Iowa fans, look away, because this painful memory from the recruiting trail is about to resurface.
The Hawkeye football program under Kirk Ferentz has earned a sterling reputation for player development, despite not always attracting the highest-ranked recruits. The program is very deliberate on the recruiting trail, and prospects know that if they come to Iowa, they will be set up for future playing success. Iowa has made a habit out of winning recruiting battles for talented offensive line prospects and sending them to the NFL, and Ferentz would have easily added one more player to his resume if he had honored his pledge to join the program...twice.
Missing out on Kadyn Proctor is still a massive topic of discussion in Iowa City
While the talk has definitely died down since the second time he spurned the Iowa program, fans are still very divided on their feelings towards star offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor, one of the best offensive lineman prospects the state has ever had. Proctor went to an Iowa high school football powerhouse, Southeast Polk, and he was on the same squad as fellow five-star prospect Xavier Nwankpa and dynamic running back prospect Abu Sama. Sama committed to Iowa State, while Nwankpa committed to Iowa, and Proctor also headed to Iowa City...until he wasn't.
In June 2022, Kirk Ferentz and the program were celebrating one of the biggest recruiting wins in program history when Proctor announced his commitment, but that joy quickly turned to dread, and it was nowhere near the end of the Proctor saga. Proctor was ranked as the No. 1 Iowa prospect and the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2023 class before choosing the Hawkeyes over Alabama. Unfortunately for the program, Nick Saban was still the head coach, and he often got what he wanted, including Proctor. In December 2022, Proctor flipped to the Crimson Tide.
If that wasn't heartbreaking enough for Iowa fans and the program, the Hawkeyes got another bite at the apple in 2024. After Saban announced his retirement, Proctor entered the transfer portal and announced he was heading home to Iowa. That didn't last long, because shortly after announcing he was signing with Iowa, he backed out and returned to Alabama. When he was asked why he spurned Iowa again, Proctor claimed something "didn't feel right," prompting his return to Tuscaloosa. Iowa again missed out on its former prized recruit, and even though he was never officially a Hawkeye, some fans still harbor ill will towards him to this day.
It was a rare double "what if" for the Hawkeyes in recruiting, and while some hate him for how he handled both situations, some feel that the program was better off because he never seemed truly invested in joining. Regardless of what side Iowa fans are on, the whole situation is still very strange, and everyone hopes the program never experiences it again. With Proctor in the fold, the program could have been even more dominant in the run game, and he might have opened up more opportunities in the passing game. We will never get the chance to find out, as he became a first-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2026 NFL Draft and will always be remembered as one of Iowa's biggest recruiting failures.
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