Hawks add long snapper

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Long snapper Zach Johnson has decided to play college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Minnesota native made his official visit to Iowa City over the weekend and finalized the details on joining the team as a preferred walk-on this season. If you go back a year however, Johnson was not so sure if Division I football was in his future.

"Well, basically, I went down to Iowa last summer for a football camp, a long snapping camp, just because I really wanted to see if I was any good," said Johnson. "When I got there, I started snapping and a couple of coaches thought that I was pretty decent."

"LeVar Woods was actually the coach that first noticed me and then he brought the head coach over," he continued. "Eventually we started talking about possibly walking on."

Johnson attends Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, MN, where he has also been a starter on the offensive line. As a senior, he made sure to explore all of his options, but a chance to play in the Big Ten was hard to turn down.

"I was looking at Bethel, St. Thomas, Gustavus, and some smaller schools, but the Hawkeyes were definitely at the top of my list," Johnson said.

On his official visit to Iowa City over the weekend, Johnson had a chance to meet several of his future teammates and get to know the Iowa coaching staff better as well.

"This past weekend I went down there for an official visit and I met all of the players and they were all great guys and all of the coaches were great too," said Johnson. "They fed me well and treated me right. It really feels like family down there."

With starting long snapper Casey Kreiter graduating this past year, the Hawkeyes will be looking for someone new to fill the role in 2014 and have traditionally given a scholarship to the starter.

"It will be me and Tyler Kluver down there competing for the head spot and whoever gets it, gets the full ride," Johnson said.

Johnson is the fifth walk-on commitment for the Iowa coaching staff, joining defensive end Sam Brincks, safety Brandon Snyder, linebacker Eric Grimm, and linebacker Jacob Sobotka.