Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeyes Land Commitment from In-State LB Karson Sharar

While the Iowa Hawkeyes have been on a hot streak on the football field for the last five weeks, Iowa has seen a serious cold spell on the recruiting front since late spring. After getting rolling early on and amassing 16 commits before the end of May, the Hawkeyes only added one commit in the months that have followed and lost one along the way.

The dry spell finally ended today and Iowa picked up a commitment from in-state linebacker Karson Sharar.

Sharar, a native of Iowa Falls, becomes Iowa’s 17th commitment in the class of 2021 after flipping from UNI, where he had been committed for a little under a month. Sharar’s father, Lincoln, was an all-conference tight end for the Panthers in the 90s.

However, the allure of playing for a power 5 program was too much as Sharar told HawkeyeReport:

“It’s always been a goal of mine to play Power 5 football. When he offered me, I took it right away, no questions asked. That’s been my goal ever since I started playing.”

While Sharar is relatively unheralded as a prospect and jumped onto the scene for most Hawkeye fans with his commitment, he looks like a prototypical late-cycle Iowa linebacker commit. He has a great frame at 6’3” and 205 pounds and on film he clearly stands out at the 2A level in Iowa.

He finished his senior season with 80 total tackles, including 10 tackles for loss, as well as more than 1,300 rushing yards and 13 TDs on offense. On film, he shows a good ability to diagnose a play and attack ball carriers in the backfield. He’s a vastly superior athlete, which you would expect out of a division 1 athlete playing at the Iowa high school class 2A level.

Sharar garnered interest as a basketball player early in his career, earning an offer from Drake. But his development on the gridiron grew interest there as well with offers from South Dakota State and the aforementioned UNI Panthers.

As noted, Sharar becomes commitment number 17 for Iowa in the class of 2021. He’s also the 10th from the Hawkeye state. Iowa has benefited this cycle from the strong class within the state’s borders. Given recruits for this class have largely been unable to take visits, keeping local kids home has been key.

Sharar is also the third linebacker for Iowa in the class of 2021, joining Justice Sullivan of Minnesota and Jaden Harrell of Urbandale. That’s noteworthy given Iowa’s reliance on a 4-2-5 look out of its defense, meaning perhaps one of these linebackers could be looking at a position change for playing time.

Regardless of where they end up, this class has proven high in quality. Iowa’s class of 2021 is currently ranked 26th in the nation according to Rivals and 25th according to 247 Sports. That’s the highest ranking for the Hawkeyes since the 2005 class came in at #11 per Rivals and #6 according to 247 Sports.

Welcome aboard Karson Sharar!

Karson Sharar, LB

Hometown: Iowa Falls, IA (Iowa Falls)
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 205 lbs
Stars: Sports - 3 Rivals - NA 247