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Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeyes Offer ’18 RB, Markese Stepp

By Dylan Burn

Jan 1, 2016; Pasadena, CA, USA; General view during the third quarter between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Stanford Cardinal in the 2016 Rose Bowl at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 1, 2016; Pasadena, CA, USA; General view during the third quarter between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Stanford Cardinal in the 2016 Rose Bowl at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Iowa Football program just wrapped up National Signing Day 2016, but that doesn’t mean the recruiting stops.  Today, Iowa offered several players, including Markese Stepp, who is the feature of this piece. 

Iowa has always had the ability to scope out under the radar runnings backs and turn them into serviceable Big Ten starters.  Well, Stepp doesn’t look like one of those ‘under the radar’ guys.

Stepp is a big kid already at 6′ 205 pounds.  He attends Indianapolis Cathedral high school where he carried the ball 155 times for 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns in his sophomore season.  As of right now, Stepp has offers from Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Cincinnati, and now Iowa.  But I can see more teams getting in on the action with him having two years left in high school.

On film, he is already big, which gives him an advantage.  While he is very big, he also seems to be a pretty complete running back.  His best attribute is probably his patience.  He doesn’t immediately scamper for the first slice of daylight he sees.  He lets his blockers get out in front of him and pretty much just pave the way.  Once he gets through that initial hole, he is very tough to bring down.

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It’s a combination of two things really.  He is bigger than you, so he’ll run you over, and he’ll make you miss in the open field.  He is really good in between the tackles and runs with a purpose.  As far as pass protection goes, you don’t see much of that in his highlight tape.  He has good hands out of the backfield, but there is always room for improvement.

Iowa has a tendency to get in early on guys and as they develop, some of them remain loyal to the schools that have been there the entire time.  With two more years left to round his game out, Stepp will without a doubt receive more offers.  As long as Iowa continues to have success on the football field, it should attract talented players like Stepp.

We’ll have more recruiting previews on the others that Iowa offered on Monday afternoon in the coming days.

Stay locked into Dear Old Gold for constant coverage of the Iowa Hawkeyes.