:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/28072265/hansen.0.jpg)
Miles Taylor
Defensive back
Just signed, Miles Taylor! Welcome to #HawkNation! #GoHawks #Swarm2014 http://t.co/luDchttFp4
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) February 5, 2014
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Height: 6'
Weight: 185 pounds
247 Sports Composite Rating: 3-star
Other Offers: Georgia Tech, Temple, UConn
Caring Is Creepy: Have a seat, Miles Taylor
There was a concern when Darrell Wilson left for Rutgers last February that Iowa's ties to the mid-Atlantic would be broken, and the pipeline that had recently replaced Florida as one of the Hawkeyes' most fertile recruiting areas would evaporate. Iowa is now the only program with commitments from two of the top ten 2014 prospects in the District of Columbia. Another defensive back, Marcel Joly, comes to Iowa from Maryland, and two more, Jameer Outsey and Terrence Harris, hail from New Jersey. Iowa has not missed a beat in the mid-Atlantic, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Chris White, who had nine years of experience recruiting the area at Syracuse.
The Taylor commitment came out of nowhere, just days after he had told recruiting services that he was steadfastly committed to Georgia Tech and hours after a secret visit to Iowa City that 2008 Kirk Ferentz would have never authorized. For a moment, it looked like Iowa was going to bring in a pair of borderline four-star safeties, but Taylor's commitment coincided far too neatly with the decommitment of fellow safety Jyaz Jones for there to be anything but a correlation; Jones' offer was likely contingent, and Taylor was the contingency. Either way, it's just nice for Iowa to be recruiting safeties instead of building them from spare parts left around the locker room.