players who haven't decided their
future, Matt Pipho started his official visits this Saturday.
Because of a basketball game on Friday night, Pipho was unable to leave for
Oregon until Saturday so he stayed an extra day and will return later tonight.
IowaPreps.com plans to get a hold of this standout and talk about the visit.
In
other Pipho news, Nebraska and Oklahoma have come on hard for his services as of
late. The Cornhuskers and Bill Callahan have been trying hard to get Pipho
to commit, but at this point, it appears he will be taking at least his two
scheduled official visits to Miami and Stanford. As for the new coach at
Stanford, how will that effect his recruiting? Time will tell but if Walt
Harris was smart, he'd be calling Pipho as soon as possible before another team
can snag him. If Pipho decides to wait, he still has two other official
visits up for grabs. Some schools that could come on strong include
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other schools in the Midwest. At this point
these schools are waiting for the cards to fall from some of the other linemen
in this class. If and when they do, Pipho could see a lot more schools
showing him interest late. Could it be too little too late or could a new
school sway him their way?
Also don't forget about Chris Mensen of
Solon. Although people continue to keep the rumor mill going that he is a
done deal to Minnesota, this senior still continues to receive interest from
both Iowa and Iowa State. Mensen will be headed to the home of the Gophers
this weekend for his first official visit. They continue to remain strong
with the offer and have been impressed with his play since the summer camp.
IowaPreps.com
keep users updated on his visit.
One of the most interesting developments in
this class is happening with Sioux City West athlete BJ Steed. This
UAB verbal is currently finishing up his high school classes and will be headed
down to Birmingham at the end of December. This will give him a head start
on classes as well as spring football. Look for more in the very near
future about this.
2006, it is still unclear if any other prospects
have been offered outside of Ames stud Austen Arnaud. This class has some
very big boys and a lot of players who could make an impact at the next level.
Currently one position that may be very strong is tight end. Three players
who could play tight end at major college football programs includes Corey
Viet of AGWSR, Ben Lamaak of Cedar Rapids Kennedy, and also
Schuylar Oordt of Cedar Falls. What makes this trio so attractive to
college programs is their athleticism as each one is a multi-sport athlete.
All three are strong, can run, and big in-size. Is there really much more
a college coach wants?
Moving our attention to basketball, the Class
of 2006 is loaded with talented players. I still believe that Jason
Bohannon of Linn-Mar is the best player in the State and saw nothing to
change my mind in the Lions win on Saturday. For the next two years, every
player
Washington tried just about everything to shut him down but he still ended with
twenty points. As far as recruiting goes for this junior, Iowa and
Wisconsin have both offered. Stanford, Illinois, NC State, and a load of
others are all showing him a lot of attention. Because Bohannon recently
took his ACT's, he will be able to make his first official visit to Stanford at
the end of January. Taking that visit might be enough to earn an offer
from the Cardinals. When I talked to him after their game on Saturday, it
was obvious that Bohannon was very excited to check out the campus and
facilities at Stanford.
scholarship offer from this class is Keaton Frye of North Scott. It
is obvious that the Lancers are much different without their trio of bigmen, but
Frye has been putting up some solid numbers. Frye took an unofficial visit
to Valparaiso at the end of October and from the sound of things, loved the
visit. What sets them apart from the other schools is that they really get
to know the recruits. Iowa, Wisconsin, Marquette, and others are still
keeping after him actively.
IowaPreps.com will try to get a hold of more
basketball players in the senior and junior classes to update users of their
thoughts on college basketball. Also we will be putting together a lot of
highlight clips from the summer video that we previously had not made available.
Keep an eye on that in the near future.
I also wanted to just extend each and every
premium users a huge thank you for allowing me to do something that I love.
I receive a lot of kind words about the website and they are all appreciated and
make me work harder to increase the traffic at IowaPreps.com.
This post was edited on 12/13 4:14 PM by LukeFeddersenif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
