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We’re just outside two weeks away from the start of the 2019 football season in Iowa City. As exciting as that is, things may be just as exciting out on the recruiting trail for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa, which already had 22 commits in the class of 2020 before the team returned for fall camp, was expected to be largely done until at least fall. Today, the staff got some very good, unexpected news before classes start back up.
They went back to the fertile recruiting grounds of Indiana that have treated them so well of late to add a tremendous talent at defensive end as Deontae Craig announced his commitment.
COMMITTED pic.twitter.com/zKC5rlp2Nu
— Deontae Craig (@CraigDeontae) August 16, 2019
Craig is one of those players that makes your jaw drop the first time you watch him play. On film, he’s bigger, faster and stronger than everyone else on the field. At 6’3” and 235, he has a good frame to fill out even further while keeping his incredible burst.
He uses that burst off the edge to cause mayhem in the backfield. The speed off the edge is deadly when combined with his power. While he’ll need to build on that to be effective in the Big Ten, he has all the tools as a senior-to-be to be yet another problem for opposing offensive lines for years to come.
The burst, power and speed off the edge are why Craig has an offer list that looks more like a 5 star’s than that of a 3 star. In addition to Iowa, Craig had offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Washington State, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, Ball State, and Indiana State.
Craig is also a tremendous all around athlete. We all know the Iowa staff loves players who compete in other sports and the Indianapolis native certainly competes in basketball. He was seriously weighing options to play both football and basketball at one point before choosing to come to Iowa for football.
With the addition of Craig, Iowa now sits at 23 total commitments in the class of 2020. They also have 8 defensive linemen. While that may seem like a lot, the recent success at the position has left a need for more depth. The question now is which of the talented commits in this class will be first to make an impact in Iowa City.
Welcome to the family Deontae Craig!