Texas LB makes it 15

Melvin Spears has played football since kindergarten. He's been a linebacker 99.9 percent of his time in the game.

There was a short stint at defensive end when he was in little league in grade school, but it's been linebacker, middle linebacker in particular, from day 1.

That's exactly what the University of Iowa asked him to do for the next stage of his career.

Spears, a 6-foot-2, 230-pounder, accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Iowa last week. The Allen (Texas) High School standout is Iowa's 15th commitment. The Hawkeyes' 2011 recruiting class will likely end up in the neighborhood of 23 to 25 when it signs in February.

Spears had offers from Minnesota, North Texas and Arkansas State.

Spears "plays" a solid sideline-to-sideline game. That caught Iowa coaches' attention.

"When he walks in the room you know it," Allen defensive coordinator Cory Cain told HawkeyeReport.com. "He's 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds. He is like he is chiseled out of stone. He is the strongest player, pound for pound, in our program. He is all linebacker and plays with a linebacker mentality. He is a downhill plugger, but also athletic enough to get sideline to sideline."

Spears is at the magic height, 6-2, that could allow him to grow into a D-lineman. But that's not in the plans right now.

"The linebacker position just kind of comes to me," Spears said. "But I know there's still a lot for me to learn. They're looking at me as an inside linebacker. They've watched film and they like the way I play."

Iowa was Spears' first offer.

"I thought it was pretty serious and I should look into it," Spears said. "I visited for the Penn State game and loved everything about it. The stripes [in Kinnick Stadiu, that night] were pretty cool. I've never seen that."

Spears is interested in architecture and would like to pursue that through Iowa's engineering program.

Allen, a Class 5A school out of the eight classes in Texas, went into Friday night's game with a 6-0 record.

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

Melvin Gordon, 6-0, 185, RB, Bradford High School (Kenosha, Wis.)

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.)