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Iowa football: Aaron Witt decommits and that’s perfectly okay

By Andrew Wade

IOWA CITY, IOWA - NOVEMBER 2: Head coach Kirk Ferentz, right, of the Iowa Hawkeyes talks with athletic director Barry Alvarez, center, and head coach Gary Andersen of the Wisconsin Badgers, before their match-up on November 2, 2013 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
IOWA CITY, IOWA - NOVEMBER 2: Head coach Kirk Ferentz, right, of the Iowa Hawkeyes talks with athletic director Barry Alvarez, center, and head coach Gary Andersen of the Wisconsin Badgers, before their match-up on November 2, 2013 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images) /
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Former class of 2020 Iowa football commit Aaron Witt announced yesterday he was instead committing to Wisconsin, and that’s perfectly okay.

It’s important to remember that these recruits are just teenagers. Things change and a change of heart can come a lot quicker and hit a lot harder for some of these kids. It’s why we see so many decommits throughout the recruiting process, but we don’t typically see it often with the Iowa football team.

Part of that is because of the way the Iowa football team recruits. They aren’t insisting on a player committing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Hawks only want players who absolutely want to be Iowa football players and nothing else.

So although yesterday’s news was a bit shocking when Winona, Minnesota product Aaron Witt decided to flip from Iowa to Wisconsin, it really is okay. Unlike many schools, an offer from the Iowa football team is an investment and a commitment in that player and because of that, they expect a similar level of commitment back. To be fair to Witt, he just received his offer from Wisconsin less than a month ago, but again, if you aren’t ready to commit or if there is a greener pasture elsewhere, the Iowa football team isn’t going to force you to commit.

Furthermore, in other surprising news, the Hawks received another 2020 commit on the defensive line in Indiana native Deontae Craig, a 6’3” and 230-pound weakside defensive end who is a top-600 3-star recruit.

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His commitment put the Iowa football team at seven defensive lineman in the class of 2020, which seemed a bit much, but it’s all coming together. With Witt moving on to Wisconsin, the Hawks have six defensive linemen committed to #Swarm20. Given that the Iowa football team will be losing both starting interior defensive lineman after this season and are likely to lose top-10 prospect AJ Epenesa, this will be much-needed reinforcements for Phil Parker’s defense.

With the commitment of Craig and decomitment of Witt, the Hawks are still at 22 commits for the 2020 season with room for likely 2-3 more players. Regardless, where it stands right now, this class has a ton of promise and potential.

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