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Our beloved Hawkeyes are absolutely steamrolling the recruiting trails and that continued when Ryan Sokol took to the Twittersphere Saturday night and announced his verbal commitment to the 2021 class for Iowa.
I’m excited to announce that I will be continuing my athletic and academic career at the University of Iowa. Go Hawks!
— Ryan Sokol (@sokol914) October 13, 2018
Though Sokol is only a sophomore for Simley Senior High School in Minnesota, he’s been a life long Hawk fan and couldn’t wait any longer to make it official. In an interview with Hawk Central he went on to say:
“When I went down there for some camps, I really loved the atmosphere and loved the coaches. I thought about waiting longer, just to see how things played out, but at the end of the day, I felt so at home there that I felt like I would’ve ended up there anyway.
I’ve always loved Iowa. I’ve loved Iowa since I was a little kid, when I started wrestling at four years old.”
He is close friends with fellow Hawkeye commits and Minnesota defectors, Patrick Kennedy and Zach Glazier. Likewise, he has contact with current Hawkeyes Aaron Cashman and Sam Stoll, who once called the border state home, as well.
“I’m good friends with Kennedy. I know the other guys pretty well, but I hang out with Kennedy every once in a while. He convinced me to come down for a camp (over the summer). That’s when I really fell in love with everything, more so than I was before.
“I want to be an Iowa Hawkeye, so I figured I would just make it happen.”
Not only do I love landing the top recruits in the country, I love when those top recruits are die hard Hawkeye fans to begin with.
FloWrestling has Sokol ranked #9 overall and considers him one of the best for a class that’s still years away, but he already has the accolades to merit such a thought. He will more than likely climb those rankings as he adds to his resume.
He’s already placed twice in the Minnesota State Tournament before even being in high school. As a 7th grader he placed 5th at 106lbs and 3rd the following year at 113lbs. To top off those bragging rights he was a 2017 Fargo Cadet National Freestyle Champion at 120lbs.
A slew of injuries kept him from competing in most of his freshman campaign, including the state tourney, but now he’s fully healed and says he’s ready to go.
“It’s been a long year, but I’m excited to get [my] sophomore year started and get back to what I love doing.”
Currently he plans on going at 132lbs for this upcoming season, but projects himself anywhere from 141-157lbs by the time he lands in Iowa City. Only a few, short years away…
I’ve said it previously, but this keeps getting better and BETTER. The future of our Hawkeye program is starting to materialize and it looks amazing. The Brands Bros, Ryan Morningstar and the Spencer Lee Effect can’t stop, won’t stop. Let’s keep it going! GO HAWKS!!!