Peyton Mansell never wavered in commitment to Iowa

IOWA CITY — Yes, at one point this summer, Iowa's 2017 recruiting class was bursting with skill players from Texas.

At one point, Iowa had commitments from running back Eno Benjamin (4-star from Wylie), cornerback Chevin Calloway (4-star from Dallas), wide receiver Gavin Holmes (3-star from Justin) and wide receiver Beau Corrales (3-star from Georgetown). This also was in the summer, when commits are nice in theory but absolutely non-binding.

Wednesday morning, commitments become signatures on national letters of intent. If you look closely, you'll notice that not all Texas skill players jumped the Hawkeyes' ship.

Belton, Texas, quarterback Peyton Mansell, rated as a 3-star prospect by Rivals, never wavered. He committed around the same time with the others. He remains friends with them, but he never budged from his Iowa commitment.

'The guys who didn't end up coming are all my friends and it stinks that I didn't get a chance to play with them,' said Mansell, who completed 189 of 272 passes (69 percent) for 2,558 yards with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions for Belton High School last season. 'I committed to the school and not my friends. I was committed from the school from day 1 and now even with coach Davis, coach Kennedy and coach White leaving, I'm still committed.'

Former Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis was listed as Mansell's lead recruiter. He retired earlier this month. Former wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy and running backs coach Chris White also had a hand in Mansell's recruitment. They weren't retained for next season.

None of that shook Mansell.

'I feel like I'm coming into a good quarterback situation,' he said. 'With C.J. (Beathard) just graduating, I'm going to have a chance to go in and compete against great quarterbacks in Nate Stanley and Tyler Wiegers. But they all have the same starting college experience that I do. None of us have started a game. I'm just excited to go in and compete. I really wanted to play in the Big Ten growing up. I really love how tradition-rich the conference is.

'Iowa is a lot like Belton, where I go. We're not going to attract the biggest athletes, but we're still going to find ways to win games. We have to replace the lack of raw talent with straight-up grit and hard work. I fell in love with that aspect of Iowa.'

What kind of quarterback is Mansell? In addition to 33 TD passes last season, he also had 1,132 yards and 15 touchdowns on 166 carries.

'My dad and I have always joked that I'm a 'dual-threat-ish' quarterback,' Mansell said. 'This year I kind of showed I could run a little bit and not just pick up a couple of yards. If I can extend plays, I think that will be really helpful on the next level.'

Yes, Mansell has met with Brian Ferentz, who'll be in his first season as Iowa's offensive coordinator. The exact blueprints haven't been laid out, but you'll notice some familiar themes.

'I sat down with him on my official and he said we're still going to play Iowa football,' Mansell said. 'We're going to run hard and run a lot, but we're still going to throw the ball about 30 times a game. He gave me a crazy stat. It was like when we run the ball more than 40 times a game, we're undefeated. It was something like that and it made sense with how high of quality our line has every year.'

(Iowa is 13-2 when it has rushed more than 40 times in games the last two seasons. Both losses were this year — Iowa rushed 41 times against Northwestern and Florida.)

Cornerback Matt Hankins (a 3-star from Flower Mound, Texas) also stuck with the Hawkeyes (despite a run from Michigan). Hankins really will have an opportunity for early playing time at cornerback. Mansell will have to catch up with Stanley, a sophomore and odds-on favorite for the job after burning his redshirt last season.

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Whatever happens, you probably already have a soft spot for Mansell.

Let's see, Iowa's new offensive coordinator has told him the goal is 40 rushes a game, he watched and stood his ground as friends had dramatic decommitments this summer and fall and you caught that Belton/Iowa quote, right?

Iowa and Peyton Mansell are simply meant to be.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com