Raridon excited about Iowa offer

The Iowa Hawkeyes are the latest to offer Class of 2022 tight end Eli Raridon from West Des Moines Valley High School. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Raridon received the news during a phone call with head coach Kirk Ferentz on Tuesday evening.

"I’m super pumped about the offer," said Raridon. "Tyler Barnes, the director of recruiting, texted me today to call Coach Ferentz tonight and I called and got offered. I'm super pumped and looking forward to getting up there again and building a relationship with the staff."

Before the dead period, the Hawkeyes had Raridon on campus for a junior day back in early March as well as a game at Kinnick Stadium last fall. The coaching staff was hoping to get a chance to work with him at camp this past summer, but when those were cancelled due to the pandemic they decided to wait for junior film this season.

"They’ve been interested for a while," Raridon said. "Since camp couldn’t happen this summer, they said they wanted to see the first couple of games. They said they were very impressed and decided to offer."

Overall, Iowa is offer No. 7 for Raridon as the Hawkeyes join Iowa State, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Kansas State and Buffalo on his early list.

"It’s been crazy," said Raridon. "I woke up on September 1st thinking I was just going to talk to some coaches to build relationships, but never ever would have expected this outcome. This past week has been absolutely crazy to say the least."