Hawkeyes pick up recruit No. 1 for '12

Iowa is on the recruiting board for 2012.

Riverdale (Port Byron, Ill.) High School's Mitchell Keppy has committed to the Hawkeyes. Keppy is a 6-foot-5, 280-pound offensive/defensive lineman. (38-2). He finished as the Illinois Class 1A state runner-up at heavyweight this season, compiling a 38-2 record as well as regional runner-up and sectional champion for Riverdale.

Keppy's father, Myron, played defensive line for the Hawkeyes in 1986-87. He said Iowa sees Mitchell as an offensive lineman, likely guard.

"I think wrestling will help him on the inside," said Myron Keppy, who serves as Riverdale's head wrestling coach and is an assistant with the football team. "He can play tackle, he played tackle all through high school. He played guard as a freshman on the varsity, but moved out to tackle his sophomore and junior year."

Mitchell Keppy is Iowa's first commitment for the 2012 class. In terms of the recruiting timetable, which finishes the first week of February 2012, this is 4 a.m.

These sometimes can be the most vulnerable commitments. Other coaches now know who the main competition is. This doesn't appear to be a concern for the Keppys.

"There are no worries on our part," Myron Keppy said. "They seemed really excited. We talked with [offensive line] coach [Reese] Morgan and [head] coach [Kirk] Ferentz at the same time on the phone yesterday. They were very excited. We got letters from all the staff today, cards from all the staff today.

"They're happy he's part of the Hawkeye family and we are, too."

Iowa was the first school to offer Keppy, who had attended Iowa's football camps the last two summers. Iowa saw what it needed to see.

"Even though I played up there and we're both Hawkeye fans and our whole family, I left it up to him," Myron Keppy said. "We weren't expecting an offer from Iowa this soon. Iowa was No. 1 on his list."

Keppy, Iowa's first recruit for '12, also visited Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and  Northern Illinois. Riverdale is a Class 2A school in Illinois.

"He's had exposure to some of the bigger schools, I think that's why some of them are interested," Myron said. "As far as offers out there, we talked to a few who said if he were playing at a bigger school, he'd have a half dozen to a dozen offers on the table. We weren't worried about him getting one, it was more of a matter of when he would get one and who it was from."