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The hot month of June continues this week for the Iowa Hawkeyes. After hosting their annual big official visit weekend this past weekend with 14 official visitors, the Hawkeyes have been building momentum during the week. That started with the commitment of South Carolina kicker Drew Stevens as a PWO on Monday and continued on Tuesday as the Hawkeyes landed their signal caller in Oklahoma QB Carson May.
After taking a day off on Wednesday, Iowa keeps things going on Thursday as they land a commitment from Illinois wide receiver Jacob Bostick, giving May his first weapon in the class.
COMMITTED! ⚫️ @HawkeyeFootball @CopelandKelton @TylerBarnesIOWA @CoachSWallace @CoachBFerentz @PHS_Football @TurpEdits #PraiseGod#B1ESSED#GoHawkeyes pic.twitter.com/n7UA71OpYW
— Jacob Bostick (@JacobBostick5) July 1, 2021
That Palatine, Illinois native becomes the first of Iowa’s commitments to come out of that big recruiting weekend. Recall that May had actually visited previously and was simply waiting on Iowa to finish their evaluations and make an offer.
Bostick, on the other hand, had been in contact with the Hawkeye staff for some time and actually made his pledge over the weekend while on his official visit.
“I committed to Iowa this past weekend,” Bostick told HawkeyeReport. “I told Iowa I needed a couple days to call some people... The day before we left the visit, I prayed that night. That morning I got up early and went to my mom and dad. We had a conversation, they were happy with what I was thinking and we pulled it right then and there. I told the coaches that morning before we left.”
What was it about Iowa that sealed the deal? Again speaking with HawkeyeReport, Bostick calls out some familiar trends for Iowa fans.
As far as Iowa goes, the recruiting process was phenomenal. My family and I look for honesty, transparency and just consistency throughout the whole thing. We just wanted clear and concise communication. I definitely would say Iowa did a fantastic job on that.
When we came up for the official, I wanted to spend a lot of time with the players and build relationships with the coaches. Shoutout to my guy Tyrone Tracy. He was my host and showed me a great time. Coach Copeland, Coach Brian Ferentz, Coach Ferentz and Coach Wallace as well, we had hour-long meetings with each of those guys on the visit.”
That stuff was the big stuff, and then it’s Big Ten football. It was one of my dreams to go Division I since I was in fifth grade. The location is great. It’s 3.5 hours from my home, so I know my family and my friends can still see me play. We know Iowa wins, so I couldn’t be more happy to go to a team where the tradition is to win. Outside of that, I love the colors. I’m a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan, so when I got that black and yellow on, it was already set.
So, what does the Illinois native bring to the Hawkeye family? Talent. Bostick has a great frame at 6’2”+ and plenty of speed and pass catching ability to go with that. On film, you see a solid route tree, but what really stands out is the trust from his QB on 50/50 balls where Bostick simply won’t be denied. He does well creating space and high-pointing the ball in the redzone. He’s also got sure hands in traffic and shows an ability in the return game on film.
As a junior at Palatine, Bostick finished with 451 yards and 9 TDs on 31 catches (14.5 yards per catch) in just six games. That’s more than 75 yards and at least one TD every game as a junior. Those numbers and the raw talent earned Bostick a total of 17 scholarship offers. That included the likes of Illinois, Kansas State, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pitt, all the academies and the majority of the MAC.
Bostick becomes commitment number seven for the Hawkeyes, who continue their climb up the recruiting rankings this week. The Hawkeyes have climbed more than a dozen spots to 45th nationally according to Rivals, ahead of several schools in the neighborhood who have more commitments.
As for who could be next, Bostick pledged to do his part to help deliver a few more of those official visitors from last weekend.
“As soon as I commit, I plan to be the No. 1 recruiter and bring everyone else to Iowa with me. All my buddies that came on the visit with me, I’m going to try to get them all – Aiden Laughery, my guy Christion Stokes, my man Brian Allen – I’m going to try and get all those guys.”
Welcome aboard Jacob Bostick!