Bettendorf OT is commit No. 7 for Iowa

Bettendorf offensive tackle Mark Kallenberger visited Iowa practice on Thursday. Before he left, he posed for a picture with head coach Kirk Ferentz and in the world of college football recruiting you know what that means.

Kallenberger, a 6-6, 250-pounder, also had offers from Iowa State, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas State. Kallenberger visited Nebraska around three weeks ago. At one point, he told Rivals.com that Iowa, Iowa State and Nebraska were three schools that stood out for him.

Around 11:30 Thursday morning, Kallenberger tweeted 'I am very excited to announce that I will be furthering my education and football career at the University of Iowa!'

And, yes, that tweet came with a picture of Kallenberger and Ferentz.

I am very excited to announce that I will be furthering my education and football career at the University of Iowa! March 31, 2016

I am very excited to announce that I will be furthering my education and football career at the University of Iowa! pic.twitter.com/TUjcsC1Wy5

— Mark Kallenberger (@m_kallenberger)

Iowa offered Kallenberger a scholarship in mid-January during a junior day visit.

'I was pretty happy,' Kallenberger told HawkeyeReport.com upon receiving the offer. 'It's just one of those things where I'm an Iowa kid and I've always wanted to play for Iowa. I've always been a fan of Iowa. Just being given the opportunity to play there, it's awesome. It's just a great feeling.'

When the Hawkeyes were in pursuit of their 12-0 regular season last year, Ferentz and staff put everything else, recruiting included, out of mind. So, that's what Kallenberger heard when he visited Kinnick Stadium in the fall.

'Coach Ferentz and Coach (Reese) Morgan just kept repeating, 'January, January, January,'' Kallenberg told HR.com. 'Then today, when I talked to Coach Morgan before I got the offer, he goes, 'Hey Mark, remember when we talked about January? Well, it's January now.' Then, not long after that, I got the offer.'

With a senior class of 14, Iowa is looking at a smallish recruiting class for 2017, probably in the area of 16 or 17. With Kallenberger's commitment, the Hawkeyes now have seven in the '17 class, with Kallenberger, rated 3 stars by Rivals.com, becoming the fifth Iowan in the class (joining Solon's Jacob Coons, Mount Vernon's Tristan Wirfs, North Fayette Valley's Juan Harris and Madrid's Coy Kirkpatrick).

Iowa has offers out to two other Iowa preps — West Des Moines Valley quarterback Rocky Lombardi (3 stars with eight offers including Michigan State) and Spirit Lake offensive tackle Zach Dykstra (3 stars with six offers including Miami, Fla., and Iowa State).

Iowa had the bulk of the 24-player 2016 recruiting class committed last year before the end of the summer, with only two commits saying yes after August.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com