Hawkeyes reel in 6'5 wide receiver Reece Vander Zee | 2024 WR picks Iowa over Nebraska, Iowa State

Intro [Music] the Iowa football coaching staff has had a good week recruiting wins across the state of Iowa and the Hawkeyes continuing to dominate within the Border in the class of 2024 Rhys vanderzee skilled position guy a wide receiver those words are always welcome news around Hawkeye Nation committing to the Hawkeyes from Rock Rapids it plays Iowa's recruited very well we'll talk about Reese and what he brings to the table what I see from him on tape and where I think Iowa stands in this 24 recruiting class A lot of progress having been made in the last few days Sponsor but first I want to tell you about Aura if you haven't heard about our partnership with aura check it out folks visit aura.com Hawkeyes and sign up for a free trial protect your information we know there's hackers robocallers and spammers constantly trying to take your information and profit off of it don't let that happen folks visit our link which is in the description below www.ora.com Hawkeyes and as you sign up for a free trial through our link right here from the Hawkeye of the storm you are supporting the show and you'll find out the great benefits of being a part of the aura Community again that's aura.com Hawkeyes so as you said the outset Rhys vanderzee Reece Vander Zee a65 wide receiver that's kind of become a Common Thread Iowa really targeting bigger receivers we'll talk about that in just a second as well but Rhys out of Rock Rapids was teammates with graham Eben who just committed as a walk-on preferred walk-on uh probably will end up at linebacker maybe a defensive back at Iowa and then of course Zach lutmer who's a scholarship guy who is now on campus in 2023 he's part of the 23 class he also played with Rhys vanderzee back at Rock in Rock Rapids Central lion and so Reese is an interesting Prospect because of his size again He's listed at six foot five 190 pounds didn't have a ton of high major offers Nebraska offered Iowa State offered and Iowa offered now with that being said you look at some of the other offers there are some intriguing ones on the list some really solid FCS schools like South Dakota State Northern Iowa Montana State and how about this offer from Yale offer from Air Force very unique offers I always love when I see those types of offers on a commits list because it gives an indication of a couple different things one he's probably a pretty hard worker I think if air force is going to drop you an offer usually that's an indicator that this kid's got a good work ethic now Air Force does not throw the football so that's also an indication that Rhys vanderzee I'm guessing is seen as a guy who can block or catch I mean obviously he can high point the football that's one thing that stood out on tape for me is he can go up and get the football which is good for a guy who's six foot five ideally you'd like for him to become a Red Zone threat kind of a Brandon smith-esque player I don't think Reese has got blazing quick speed he was a hurdler in high school of a central lion um and a good one no no question about it was a good one does not have the speed of a Zach lutmer or certainly that of a Cooperative Gene and Iowa does need a breakaway guy a receiver now perhaps Caleb Brown ends up being that for a couple of years here at Iowa perhaps Iowa can land someone else in the transfer portal on this next cycle and they've got a couple other kids on their radar that I think have better Breakaway speed at receiver but it's just going to be a challenge we've talked about this so many times it's going to be a challenge to be able to lure a wide receiver who's got top tier athleticism and Breakaway speed to Iowa and I know the critics out there who don't like my opinions on things laughed at me when I made a notion that hey maybe Iowa should consider using Cooper to Jean here and there on offense I said that last year when Iowa was struggling mightily on offense and Frank if they hadn't nabbed Caleb in the portal I'd probably still be loving for that to happen now with some injuries I I don't think you can take that off the table and from what I've Been Told I don't think it's as far-fetched as you might think I think a lot of people think well that's not going to happen I don't think it's as far-fetched as you might think I know I'm going on a tangent the point is Iowa needs speed they need athleticism they've got athleticism they've got size with Rhys vanderzee speed I don't know I know people have referred to him this week as the prototypical X guy I don't know how many prototypical ex-guys Iowa can recruit Jared Bowie is a prototypical ex-guy uh Dayton Howard is a prototypical ex-guy Brody brecht was a prototypical ex guy now Brody has given up football to pursue baseball which I think is a good uh decision on his part and by no means am I taking a shot at Reese vanderzee because again from what I saw on tape he knows how to High Point the football he's a willing willing blocker and he's a good route Runner which is good to see he knows how to track the football those are all positives right those are all positives he was the first team All-State wide receiver at the 2A level so those are all great things my simple point is Iowa's still got a lot of work to do at wide receiver that's not breaking news to anyone yes Iowa added a couple of guys in the transfer portal this year and heck maybe Seth Anderson ends up being a guy that can be a breakaway guy I think potentially he's got that opportunity a guy from Charleston Southern play at the FCS level and he's got a lot to prove at Iowa coming off a hamstring injury but the point is Iowa has gotten a lot of size here recently at that position I think the next task at hand is to go out and get speed and that is easier said than done but this is a good ad I'm gonna say that I want to make it very clear this is a good ad you have to secure the Border if you're Iowa all right anybody wants to say well why are you getting all these three star kids from the state of Iowa got to secure the Border this kid was wanted by Nebraska by Iowa State and a bunch of other good schools perhaps he would have gotten more offers he probably would have had he waited point is Iowa got him they've dominated the state of Iowa they've got like eight of the top nine players in the state of Iowa for the class of 2024 which is mind-boggling when you think about it especially with some of the Headway it looked like Matt Campbell and Company had made it Iowa State in recent time Iowa has dominated within the borders for the class of 2024. so congratulations to Reese it'll be reunited with Zach lutmer and again Graham Eben who's a preferred walk-on who will be a preferred walk and will also be a part of that class so they've got a little pipeline up to Central Line High School up in Rock Rapids so congratulations to Rhys vanderzee and perhaps he's got better speed than I see on tape it's hard to look at huddle film and say hey this guy's got great speed just saying he's a hurdler in high school I don't think he's a four four five guy let's just say that but doesn't mean that he can't still be really useful and Iowa needs receivers that can block obviously that's why Brandon Smith was so good at Iowa didn't get a lot of production I think one could argue that's more results of play calling Etc and we can have that discussion another night and Jacob Hillier great example go back to 2015 Iowa was really thin at receiver Jacob Hillier started because of his ability to use his frame and block really well and Reese vanders he's got a really big frame obviously and he puts on some more pounds he really could be that ideal X guy and keep in mind my comments about Iowa needing more speed and not paying as much attention to size it's not just some idea that uh I'm throwing at you that is something that coach Don Patterson has talked about on our shows in the past that he believes and I trust on Patterson's ability to evaluate offensive players he believes that a lot of schools not just Iowa a lot of schools place a little bit too much emphasis on wide receiver height and frame and not enough emphasis on speed quickness look at Tyree kill for example I know he's brought him up a number of times he's like five foot nine and he's probably the one of the best receivers in the he's no question one of the best receivers in the National Football League I get that's anecdote evidence but we'll see they've got an offer out to KJ Parker out of I believe the Chicago area in Illinois they've got another kid scheduled from Florida set to come and visit in the fall hopefully he doesn't commit anywhere before then I think those guys maybe have a little bit better burst they're just different styles of wide receivers they're not six foot five they're five ten five eleven in that range but again perhaps height a little bit overrated at that position congratulations to Reese vanderzee hope he sticks at Iowa and hope he has a great great career he grew up a Hawkeye fan according to multiple reports so I'm sure he is thrilled to death congratulations to him and his family and if the Kelton Copeland you got bodies now you got to develop them that's the challenge ahead for a raw group and uh an athletic group they got athletes coming in I want to tell you about something very special folks tomorrow night I'm recording this on the 28th day of June Wednesday June 28th on the 29th That's Thursday night we'll be going live for a live edition of Hawkeye hang out at 7 30 PM Central Time folks talking about Iowa recruiting and where we're at at the end of June just a couple months away from the season join me live 7 30 p.m Central Time right here from the Hawkeye of the storm it's Hawkeye hang out taking your calls your chats we'll have a good time we'll talk to you then