September 25, 2009

Recruiting Rewind

In our weekly feature, the Recruiting Rewind, we take a look back each Friday during the season at the week that was in the world of Iowa football recruiting. That includes updates on how recruits are performing on the field, the latest on official visits, commitments, and much more.

News & Notes

The biggest recruiting news this past week was the two official visitors from the state of Florida at the Iowa-Arizona game. De'Andre Johnson, a 5-foot-8, 210-pound Miami native and James C. White, a 5-foot-10, 196-pounder from Fort Lauderdale, were both in town to watch the Hawkeyes' 27-17 victory on Saturday. Bringing in the two running backs the same weekend is interesting because Iowa is likely only going to take one more prospect at the position in this recruiting class.

Johnson came into the visit a week after tearing his ACL and is looking to end the recruiting process relatively soon. The three-star prospect, who attends Monsignor Pace High School, made the trip with his mom and his uncle and was hosted by Jordan Bernstine and Mike Daniels. Johnson gave the visit high marks and admitted on Sunday that he had thoughts about committing to the Hawkeyes, but after talking it over with his family decided to wait and make his previously scheduled trip to Minnesota in a couple weeks first. It looks more and more like he will choose between those two schools, but also holds scholarship offers from Duke, Colorado State, Troy, and Florida International as well. With the knee injury, Johnson's senior season is over after just two games, but as a junior he rushed for 1,121 yards and 10 touchdowns.

With a bye week for his No. 1 ranked St. Thomas Aquinas team, White took advantage of the weekend off by making a trip to Iowa, which has long been among his favorites. The running back's hosts were Jordan Bernstine and Keenan Davis and he said he enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the school and the football program in Iowa City. While White remains near the top of Iowa's wish list, the Florida native plans to stick with his plan of taking all five official visits, which means his decision may not come until after the season. His next trip, which will be his third overall, will not be until November 27 to N.C. State. It is possible, or maybe even likely, that the Hawkeyes fill the spot at running back before White is ready to decide. Along with Iowa, he holds scholarship offers from Wisconsin, N.C. State, Clemson, Michigan State, Purdue, South Florida, Boston College, and a number of others. Last year, White rushed for 933 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior during St. Thomas Aquinas' undefeated state championship run.

A number of Iowa's commits were also in town last weekend for unofficial visits, including most of the in-state prospects along with offensive lineman Andrew Donnal from Ohio and linebacker Austin Gray from Michigan. Many of those recruits will be back in a couple of weeks for the night game against Michigan. Also, Baltimore teammates Jim Poggi and Anthony Ferguson plan to visit later this season when the Hawkeyes host Minnesota.

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