Ethan Hurkett commits to Iowa
Cedar Rapids Xavier LB/DE Ethan Hurkett is headed to the University of Iowa. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Hurkett picked up a scholarship offer from the Hawkeyes at their junior day this weekend and immediately gave his verbal commitment. We caught up with Hurkett to discuss his decision and much more.
Q: Can you take me through how you found out about the offer and ended up committing?
HURKETT: Well, they pretty much just had my parents and I talk to Coach Ferentz. He just said, “We like you as a player and we want to offer.” I took a couple minutes with my parents to talk about it and then felt like it was the right thing just to commit.
Q: Did you kind of feel like things were leading up to this or was it a surprise?
HURKETT: I was kind of shocked honestly. It’s been a big dream of mine, but when it finally comes it doesn’t feel real. It was crazy.
Q: What made you so comfortable to decide to commit right away?
HURKETT: Iowa has always kind of been my top school, so the moment they offered I knew I wanted to go there. I didn’t want to mess around with the other stuff. I just wanted to get straight to it and commit.
Q: Talking with the coaches yesterday, where do they see your future coming in?
HURKETT: Well, they haven’t really said position wise yet. They just said they think I’m a football player and that’s what they’re looking for. I guess we’ll figure that out later.
Q: Will that probably be starting out a linebacker and maybe growing into a defensive lineman depending on how big you get?
HURKETT: Yeah, maybe so. That’s kind of what they’re thinking.
Q: Did the offer and everything happen before the junior day?
HURKETT: Yeah. After that, I went through the junior day and it was a great experience. We got to see the field and tour the whole stadium. It was pretty neat.
Q: Did you get a chance to meet some of the other recruits and commits there?
HURKETT: Yeah. I talked a lot with the Kennedy lineman (Connor Colby) that got offered yesterday.
Q: What’s the feeling like for you the last 24 hours?
HURKETT: It felt so good to get the process over with and be at my dream school. It’s just surreal.
Q: But no tweet or big announcement from you? That’s not how you wanted to do it?
HURKETT: No. I just kind of want to keep it low key. I don’t like a huge target on my back.
Q: What’s next for you this spring and this off-season?
HURKETT: I’m running track right now actually. That just started this past week and then I’ll just be in the weight room, getting ready for next season.
Q: Are you doing any camps or combines?
HURKETT: I think I’ll go back to Iowa’s camp most likely, but that will probably be it since I’m committing now.
Q: Have you and your teammate, Josh Volk, talked about possibly going to college together?
HURKETT: I’ve been kind of trying to push him that way, but we’ll see how that goes. That would be awesome.
Q: Looking ahead to your senior year next fall, what are you looking forward to?
HURKETT: I’m just looking forward to another great year and really enjoying it with my brothers and my coaches. We have one of the best coaching staffs in the state, so I’m just looking forward to working with them again and enjoying my last ride.
Overall, Hurkett is commitment No. 6 for the Hawkeyes as he joins Deuce Hogan, Michael Lois, Isaiah Bruce, Gavin Williams, and Logan Jones in Iowa's Class of 2020.
As a junior, Hurkett led Cedar Rapids Xavier with 81 tackles and 10.5 TFL on their way to a state championship in Class 3A.
See highlights from Hurkett's junior year in the video below.