Top-ranked 2025 kicker Scott Starzyk commits to Iowa

IOWA CITY — The No. 1 kicker in the country is going to be a Hawkeye.

Scott Starzyk — Kohl’s Kicking Camps’ top-rated kicker in the 2025 recruiting cycle — announced his commitment to Iowa Thursday evening via social media.

Iowa presents “the opportunity to play in some of the biggest stages and then be coached by one of the best coordinators in the business,” Starzyk said in a phone call with The Gazette.

“(LeVar Woods) is putting guys in the league, and that’s the main goal,” Starzyk said.

The longevity of Iowa’s coaching staff also was “really, really convincing.” Kirk Ferentz has been head coach since 1999, and Woods has been on staff in varying capacities since 2008.

“It builds a lot of confidence in you as a recruit,” Starzyk said. “In this day and age, portal and coaches getting jobs left and right, there’s a lot of things that change. So when you can have something that is as stable as that, it’s a big deal.”

Starzyk, who is from The Woodlands, Texas, chose the Hawkeyes over scholarship offers from Syracuse, Mississippi State, Memphis, UTSA and other schools. His offer from Iowa officially came while he was in Iowa City for his official visit (although it had “kind of been in the talks beforehand”).

“I show up, and right away (Woods is) like, ‘I’m putting this on the table, just so you don’t have to worry about the rest of the weekend,’” Starzyk said. “’You have the offer from us. Full scholarship.’ So that was really nice.”

The highly-touted kicker could have one year of overlap with current first-team kicker Drew Stevens. He could potentially have four years of overlap with Tripp Woody, who arrived this summer as a preferred walk-on.

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