Notes from HawkeyeReport.com . . .

Once the regular season ended on a Friday afternoon in Lincoln, the Iowa coaches were out on the recruiting trail on Sunday heading to various high schools around the country to visit with prospects, parents, and high school coaches as they try to wrap up their recruiting efforts for the Class of 2012.

This week it paid dividends with the verbal commitment of 6-foot-2 and 255 pound defensive end Faith Ekakitie from Lake Forest Academy in the Chicago area. The four star prospect picked Iowa over offers from Boston College, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Stanford, and Oregon.

That pickup gives the Iowa coaches a little momentum heading into a very important recruiting weekend. This weekend the Hawkeyes will play host to at least five known prospects, including two players who have already committed to Iowa. The commits who will be in Iowa City this weekend are: Reese Fleming, who has also been one of Iowa's best recruiters this year in the Chicago area, and Daumantas Venckus, a 6-foot-4 and 220 pound defensive end who recently committed to Iowa without having made a campus visit.

On the visitors list this weekend are two prospects who are committed to other schools and another player who is hoping to get an offer while on campus. Leading the list of visitors this weekend is 6-foot-3 and 275 pound defensive lineman Jake Sheffield from College of the Desert Junior College in Palm Desert, California. Sheffield is a soft verbal commit to Arizona State following the firing of head coach Dennis Erikson after the 2011 season. Iowa doesn't dip into the junior college ranks very often unless they see that a prospect can come in at semester and participate in spring practice and help at a position of need. Sheffield can do just that. The Hawkeyes are also looking at Sheffield's teammate, LB/DE Robert Caldwell, who is considered to be one of the top linebacker prospects in the junior college ranks this year. They are still evaluating him, but he would have to wait to join the program in the summer after spring graduation and that could cool their level of interest.

The other two visitors this weekend are three star running back Akeel Lynch, a 6-foot and 205 pounder from Athol Springs, NY. Lynch verbally committed to Boston College in July, but he wants to look around a bit and makes sure he is comfortable with his decision, so this weekend he takes a look around Iowa City. He will be joined by Kent, Conn., wide receiver prospect Tevaun Smith, who is visiting the Hawkeyes without an offer on the table. Generally that means an offer is coming, but it usually means the Iowa coaches want to continue their evaluation on the visit before presenting the offer in person. Smith visited UCONN in late November and had over 1,000 all purpose yards and 15 touchdowns this past season.

The following weekend the Hawkeyes are set to host wide receiver Jehu Chesson from St. Louis, MO and Ka'Ra Stewart from O'Fallon, IL. Chesson is a three star receiver who measures out at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds. Iowa could end up being his final official visit after earlier trips to Northwestern and Michigan. Right now it appears that he is leaning towards the Wolverines.