Josh Volk excited to begin next chapter at Iowa
As he wraps up his senior year of high school with online classes, Josh Volk is excited to begin the next chapter at the University of Iowa. We caught up with the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Volk this week to discuss his training during the pandemic, looking ahead to his freshman year at Iowa, and much more.
Q: What have you been up to the last couple months since the pandemic started?
VOLK: The last couple months I’ve just been doing schoolwork and working out.
Q: What does your average day look like?
VOLK: I usually wake up around 7:30 AM and then I have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays until about 12. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my free days, which is nice. Then I always get a work out in.
Q: What does that consist of right now for training?
VOLK: All of our weightlifting stuff is in our garage now, so sorry mom about your parking spot. We can bench, squat, clean, and deadlift in there.
Q: So you have a pretty good setup there.
VOLK: Yeah except we’re down to one bar now because we broke the other one.
Q: How did you get all that setup?
VOLK: It was my dad with a little bit of help from JC Moreau. He let us borrow a squat rack and a bar. We had the rest of the stuff here.
Q: Is it strange wrapping up your senior year of high school like this?
VOLK: Yeah, it definitely is. For me, I was really bummed about track season. I really wanted throw and see how I could do this spring.
Q: How are your conversations with the coaches at Iowa going?
VOLK: I actually just had an offensive line install with Tyler Elsbury and Coach Polasek today. It went pretty well. We had one last week as well, but we’re starting to turn the gears a little more, getting into positional install and getting the ball rolling.
Q: How much do they put on the table for you right now?
VOLK: Nothing too much, but just showing us what is going on play wise and showing us some stuff to study and review. They are just getting the ball rolling really.
Q: For you, are they still looking at guard mainly?
VOLK: Yeah. We’re not too position specific, but Coach Polasek has said guard more than anything else.
Q: Is it still just a wait and see right now as far as when you might move to campus?
VOLK: Yeah. From what I heard, we’re most likely going to move in June 15, or at least I hope, but we don’t know for sure yet because of the coronavirus.
Q: What are you looking forward to once you are actually able to get on campus and get started?
VOLK: I’m just looking forward to college. I just want to get down there and get going with football and get to know all of my teammates better.
Q: You guys have a pretty tight knit group as a recruiting class. Who do you stay in touch with the most outside of your high school teammate, Ethan Hurkett?
VOLK: I would say everyone really. We have a group chat on Snapchat where we all keep in touch. Then I’ve been talking to Tyler Elsbury a lot because he’s going to be my roommate.
Q: Have you found out what number you are wearing in college?
VOLK: No, I haven’t.
Q: Any preference?
VOLK: No, not really. It’s just a number.
Q: Health wise, do you feel different this spring just being a little further removed from the ACL surgery your junior year?
VOLK: Yeah, I feel like I’m able to trust my leg more. I don’t even think about it anymore honestly.
Q: Was that a challenge last fall when you first came back mid-season, less than a year after your surgery?
VOLK: Yeah, the first couple games were pretty rusty. The whole season I could tell I wasn’t quite myself just because I didn’t have as much contact going in. Once I started working more, I got my rhythm back and it started clicking more.
Q: As you train this off-season, what are your main areas of focus?
VOLK: Definitely on my squats getting lower and more explosive, so my knee can get more range of motion and more flexibility in my knees and my hips. That’s kind of been my main focus and then agility and running too.
Q: What are you coming in at height and weight wise your freshman year?
VOLK: I’m 6-4 and about 310 pounds right now.
Q: Have you thought ahead to what that first time coming out of the tunnel at Kinnick Stadium is going to feel like?
VOLK: Oh, wow. I don’t even know. It’s going to be crazy. I can’t wait.
Q: Going back to your recruiting, what was it about Iowa that made you comfortable making an early decision?
VOLK: I just knew I wanted to go to Iowa. You could just see the development that goes on there. I like Coach Ferentz and Coach Polasek and the whole entire staff and just feel like that’s where I’ll develop and become the best player I can be.
A three-star prospect, Volk committed to Iowa on March 8, 2019, choosing the Hawkeyes over scholarship offers from Nebraska and Iowa State.
As a senior, Volk quickly made his way back into the lineup after ACL surgery at the end of his junior year, and helped Cedar Rapids Xavier finish 8-2 on the season.
See highlights from Volk's senior year in the video below.