Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeyes Make the Cut for St. Louis Defensive Back Dallas Craddieth

With the return of the Hawkeyes to the gridiron, it’s easy to forget the coaching staff is still busy recruiting the playmakers of the future. They’ve been red hot of late, adding commitments from a pair of Indianapolis defensive backs in the last couple weeks, including 4-star safety prospect Julius Brents just last Friday.

This week, the Hawkeyes got another step closer to gaining a new member of #Swarm18 when they made the cut for yet another talented defensive back. St. Louis DB Dallas Craddieth announced he had trimmed his list to a top 6 via Twitter on Monday.

Craddieth is a 3-star recruit according to the 247 Composite rankings and the number 5 prospect in Missouri. He preps at Hazelwood Central, the home of former Hawkeye great Marvin McNutt and current WR Matt Quarells, who transferred from New Mexico this summer.

He’s a little smaller than Brents, coming in at 6’1” and 195 lbs, but right out of the gates, you can see from his junior season highlights that Craddieth can bring the wood. He really excels coming up in run support, but also shows pretty good instincts in coverage out of the safety spot. On offense and in special teams, Craddieth displays good ball skills and an ability to go up and get the ball.

Iowa made the cut from 12 to 6, along with Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. The question for the Hawkeyes now is whether they have room. This recruiting class is expected to be on the smaller side, under 20 total commitments. At defensive back, Iowa is looking to take 3 commitments. To-date, they already have those three spots filled. Here’s a reminder of who they have in the fold.

It’s possible Iowa could decide to take fewer commits at another position to make room for a talent like Craddieth. They could, for example, not pursue another offensive lineman or pass on an additional defensive lineman if they don’t land West Des Moines Dowling superstar John Waggoner. It’s a good position to be in for the Iowa staff. They can afford to be very selective down the stretch with only 5-7 spots remaining to fill.

A quick look shows the Hawkeyes still in search of a QB for the class of 2018. They are also looking to add another WR (they consider current commits Tyrone Tracy and Samson Evans, who are classified as athletes, to be WRs). As mentioned above, they will be adding another OL and DL and would likely round out the class with 1-2 LBs to fill the void from the departing senior trio of Josey Jewell, Ben Neimann and Bo Bower.

If another spot becomes available, Dallas Craddieth would make an excellent addition.