Understandably so, Iowa football fans are already excited about the 2020 recruiting class’ potential and for good reason. They’re already putting in work.
In this day in age with social media and the ability to connect with others all the around the world instantly, it’s no surprise recruiting is evolving because of it. It’s not just the school’s staff recruiting, it’s also the players that have already signed or are planning to sign with a particular school. For the Iowa football program, that scenario has been playing out over the past year as 2020 quarterback commit Deuce Hogan has been active on Twitter letting people know the only right choice is to be a Hawkeye.
That stuff certainly helps, and it’s awesome to see the camaraderie build in a recruiting class because of the availability of social media. It’s so much easier for these recruits to get in contact these days.
What we don’t often see is these kids linking up on their own accord to get some actual on-the-field work in. Sure, these recruits will meet up at recruiting days designated by the Iowa football program or come on official visits during football game weekends, but outside of that, it’s pretty scarce unless the guys on the same team.
That is why it’s so great to hear that two Iowa football commits are planning to meet up this summer and get some familiarity down.
Hogan and 2020 TE commit Elijah Yelverton both play football in the Dallas, Texas area, albeit for different schools, and with the summer coming quickly, they plan on getting some work in together.
Elijah made sure to give some praise to his future teammate on the Locked On Hawkeyes saying this:
"He’s a great quarterback so it would be amazing to link up there. We could make something really happen."
He then went on to say that they aren’t wasting any time getting familiar with each other:
"We’ve talked about linking up next weekend or the following weekend, throwing some routes and working out together. Just building a connection."
Most people don’t realize that it’s not as simple as just calling out a route and throwing it. Connections between quarterbacks and their receivers can take years to build.
To see these two young men who aren’t even in their senior years of high school yet begin to build that connection is exciting for the future of the Iowa football program.
Just look at this past year. Nate Stanley, Noah Fant, and TJ Hockenson came in during the class of 2016 and we saw the damage that they could do together.
It’s the extra work done now that makes the difference weeks, months, and years down the road, and to know they are already thinking ahead to their Iowa football futures is fantastic.