Back in the mid to late 80’s Joe Mott was a standout performer on the Iowa defense.

The New York native came to Iowa City weighing 190 pounds knowing he would have to grow and mature. He left Iowa City at 245 pounds, earning first team All Big Ten honors and was a 3rd round draft pick of the New York Jets.

These days, Mott is hoping that his son, Brendan will have the same opportunity at the college level, perhaps at the University of Iowa.

Mott sees a lot of similarities between himself and his son, who would certainly qualify as a late bloomer.

“His physical development is a lot like mine. He’s a late bloomer,” Mott said. “He’s a better athlete than I was and he’s always been a natural hitter.”

Brendan is a senior at Iowa City West High School and this past weekend, he made an unofficial visit to the Maryland/Iowa game. Up to this point, he’s flown way under the radar, but that could be changing.

Brendan Mott finally started to hit his growth spurt. He went from 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds a year ago to 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds this season.

However, an injury kept him on the sidelines early in his senior year. In the early portion of his junior year, Mott tore his ACL, which kept him off the camp circuit this summer and on the sidelines early in his senior year.

He missed several camps that he had signed up to attend, but did attend the Iowa camp, while on crutches after breaking his tibia this past spring.

The good news was Iowa was able to see him in person and they saw that he had grown and gained weight, so they asked if Mott would send game film once he was back on the field.

He did and shortly after that, Iowa assistant coach Reese Morgan reached out.

“Coach Morgan called and invited us to the game and I’ve talked to Coach Wallace and Coach Parker as well.”

There’s no doubt that Mott would love to continue his football career at Iowa and follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I know that I need to continue to put on weight and there’s no better place to do that than at Iowa under Coach Doyle,” he said.

Mott is also hearing from Kansas State, Minnesota State, and Drake and may make a visit to see the Wildcats before the season ends. For now, the senior linebacker is focused on helping Iowa City West make a run in the state playoffs that begin on Friday night when the Trojans host Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

“I am really looking forward to talking to Iowa again, but right now my focus is on Friday night and helping my team get back to the dome.”