Big 2017 OL visits Iowa

At 6-foot-6 and 290 pounds as a junior in high school, Blaise Andries has the size that college coaches are looking for in an offensive lineman. The Minnesota native has early interest from several schools around the Midwest, including the Iowa Hawkeyes, who had him back on campus this weekend for a game day visit. We caught up with Andries, who attended Iowa's camp in June, to talk about the experience and much more.

Q: Can you kind of take us through your visit to Iowa and what all you got to do there yesterday?

ANDRIES: Well, I got there a little bit early, so I got to walk around and get a feel for their tailgating. My dad had some work partners down there, so we went and talked to them a little bit. Then, when it came time to go to the football center, we went over there and got a tour of everything. Then we watched an Iowa highlight video to kind of get us pumped up for the game, so that was nice. After that, we headed to the stadium and got to be on the sidelines for warmups. Once that was over, it was time to go to our seats and watch a good game.

Q: What were your thoughts on the game and the atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium last night?

ANDRIES: Oh, the atmosphere was great. It was an awesome game and it was cool to see it end on a game winning kick like that.

Q: Afterwards, did you talk with the coaches or go down to the locker room?

ANDRIES: Yeah, we were able to go down to the locker room and get a feel for the atmosphere a little bit more and see how the players reacted, so that was fun.

Q: Which coaches did you get to talk with during your visit?

ANDRIES: I talked with Coach Brian Ferentz, Coach Morgan, and Coach Wallace while I was there.

Q: What was their message to you?

ANDRIES: They just said they were glad to see us and thanked us for coming down. They said they're interested and to just keep working hard.

Q: Right now, are they just continuing to evaluate you on film your junior year?

ANDRIES: Yeah, they said they keep up with my film on a weekly basis as my coach sends it to them.

Q: What are your overall thoughts on Iowa and their interest at this point?

ANDRIES: It's a great school and hopefully we can continue this trip together.

Q: What is the full list of schools showing you interest right now?

ANDRIES: Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State, Penn State, Northwestern, Purdue, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa State, Indiana, and Wyoming.

Q: Where are you planning to visit this season?

ANDRIES: So far, I was at Michigan State last weekend for their game against Oregon, and now this weekend I was at Iowa obviously. I think next weekend I'm heading to Minnesota to watch them play and then I'm going to try to get down to Northwestern for a game too.

Q: How is your junior year going so far for you team wise and individually?

ANDRIES: Team wise, we're doing great. As a team, we've outscored our opponents 262-7, so that's a big accomplishment and we're 5-0 right now. We just want to keep working as a team to get to our common goal, which is to make it to state and get as far as we can.

Q: How would you say you are playing?

ANDRIES: I think I'm doing fine, but there's always room for improvement.