Texas running back picks Iowa over a lot of places

College football recruiting and social media were made for each other. It's a way for a school to drum up enthusiasm when the next game is somewhere around 150 days away.

You see it all over Twitter. High school prep commits and coaches from that school tweet 'Boom.' Iowa hasn't done a lot of this. Usually, the recruiting coordinator tweets 'Good news from out of [fill in the general area where the prospect is from].' In the age of the emoticons, it's refreshingly understated.

Monday night was a little different.

When Texas running back Eno Benjamin committed to the Hawkeyes, three Iowa assistant coaches acknowledge it with tweets of joy.

BOOM!!! April 18th is indeed a Great Day To Be A Hawkeye! Great news from Texas! April 18, 2016

BOOM!!! April 18th is indeed a Great Day To Be A Hawkeye! Great news from Texas! #GoHawks Rock Out WithYour Hawk Out pic.twitter.com/hNdv2XIQyx

— Chris White (@IowaCoachWhite)

April 18, 2016

#HawksEye17@HawkeyeFootball#InvestInIowa = #Opportunity pic.twitter.com/WEbC2J6GwW

— Kelvin Bell (@CoachK_Bell)

Tremendous news out of The Dallas Metroplex!!!!

Great news for the Hawkeyes, can you hear the boom? April 18, 2016

Great news for the Hawkeyes, can you hear the boom? #Gohawks #Hawkeyes #GoHawks pic.twitter.com/5felBsa0Xd

— BK (@BKwrHawkeyes)

It's not just everyday a 4-star Texas running back with offers from Baylor, Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma State (28 overall) commits to the Iowa Hawkeyes. So, what you do is let the world know.

'What a wild ride,' Benjamin wrote. 'First off, I'd like to give thanks to God for blessing me time after time as well as giving me the ability to do what I do. I would like to thank my family, coaches and friends for guiding me to where I am today. The road hasn't been easy at all, but has most definitely paid off. . . .

'I would like to thank all of the schools that took a chance on me and provided me an opportunity to be a part of their football programs. I would now like to announced I am officially committing to the University of Iowa.'

Excited to announce I am officially committing to the University of Iowa!April 18, 2016

Excited to announce I am officially committing to the University of Iowa!#SWARM https://t.co/f73eFk8H4w pic.twitter.com/SKrwK2pBKX

— Eno Benjamin™ (@eno_benjamin5)

Last season at Wylie (Texas) East High School, Benjamin rushed for 2,652 rushing yards with 41 rushing TDs, along with 3,035 all-purpose yards and four more TDs on special teams.

Benjamin is believed to be Iowa's first Rivals 4-star offensive skill position recruit since Union High School wide receiver Jay Scheel signed with Iowa in 2014.

Benjamin was impressed with how Iowa stayed consistent in its recruiting effort.

'Over the course of a few months they've shown that they have been committed to me,' Benjamin told HawkeyeReport.com. 'They have shown me that I have been a top priority to them and when I went up there and took a visit I was very impressed.'

He told Rivals.com that Iowa visited his school four straight weeks earlier this year. Wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy is credited with being point on Iowa's effort with Benjamin. Kennedy has deep recruiting roots in Texas.

'They are doing all that stuff with 2- and 3-star running backs from my standpoint,' Benjamin told Rivals.com. 'The way I think about it is, with those big offensive lines they put together, just imagine what you could do with a 4-star running back out there.'

Also, 'They think that I can be the guy,' Benjamin told HawkeyeReport. 'They've hashtagged me the Program Changer and I would be the new face of the program on the offensive side; something similar to Desmond King and what he's doing there.'

Again, it's not every day that a 4-star Texas running back commits to Iowa. So, yeah, admit it. Your head is kind of spinning right now.

Benjamin told HawkeyeReport that he plans to graduate in December and enroll in college in January.

Iowa now has nine commitments for the 2017 class, with two 4-star commits and seven 3-stars. Rivals currently has Iowa's 2017 class ranked third in the Big Ten (behind Ohio State and Michigan) and No. 12 nationally.

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