Florida high school coach impressed by Iowa
Deerfield Beach (FL) head coach Jevon Glenn has traveled all across the country this summer, visiting more than 30 colleges with his players as they go through the recruiting process.
One of their most recent stops was in Iowa City to visit the Hawkeyes, who are recruiting Glenn’s running back in the Class of 2022, Jaziun Patterson.
"That was my first visit to Iowa," said Glenn. "I really wanted to go out there for myself to see things for not only him, but for future players they might recruit and I was very impressed."
"You know, you go out there thinking one thing and come back thinking another.”
“Obviously, they had the much publicized issue with the strength coach a while back, so to see some of the changes that they've made and talk to some of the current players about the plans they’ve implemented to be more diverse as a program was really good to see. That was one of my biggest concerns going in."
"At the end of the day, everybody has nice facilities and nice uniforms, but it’s the people that you’re going to be around every day that are the most important, and there are a lot of great people there that love Iowa football."
Iowa’s lead recruiter for Patterson is running backs coach Ladell Betts, who played for the Hawkeyes from 1997-2001 before going to the NFL. Prior to joining Iowa’s staff this past year, Betts was coaching in South Florida at Pine Crest High School and has known Glenn for several years.
"He’s doing a great job of recruiting Jaziun and making him a priority," Glenn said. "He’s been awesome. He recruits with the passion of a former player. He’s been there and done it Iowa, so he brings that angle and really bleeds black and gold."
One selling point in Iowa’s favor is their zone-based running scheme, which could be a good fit for Patterson at the next level.
"A lot of what Iowa does now is what Ladell did when he was there and it would fit Jaziun well because he’s a downhill runner with physicality, elusiveness, and vision,” said Glenn.
A four-star prospect, Patterson has picked up more than 30 scholarship offers during the recruiting process and recently named a top 10 of Iowa, Florida State, South Carolina, Penn State, Auburn, Indiana, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Ole Miss, and Florida.
Now, he plans to continue to narrow things down with a commitment date just around the corner for several of the top players at Deerfield Beach.
“On August 17, we have our commitment show,” said Glenn. “We’re going to have five kids that will be committing that night. They’re just finalizing everything right now and then they’ll announce on August 17. That’s Jaziun Patterson, David Conner, Daterius Lee, Joseph Kennerly, and Alton Tarber.”
After the ceremony, which will be at Duffy's Sports Grill, the focus will turn squarely on the upcoming season for Deerfield Beach with their sights set on a state title in Class 8A.
"We’re excited. We’ve got a really good team coming back and we’ve been working hard,” Glenn said. “We’re going to try to make history and be the first team from Deerfield Beach to win it all."