Hawkeyes interested in JUCO DL
The Iowa Hawkeyes already have one Kallenberger in their recruiting class and now may be looking to add another. Junior college defensive end Jack Kallenberger, whose younger brother Mark is an Iowa commit, made a game day visit with the Hawkeyes this weekend and is starting to receive more interest from the coaching staff.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Kallenberger, who will graduate from Iowa Central Community College in May, took us through his day in Iowa City on Friday.
“When I got there we ate in the Hansen Center,” said Kallenberger, “After that, we took a brief look at all of the things inside like the training room, the weight room, and the team meeting room, and then we went down to the field to watch the team warm up.”
“Following the game, we went back to the Hansen Center and I got a chance to talk to Coach Morgan for about 25 minutes or so about what my future looks like with Iowa,” Kallenberger continued. “He told me that there are some high school offers out there still and some kids that they need, but he also said that he wants me on the team and there is a spot for me regardless of whether they can find a scholarship for me or not.”
“When we talked about walking on, he sounded pretty optimistic that I would eventually work my way to a scholarship and hinted a little bit about possibly moving me inside since I still have a redshirt year left.”
This season, Kallenberger finished with 52 tackles and 6 sacks for Iowa Central, which has led to interest from Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, West Virginia, and several FCS schools, but no scholarship offers just yet.
“My head coach told me I should expect some FCS schools to offer before this semester is over,” said Kallenberger, who earned all conference and all region honors this year.
As a spring graduate, there is still plenty of time left in the recruiting process for Kallenberger, but a preferred walk-on opportunity at Iowa is something that definitely has his attention.
“I like the challenge that it presents to me,” Kallenberger said. “I've always found that I work better when I have something to prove and something to earn. I feel like with a redshirt year and some work with Coach Morgan, I will be able to grow a lot as a player.”
Of course, it would also give him an opportunity to be teammates with his brother again, trading in the black and gold of Bettendorf for the black and gold at Iowa.
“It would be a blast,” said Kallenberger. “I had the time of my life playing with him my senior year of high school and I would love to be able to put those colors on again with him.”
Still, Kallenberger plans to stay patient and weigh all of his options as they present themselves to him over the next couple of months leading up to signing day.
“It's a long time until February,” Kallenberger said. “Coach Morgan suggested that I just be patient and see what shakes out for me. He also told me that he wants me to take an official visit sometime in January as well.”
See highlights from Kallenberger’s sophomore year at Iowa Central in the video below.