UNI football focusing on homegrown talent

CEDAR FALLS — UNI football coach Mark Farley wants to keep building the Panthers from the ground up.

That’s why he is excited about his latest 21-member recruiting class, especially the 19 high school student-athletes.

"We really wanted to hone in on the future of UNI football in taking as many freshmen as we did,“ Farley said in a news release, ”building the program the way UNI football has been for years in taking players out of high school and developing them over the years and making them into five-star players."

The class also has two transfers, including former Cedar Rapids Xavier prep Josh Volk from Iowa via the transfer portal.

There are eight players from Iowa and five linebackers, four offense and defensive linemen, three defensive backs, two wide receivers, one quarterback, one defensive end and one tight end.

Volk, a 6-foot-4 offensive lineman, was on the Hawkeyes' roster for two season. He played in two games in 2021. He also was a two-time all-state lineman for the Saints.

Other Gazette area players in the class are all-state offensive lineman Luke Reth of West Delaware and Mount Vernon all-state defensive lineman Bradley Vislisel.

Other in-state signees are QB Braylon Kammrad of Council Bluffs, DL Lance Berends of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, OL Kaleb Cline of Spencer, DB Anthony Isley of Mediapolis and DL Zach Mehmert of Crestwood.

Out of state recruits are LB Tyson Cooreman of Randolph, Minn., DL Magnus Wright of Champlin, Minn., OL Jackson Stortz of Hartford, Wis.,. TE Carsten Bluhm and LB Brogan Ling of Lincoln, Neb., LB Sam Reddinger of Morris, Ill., WR Grant Larkin and LB Cole Dutkovich of Naperville, Ill., DB Alonzo Morgan III of Leawood, Kan., WR Jaiden Ellis-Lahey of Bethlehem, Pa., DB Jonathan Cabral-Martin of Lynbrook, N.Y., LB Malik Stewart of El Dorado, Kan. (via Butler Community College), and DE Andre Morris Jr. of Tampa, Fla.