On Wednesday, 2024 defensive end out of Plano, Texas Chima Chineke announced his commitment to Iowa on Instagram Live.
The three-star prospect chose the Hawkeyes over offers from Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech and others.
"In terms of program, they're the best one I've been to so far," he said on Sunday night following his official visit. "Everything it has to offer -- education, development, the defense. They have the best defense in the country, I mean, why wouldn't you want to play for that?"
Just his second offer, the Hawkeyes were in on Chineke's recruitment early this spring before his offer list sky-rocketed in April and May.
"I was shocked," he told me in March following the offer. "Getting an offer from Iowa is not easy at all. They told me they don't really offer a lot of people, and I've seen that. I even asked Coach (Kelvin) Bell, 'Are you serious?' This is one of the best defensive schools in the country and they offered me."
He marveled at the relationship he was able to build the Iowa's head man, too.
"The coaching staff is amazing too, especially Coach (Kirk) Ferentz," Chineke added. "He's so easy to talk to. You'd think talking to a head coach would be difficult, but it was so simple. He really cared about us -- me, my mom and my family."
As noted in the March 25 Visitors Preview article, Chineke is a long and strong pass-rusher that consistently sheds blocks and never gives up on a play. Though he's still developing his technical skills and doesn't yet possess a variety of pass-rushing moves, his raw ability provides considerable upside. He racked up 35 tackles and 6.5 sacks as a junior for Plano East this last season.
We at Go Iowa Awesome had Chineke FutureCasted to join the Hawkeyes in late June.
Chineke is the 20th commit on scholarship in the Hawkeyes' 2024 class. He joins a list of commitments that includes Joseph Anderson, KJ Parker, Devan Kennedy, Rashad Godfrey, Jaylen Watson, Gavin Hoffman, Reece Vander Zee, Michael Burt, Brevin Doll, Xavier Williams, James Resar, Derek Weisskopf, Cam Buffington, Preston Ries, Drew Campbell, Cody Fox, Josh Janowski, Bodey McCaslin and William Nolan.
