North Carolina kicker walking on

After taking a visit to Iowa over the weekend, North Carolina kicker Keith Duncan has decided to accept a walk-on opportunity with the Hawkeyes. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound Duncan, who earned All-American honors this past season, announced his decision on Twitter a couple days after returning home.

Following a standout career at Weddington High School that saw him make 60/60 PAT's and 22/29 field goals with a long of 54 yards his senior year, Duncan drew quite a bit of interest. Along with other walk-on opportunities, he held partial scholarship offers from smaller programs like Furman, Coastal Carolina, Citadel, and Elon, but the chance to play at the highest level in college was too much to pass up.

“There were many things that made me choose Iowa,” Duncan told HawkeyeReport.com. “A big one was that they don't treat kickers like they aren't a part of the team. The specialists have their own conference room, the workouts are the same, and they are involved in practice.”

“Also, it’s hard to say no to Iowa after touring their new football building,” he continued. “The indoor field, locker room, weight room, and team rooms are all top notch.”

With starting kicker Marshall Koehn graduating this past year, the Hawkeyes will have an open competition for the job this season with Duncan joining returning players Miguel Recinos and Mick Ellis this summer.

“Coach Ferentz said that the kicker position will be open to competition,” said Duncan. “The best kicker gets the spot.”

See highlights from Duncan’s senior season in the video below.