Jordan van den Berg excited about Iowa offer

The Iowa Hawkeyes have been showing interest in junior college defensive lineman Jordan van den Berg for some time now and finally had a chance to get him on campus on Saturday. After putting the 6-foot-3, 279-pounder through a private workout, the Iowa coaching staff decided to offer a scholarship.

"Coach Bell started recruiting me in early December and stayed in contact ever since then," said van den Berg. "They really wanted me to come visit and work out for them, so I did this weekend and it was a private work out with just me and the whole coaching staff and it went pretty well."

For the Hawkeyes, it was head coach Kirk Ferentz that gave news of the offer to van den Berg, who now has the opportunity to join Iowa right away for the 2021 season if he decides to pursue it.

"I was shocked," van den Berg said. "It's something I've worked my whole life for, so I was really amazed and thankful."

In addition to earning the offer on Saturday, the trip also gave van den Berg a chance to check out the surroundings in Iowa City and left him impressed with the Hawkeyes overall.

"The campus and the program are amazing, but I would say the people are really what sets it apart," said van den Berg. "The coaches are just so relatable and so nice."

A native of South Africa, van den Berg played high school football in Georgia and then enrolled at Iowa Western Community College this past year. After his spring season at Iowa Western, he picked up offers from Southern Miss, Akron, Montana, UMass, Abilene Christian, Samford, Towson, Wofford, Texas State, and Incarnate Word, but the opportunity to workout for Power 5 schools in June has brought on a new level of interest. First, it was an offer from Nebraska on Friday, followed by Iowa on Saturday, and next up is a visit to Penn State on Tuesday.

"I'm probably going to be making my decision the day after I visit Penn State," van den Berg said. "I'm just looking at the Power 5 offers."