Iowa Football Recruiting: 5-Star OT Kadyn Proctor Commits to Hawkeyes

College football recruiting is a wild ride for all parties involved. Coaching staffs invest enormous amounts of time, effort and energy into identifying and courting the right talent to fit into their program. Players spend just as much time sending out film, attending camps, making visits and talking with coaching staffs. And for fans, there are varying degrees of interest in the world of recruiting, but there’s no denying fans want their team to have good players.

There’s also no denying that Southeast Polk offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor is one of those good players. In terms of football players in the state of Iowa, he is in fact THE good player. Proctor is the top-rated player in the state not just in the class of 2023 but since the recruiting services began formally ranking players roughly two decades ago.

On Thursday, Proctor ended years of speculation by Hawkeye fans and announced his commitment to Iowa.

Proctor is an absolutely monster pickup for the Hawkeyes in many ways. First and foremost, he is a physical monster. Measuring in at 6’8” and 335 pounds, Proctor is a physical specimen the likes of which are rarely seen. Proctor grew up idolizing former Hawkeye and Pro Bowl tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tristan Wirfs. It’s not hyperbole to say Wirfs looks up to Proctor.

Despite the enormous size, however, Proctor is incredibly agile and athletic. He’s got the lateral quickness to stay in front of even the quickest of edge rushers and the power to bulldoze them in the run game. He has the speed and athleticism to be put on the move in the run game as well.

On film, Proctor has really everything you could want out of an offensive tackle. He’s got explosion and burst off the ball and packs a powerful punch with good hand placement. He shows speed and quickness in space when he gets to the second level or is pulling. Notably, he’s got that patented mean streak and serves up a healthy heaping of pancakes.

All that led to a 5-star rating by both 247 Sports and Rivals. The former has him ranked as the 37 player nationally while the latter ranks Proctor 14th nationally. That makes him the highest rated recruit in the history of the state of Iowa as well as for the Hawkeyes.

In choosing Iowa, Proctor turned down more than 40 other scholarship offers, including from Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Georgia, Texas, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, LSU, Missouri, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Florida, Arkansas, Arizona, Arizona State, Mississippi, Miami, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida State, Tulane, Charlotte, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Minnesota, Auburn, West Virginia, Houston and more.

The addition of Proctor takes the Hawkeyes to 14 total commitments in the class of 2023. He’s the 7th commitment from within the state’s borders and becomes Iowa’s 4th offensive lineman in the class, joining Indiana natives Leighton Jones and Trevor Lauck, as well as Illinois native Cannon Leonard.

With Proctor on board, the Hawkeyes look to build some momentum coming out of the big official visit weekend nearly a week ago and finish up a recruiting class that is now ranked 15th nationally and 4th in the Big Ten according to both Rivals and 247 Sports.

Welcome aboard, Kadyn Proctor!

Kadyn Proctor, OT
Ht: 6’8”
Wt: 335 lbs
Hometown: Pleasant Hill, Iowa (Southeast Polk)
Stars: 247 Sports - 5; Rivals - 5