Iowa’s April Happenings
With the first month of the 2018 grassroots season now behind us, we’re delving into the big news and interesting occurrences of the past 30 days.
DJ Carton Continues to Ascend
Last offseason, the Bettendorf point guard blew up, and apparently, that was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. He’s continuing his onslaught on opponents this summer with Quac City Elite 17U, and as a result, has picked up five additional offers; including one from each coast, St. John’s (New York) and USC (California). He’s now got 16 total offers, and is going to almost certainly continue to climb the national rankings. Could blue bloods start coming after him soon? It’s very possible.
Here’s his complete offers list (expect it to expand soon): North Dakota, IUPUI, Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, Marquette, Nebraska, Iowa, Creighton, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa State, Indiana, Michigan, USC, St. John’s
Issa Samake’s Decision
There was much speculation as to what AAU team Grand View Christian’s Mali-born, dynamic 6’7 power forward Issa Samake would play for. Ultimately, the explosive 2019, a top-10 prospect in the class, decided to play with All Iowa Attack’s 17U squad. We saw him in action at the Super 16 in Ames, and he was more electric than ever, especially when throwing a down (another) reverse alley-oop jam in a title game against OSA Elite.
2018s Commit in Droves
Many 2018s had already committed, but a final wave came in over the last month — below are the ones we were able to track down.
Nolan Ruff (Mount Mercy), Zaine Leedom (Graceland), Carson Kruger (Briar Cliff), Jack Seward (Simpson), Peter Timmerman (UW-Stevens Point), Seybian Sims (Kirkwood CC), Carter Stevens (DMACC), Luke Appel (Kirkwood CC), Dadrian Hoambrecker (Southeastern CC), Devonte Thedford (Kirkwwod), Dev Patel (Simpson), Jesse Van Wyk (Northwestern IA), Debo Kallo (Little Priest Tribal College), Daniel Geistler (St. Cloud State), Luke Vaske (Drake)
Horner Switches Jobs, Makes Iowa Offers
Former Iowa Hawkeyes standout Jeff Horner has been making moves in the college coaching profession for some time now; this after he excelled as West Des Moines Valley’s head coach earlier this decade. He had spent the last four season at the University of North Dakota, the final three as an assistant coach, and was ardent about recruiting in the state of Iowa. Last month, Horner was named the head coach at Missouri D2 Truman State, and he’s wasted no time at all getting busy recruiting his home state of Iowa; 2019 prospects Cole Henry, Noah Carter, Derek Krogmann and Trey Hutcheson were all extended Truman State offers within a week of Horner being at the helm.
Who Else Was Offered in April?
Xavier Foster, 2020 – Baylor (D1)
Noah Carter, Lehigh (D1)
Cole Henry, 2019 – Furman (D1). Wayne State (D2), Northwest Missouri State (D2)
Nathan Johnson, 2018 – Stony Brook (D1)
Derek Krogmann, 2019 – Wayne State (D2)
Jake Hilmer, 2019 – Pittsburg State (D2)
TJ Schnurr, 2019 – Mornignside (NAIA)
Jarad Kruse, 2018 – Upper Iowa (D2)
Transfers Galore
Even Brauns headlines the Iowa high school transfers, which have been especially rampant this offseason; the No. 2-ranked 2020, formerly of Iowa City Regina, is headed to Iowa City West. In non-grassroots news, here’s some other notable transfers.
Andrew Curran, from Ottumwa to Waukee
Sam Glenn, from Grand View Christian to Southeast Polk
Mach Nyaw, from Grand View Christian to Storm Lake
Nick Pepin, from Waterloo West to Iowa City West
DaQuavian Walker, from Waterloo East to Waterloo West
Tyler Andrews, from Linn-Mar to Cedar Rapids Kennedy