As he shared on social media Monday evening, All-American kicker from The Woodlands, Texas, Scott Starzyk has decommitted from Iowa. The No. 1 kicker in the country according to Kohl's Kicking, Starzyk was set to be the first kicker in LeVar Woods' tenure as special teams coordinator to earn a scholarship out of high school.
Premium subscribers were privy to the news of a potential flip in mid-September.
When Starzyk made his initial decision, he chose the Hawkeyes over offers from Syracuse, Mississippi State, Memphis and others, while Texas A&M and Oklahoma offered him spots as a preferred walk-on.
"With them being able to win as many games as they did last year, there's no where to go but up," he said. "The stability in the coaching staff is huge, Coach Woods is a great coordinator and I'm going to get to play on some of the biggest stages -- that's huge."
Starzyk, who stands at 5'11" and 165 pounds, was excited about the prospect of adding weight to his frame under the tutelage of the Iowa staff as well.
"If you look up a picture of Drew from his high school days, he was definitely not the biggest guy," Starzyk said at the time. "That's a little bit relatable. He had to go through that change of putting on some pounds and strength when he got to college. How he handled that -- form fixes and everything -- I feel like he's one of the better kickers in college football to be in a room with and learn from."
He was excited to learn from and compete with Stevens as well.
"I'm going to go in and compete," he said. "I'd love to start my freshman year -- at the same time, a red-shirt for one season isn't too bad of a deal. I've talked about that with Coach Woods about all of that. I don't want to go somewhere I have to sit two or three years, and I'm only expecting to play because I know what I'm capable of."
Starzyk received an offer from Michigan after his decision to commit to Iowa.
Starzyk is the third decommitment in Iowa's 2025 recruiting class, following Nick Brooks' decision in November of last year and Cameron Herron's flip to Notre Dame in October. Since last year, Brooks has committed to Texas. Iowa is down to 14 commits in the 2025 class.
Iowa will have Stevens for his final year of eligibility in 2025, and walk-on kicker Tripp Woody will enter his redshirt-freshman campaign next season.
