Ferentz on Vier

Austin Vier's recruiting went like this: Make a stop in Iowa's prep camp and run a decent 40. Get an offer. Drive home two hours. Drive back to Iowa City. Accept offer. All told, it was probably less than a 24-hour courtship.

Vier is somewhat of a surprise offer in this year's class. He's big (6-7, 228) and athletic (played QB and has letters in track and basketball). But Iowa was his lone offer. He had interest from Iowa State, K-State, Nebraska, Missouri and Purdue, with Purdue perhaps showing the most.

Look at the circumstance: He camped at Iowa (where he played some QB and TE) and Iowa quickly offered. Iowa coaches saw something they liked and acted quickly.

Links -- Here's the story I wrote on Vier when he committed (another one so long ago it's on the old blog). . . . ESPN Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg rates Vier a "sleeper." . . . Ames Tribune hoops pic of Vier. . . . Ames Trib signing day story.

Bio -- From UI sports info: High school honors - - Earned all-conference honorable mention recognition as a senior . . . Career - - earned three varsity letters as quarterback and tight end . . . completed 78-154 passes (50.6%) for 968 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior, despite missing one game due to injury . . . as a junior completed 57-118 passes (48.3%) for 661 yards and six touchdowns . . . led team to first-ever post-season victory as a senior after team also made state playoffs his junior season . . . team posted 9-2 record in his final season, setting school record for season victories . . . team captain as a senior . . . also lettered in basketball and track . . . played wide receiver as a sophomore at Nevada, IA HS.

Personal - - Born 5/16/91 . . . Optometry major . . . member of National Honor Society and prep Honor Roll . . . academic all-district in football and academic all-conference in basketball . . . parents are Shelley and Kevin Vier . . . high school coach was Al Christian.

Ferentz on -- Ferentz was asked directly about Vier. QB or TE or . . . It's a good question: "He wants to start at quarterback. We're all for that. We'll let him have that opportunity. If he can project there, that's great. If not, then we'll probably try another position. We're thinking about tight end possibly. So there's not a great hurry, sense of urgency. Again, we saw what we liked of him. Came to camp. Really impressed us. Thought he did a lot of good things, and another guy that did a really good job of leading his football team."

Projection is fun -- So, again, Iowa wants players playing where they want to play. It makes sense. For the most part it works. The best position changes are the one where it makes sense to the player and he can see himself playing there, with playing time being a payoff.

Question is, how long will the QB thing go?

I talked to Vier a couple different times. He's a legit 6-7 and 228. That gives him a lot of options. I don't know what the growth potential could be, but O-line or DE might not be out of the question.

Playing football at Iowa is the dream. When I talked to him this summer, he was open to anything.

“I don't know if it's necessarily going to be a year or more than a year,” he said. “They (coaches) just said I'm going to get a shot at it. I don't know how long that will be. I'm going to give it my best shot. I could end up at quarterback or I could end up at tight end. Either one, I'd be fine with.”