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Welcome to the beginning our preview of the 2019 Iowa Hawkeyes football season. It’s legitimately insane to believe we are just 99 days away from the opener against Miami (OH) Redhawks aka the Manny Rugamba Revenge Game.
We lead our player previews with a backup defensive tackle who figures to factor prominently in Phil Parker’s plans with a rotation of eight guys across the line.
Noah Shannon – RS Freshman
Aurora, IL (Oswego)
6’0”, 294 lbs
2019 Projection: Backup defensive tackle
Shannon came to Iowa as a 3-star defensive tackle and the 11th best 2018 recruit in the state of Illinois, according to 247sports. The Hawkeyes were the first to offer him in 2016 and later received the types of offers you’d figure to see for a player Iowa is interested in – Iowa State, midmajors, and other regional players – as well as Virginia and Duke.
He committed to Minnesota on an unofficial visit in May 2017. The commitment lasted all of 19 days as he reopened his recruitment before a return to Minnesota, and visits to Wisconsin, Iowa, and Penn State. Shortly after camping with PSU, he committed to Iowa.
Looking at his HS tape, it’s easy to see why P.J. Fleck wanted him along his defensive line. The dude is almost ready-made as a stout interior lineman with a penchant for getting into opponents’ backfields.
He spent the last year refining his body down to 294 from a high school weight over 300. He projects inside, where Iowa leverages tackles to hold up offensive linemen and let the linebackers accumulate the tackles so containment is not broken at the point of attack.
While he projects as a rotation piece this season, he should factor prominently in future Iowa defenses.