Iowa football begins pivotal recruiting month for 2026 class in relatively strong position

IOWA CITY — Official visit season is officially here.

With Iowa football expected to host a slew of 2026 recruits — 22, based on On3’s recruiting database — the next three weekends likely will be pivotal in assembling the rest of the Hawkeyes’ recruiting class.

Going into this important stretch of the recruiting calendar, the Hawkeyes appear to be in a relatively strong position.

Recruiting rankings always are fluid — especially ahead of a month with a lot of recruiting activity — but On3 has the class ranked 25th overall and seventh in the Big Ten, as of Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, 247 Sports has the class ranked 32nd overall and 11th in the conference.

For perspective, Iowa’s 2025 recruiting class ended up with rankings of 33rd overall from On3 and 39th overall from 247 Sports.

Iowa’s offensive line recruiting is especially well set. Five of the nine commitments in the class will be in George Barnett’s position room. Four of the five offensive linemen — Gene Riordan, Hudson Parliament, Owen Linder and Carson Nielsen — have four-star ratings from On3. The other, Colin Whitters, has a respectable three-star rating.

Official visits this weekend

Three prospects are expected to take official visits this weekend — defensive back Isaiah McMillian and defensive linemen Cory House and Sawyer Jezierski.

McMillian, hailing from Katy, Texas, visited Arizona last weekend and was at Kentucky earlier this week.

House, a three-star prospect from Memphis, Tenn., also has offers from Indiana, Michigan State, Memphis, North Carolina and Ole Miss, among many other suitors.

Jezierski — a 6-foot-4, 275-pound prospect from the Minneapolis area — received an offer from the Hawkeyes earlier this week after attending a camp in Iowa City.

All three were relatively late changes to the recruiting calendar. Iowa initially lost its entire list of official visitors for this weekend, including two prospects less than 24 hours apart from each other at the beginning of this week.

Four-star defensive back Gavin Day committed to Washington on Sunday after taking an official visit there, and three-star wide receiver Keaton Reinke committed to Northwestern on Monday.

Later official visits

As for visits later in the month, the Hawkeyes lost linebacker prospect Braylon Hodge to Michigan State. He was scheduled to take an official visit to Iowa on June 20.

That June 20-22 weekend will have the biggest wave of official visitors. That includes already-committed players like quarterback Cash Herrera, defensive back Marcello Vitti and Iowa’s quintet of offensive linemen.

Herrera has announced offers from California and Arizona since committing to the Hawkeyes, and Michigan State has expressed interest in Vitti since his commitment to Iowa. So not all of Iowa’s nine commitments are to be taken for granted going into their official visits.

It also will serve as a chance to further woo coveted recruiting targets such as Iowa City West linebacker Julian Manson — a four-star prospect whose other offers include Miami (Fla.), Kansas State and Minnesota.

If the next three weeks go well with Manson, Herrera and the litany of other prospects, official visit season may precede recruiting optimism season in Iowa City.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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