Jersey LB is No. 20

Sicklerville, N.J., has been very good to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The central New Jersey town has produced Leroy Smith, Iowa's season sacks leader (18), and Shonn Greene, who set Iowa's season rushing and touchdown record in 2008 with 1,850 yards and 20 TDs.

Last weekend, Sicklerville's Quinton Alston committed to the Hawkeyes.

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound linebacker is Iowa's 20th verbal commitment. Alston previously committed to Pittsburgh, but de-committed after Dave Wannstedt resigned, Mike Haywood was hired and then fired after a domestic violence charge and then, finally Monday night, Tulsa's Todd Graham was hired.

That's a lot of instability, something that Iowa most definitely is not, with two head coaches in the last 32-plus years.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz visted Alston's school, Timber Creek, last week.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and Wilson paid a visit to Timber Creek last week, talking for about two hours.

“(Ferentz) made a great impact on Quinton when he met his face-to-face,'' Timber Creek coach Rob Hinson told the Courier-Post. “In (Alston's) mind, the buildings wouldn't change his mind. He loves the coaching staff.''

Alston had scholarship offers from 18 schools, including Wisconsin, Purdue and Stanford. Alston suffered through an injury-plagued senior season, including a meniscus surgery on a knee, but as a junior, he had 80 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and four sacks.

Alston played in the Chesapeake Bowl, an all-star game between Jersey and Pennsylvania preps and Maryland/D.C./Virginia/West Virginia preps, on Dec. 30 and made three tackles.

Alston has yet to visit Iowa City, but will make an official visit on Jan. 21, when Iowa plans to host DeMatha High School (Hyattsville, Md.) teammates OL Cyrus Kouandjio and DT Darian Cooper.

"I knew there would probably be some criticism about that [not visiting Iowa], but I looked at it from the perspective of what am I going to see that's going to alter my decision?" Alston told HawkeyeReport.com. "What stadium or what building is going to change my mind? That stuff doesn't really matter to me."

Illinois running back Mikail McCall was a Hawkeye in early December for about 20 minutes. He committed to Michigan State and then lost the scholarship offer when he continued to visit schools, as he did Iowa in early December.

McCall recently firmed up his commitment to the Hawkeyes, giving Iowa two running backs in the 2011 recruiting class, which will become official when letters of intent are signed and faxed in on Feb. 2.

Tom Lemming, who runs the prep recruiting blog "Football's Second Season" for the Chicago Sun-Times, believes The Thornridge (Dolton, Ill.) prep is one of the nation's top "big backs." McCall is 6-0, 210.

Thornridge coach Mike Morrissey told Lemming that McCall is "as good as advertised, as good as the publicity he receives. He does something new at practice every week that has the coaches shaking their heads. For me, he is a bigger version of (former Iowa star) Tim Dwight. He is so tough. He runs with aggression."

Here's a link to the post.

Quinton Alston, 6-1, 235, LB, Timber Creek High School (Sicklerville, N.J.)

Mikail McCall, 6-0, 210, RB, Thornridge (Dolton, Ill.) High School

Rodney Coe, 6-4, 240, RB, Edwardsville (Ill.) High School

Jacob Hillyer, 6-4, 190, WR, Somerset (Texas) High School

Dan Heiar, 6-5, 285, OL, Iowa Western Community College (Northeast Goose Lake)

Nicholas Law, 6-2, 190, S, Bishop McNamara High School (Forestville, Md.)

Melvin Spears, 6-2, 230, LB, Allen (Texas) High School

Jordan Walsh, 6-3, 275, OL, Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)

Torrey Campbell, 5-11, 180, CB, Barron Collier High School (Naples, Fla)

Cole Fisher, 6-3, 200, LB, Millard North (Omaha, Neb.) High School

Mike Orloff, 6-2, 215, LB, Lawrence Academy (Groton, Mass.)

Riley McMinn, 6-7, 220, DE, Rochester (Ill.) High School

Jake Duzey, 6-4, 225, TE, Athens High School (Troy, Michigan)

Jake Rudock, 6-3, 185, QB, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

John Raymon, 6-5, 240, DE, Council Rock North High School (New Town, Penn.)

Ray Hamilton, 6-5, 225, TE, Strongsville (Ohio) High School

Austin Vincent, 6-2, 170, WR, DeSoto (Texas) High School

Henry Krieger-Coble, 6-4, 220, TE, Mount Pleasant High School

Austin Blythe, 6-3, 280, OL, Williamsburg High School

Marcus Grant, 6-2, 190, WR Lawrence Academy (Groton, Mass.)