Hawkeyes extend grayshirt offer

Despite committing early on to play hockey at Minnesota, quarterback Mark Alt has continued to keep his eye on football recruiting as well. This weekend, the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Alt, who attends Cretin-Derham Hall in the Twin Cities, made an official visit to Iowa, his father's alma mater, and left with his first scholarship offer on the gridiron.

"They offered a scholarship for next year, a grayshirt," said Alt. "They had kind of talked about it last week and then made it official while I was there this weekend."

As a senior, Alt threw for 1,956 yards and 26 touchdowns despite missing three games with a broken collarbone. The two-star prospect quickly returned to the lineup and led Cretin-Derham Hall to a state championship in November. Since then, he has continued to pick up recruiting interest in football, most notably from Iowa where his father was an All Big Ten offensive lineman in the 80's.

"It was great at Iowa this weekend," Alt said. "I feel like I got a better feel for the program and the coaches. I met with Coach Ferentz and Coach O'Keefe, the offensive coordinator, and had a chance to talk with them about things. Then my host was James Vandenberg and he showed me around. It was a good visit."

In addition to Iowa, Alt is still hearing from UCLA and Stanford as their coaches continue to evaluate their scholarship opportunities. With hockey still heavily in the mix as well, the grayshirt offer from the Hawkeyes gives the Minnesota native a lot to think about right now.

"It adds a whole new side to things," said Alt. "It's another opportunity that I'm going to look at now and try to decide what I'm going to do."

There is a chance that decision may wait until after signing day or even into the summer as the NHL Draft in June is another thing weighing on Alt's mind right now.

"Iowa actually said I could wait until after the NHL Draft if I want and find out where I'm going there," Alt said. "They said that wouldn't be a problem."

With several different options on the table, Alt is going to make sure to take his time and evaluate the pros and cons of each scenario.

"It's hard," said Alt. "I've been kind of going back and forth with it. The football thing is really heavy on my mind right now, but we'll see."