Iowa football: Hawks bolster special teams with recent 2019 signee

The Iowa football program got a boost to a special teams unit that is losing senior kicker Miguel Recinos when 2019 kicker Lucas Amaya committed yesterday.

2019 kicker Lucas Amaya committed to the University of Iowa football team as a preferred walk-on yesterday in a move that could be huge for the Hawks.

Senior Miguel Recinos who has been the placekicker for the past two seasons is out of eligibility and behind him are redshirt sophomores Keith Duncan and Caleb Shudak.

Duncan is the favorite to take over the placekicking duties with Recinos gone as he was the primary kicker in 2016 when he hit 38 of 39 extra point attempts and 9 of 11 field goals. Prior to the 2017 season, however, he lost his starting job in a battle with the now departed Recinos who remained the started for the past two seasons.

Shudak, meanwhile, has yet to see the field in his three seasons in Iowa City after joining the program as a walk-on.

This means the door is somewhat open to a big-legged and highly confident (he has multiple videos on Twitter of him kicking field goals between 50-60 yards) kid like Amaya to come in and take the kicking duties immediately. And there are some pretty big shoes to fill on the other side of the door. Recinos has had an outstanding two-year run in Iowa City. In two seasons, he hit all 90 of his extra point attempts and connected on 27 of his 36 field goals.

He was one of a number of Iowa football players to be named All-Big Ten after his successful senior season that concluded with Recinos hitting the  game-winning field goal against Nebraska.

Amaya was deciding between the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Iowa football team.

He announced yesterday on Twitter his ultimate intentions.

The 6’3” 205 pound kicker from Muskego, Wisconsin joins a 16-player class of 2019 for the Iowa football program that ranks 39th nationally as of today.