Sanborn makes return trip to Iowa

The Hawkeyes were one of the first teams to offer four-star linebacker Jack Sanborn and had a chance to get him back on campus for their junior day this past weekend. For the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Illinois native, it was an opportunity to spend some more time with the Iowa coaching staff and get to know the other recruits in attendance.

“It was my third time back as I was there in June when they offered me and then came back for a game day visit last fall,” said Sanborn. “Basically, it was just nice to be around the coaches again. The tours, I’ve sort of been through it before, but there was some stuff I hadn’t seen, which was nice. Then being around some of the other recruits was also new, which was really cool.”

From the Iowa coaching staff, Sanborn met with head coach Kirk Ferentz and linebackers coach Seth Wallace, both of whom visited his high school in Lake Zurich, IL, when they were making their recruiting rounds in January.

“I sat down and talked with Coach Ferentz and then I was with Coach Wallace a lot of the time because he recruits my area and he’s my position coach,” Sanborn said. “We didn’t even talk about football really. It was mostly just about my family and how we’re doing and all of that.”

The Hawkeyes, who project Sanborn as a middle linebacker in college, continue to impress the four-star prospect with their blue collar approach and family environment.

“I like it every time I go there,” said Sanborn. “It’s a program where they pride themselves on being the hardest working, the toughest, and the smartest. They have a motto of tough, smart, physical, and that’s what they pride themselves on.”

“It’s a family,” he continued. “No other program has a coach like Coach Ferentz that’s been there for almost two decades now.”

Sanborn has now made recent visits to Iowa, Iowa State, Wisconsin, Duke, and Ohio State, and hopes to see Minnesota, Penn State, and Michigan State in the near future before he starts narrowing down his options.

“The plan right now is to have it done by either spring or early summer,” Sanborn said.

As he looks ahead to that decision, Sanborn knows there will be a few different factors at play, but the most important one will be simply how comfortable he is with each program under consideration.

“Recruits will tell you the academics, the family environment, the uniforms, the fans, and that all plays a little bit of a factor, but the most important thing is where I feel comfortable and where I want to live the next four or five years,” said Sanborn. “Because if you’re not comfortable where you go, no matter what it’s going to be a bad experience and you’re not going to reach your full potential. So that’s the most important thing to me.”

Currently, Sanborn holds scholarship offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Indiana, Iowa State, Duke, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Cornell, and Yale.

See highlights from his junior year at Lake Zurich in the video below.