Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeye Commit Recap, Week of Aug. 17

The college football season is just over a week away, but before we turn our attention to the college ranks, the high school football season has gotten underway across the country already. Most schools, including those in Iowa, won’t start until this Friday, but a handful of places have already commenced.

For Hawkeye fans, the key states to kick off were Georgia and Wisconsin, where Iowa has a couple of commits already in the fold for 2019. As we will do each week during the high school football season, here’s a recap of the performances for current Hawkeye commits over the last week:

Tyler Goodson, RB

Hometown: Suwanee, GA (North Gwinnett)
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 192
Stars: 247 Sports - 3 Rivals - 3

Tyler Goodson is the lone running back commit in the class of 2019 for the Hawkeyes. Though there was much angst over the Iowa staff cutting loose 4-star prospect Jirehl Brock, Goodson did his best in week one to put concerns over the decision to rest.

Playing in the annual Corky Kell Classic that had a slew of games over the weekend in the Atlanta area, Goodson ran for 142 yards and 3 TDs on 20 carries for North Gwinnett as they came away with a 37-2 victory over Brookwood in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Goodson got it done in a number of ways. Here’s a look at his first TD of the senior campaign.

The angle isn’t great, but what you can see is Goodson getting behind his pads and barreling through a defender into the endzone. That’s a good sign for a kid who has been described as the next Akrum Wadley. He’s more known for his wiggle than his power, but he’s already listed heavier than Wadley was when he weighed in at the NFL Combine.

Here’s a look at that wiggle.

Goodson did all his damage in the first three quarters, getting to rest in the 4th as North Gwinnett, who also has 2019 players committed to Tennessee and Nebraska among others, looked to bleed out the clock. The performance was enough to garner Goodson player of the game honors.

Looks like the Hawkeyes got themselves a good one out of Georgia.

You can view the game in its entirety on YouTube here. The North Gwinnett game begins around the 10 hour 20 minute mark (the video contains all the games played last Saturday so is rather lengthy).

North Gwinnett is off this week. They’ll return to action on August 31st as they play host to Wekiva High of Apopka, Florida (Orlando area).

Jake Karchinski, DE

Hometown: De Pere, WI (West De Pere)
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 245
Stars: 247 Sports - 3 Rivals - 3

While Goodson is the splashy player for the week, defensive end commit Jake Karchinski had a bit of a lunch pail week on the defensive line. He finished with 3 tackles, including 2 TFL and a sack in less than 3 full quarters of work, as his West De Pere team dominated Shawano 42-0.

It’s worth noting that Karchinski took a helmet to the knee and left the game midway through the third quarter and did not return. The injury is not believed to be serious, but something to monitor.

Here’s a look at the highlights from week one.

West De Pere will be back in action this Friday night at New London High School.

That’s it for stat accumulators last week. Offensive lineman Justin Britt and Warren Central (Indianapolis) were in action. Britt didn’t accumulate any stats, but his top-ranked team took down 6th ranked Center Grove 27-15. Warren Central is where the Hawkeyes plucked Julius Brents in the 2018 class and where their top remaining WR target, David Bell, preps in the 2019 class. You can catch Warren Central on ESPNU this Friday at 5pm CT as they travel to Louisville, Kentucky to take on Trinity High School.

As a note, ESPNU will also be airing Tyler Goodson and North Gwinnett on September 14th as they take on Walton High. Set your DVRs accordingly.

The only other news to report from last week comes from Florida, where defensive back commit Dane Belton and Tampa Jesuit played a pre-season scrimmage. They “won” 7-4 over Gaither. Belton had three tackles defensively and also took over return duties. You can see highlights here.

As for this week, the action gets started in earnest for the rest of the class of 2019., as well as class of 2020 QB commit Deuce Hogan. We’ll be back next week to update you on all the performances.