Iowa has officially signed three-star defensive tackle, Brad Fitzgibbon. The 6'3", 280-pound DL hails from Chicago Marist, the same high school as sophomore defensive back, John Nestor.
Fitzgibbon chose the Hawkeyes over offers from Kansas, Michigan State, Iowa State, Wisconsin and Arizona State.
Though he had to wait longer for an offer from Iowa than any of the aforementioned programs, it made picking it up all the more sweet.
"It makes me feel a little more honored," he said in May. "It's one of those things that makes me enjoy it more. This one is different -- I don't know a word to describe it. It felt different in a good way."
He made his decision shortly after his official visit to Iowa City in June.
"I think it was when I started hanging out with the other recruits and the guys who were committed," he told me. "That was great. That was when it all kind of came together, and it felt like home. It was a gut feeling, like 'This is where I want to be.'"
Having a former high school teammate in Iowa City made the decision that much more easy for Fitzgibbon.
"Being former teammates with John Nestor was the biggest part -- I'd say 90% of my recruiting -- was because of Nestor," Fitzgibbon said. "He was able to connect and talk to my parents and I about everything Iowa. It put me in the right state of mind and all the information I needed to make my decision."
Nestor's reaction to Fitzgibbon's decision made it evident that his recruiting efforts were genuine.
"I think he hugged me like ten times," Fitzgibbon laughed. "I told him on Saturday night after dinner. That's when I told all the recruits and players. That was really cool -- I think he was the most excited out of everybody."
In speaking with Brad Fitzigibbon, it's difficult not to think of Aaron Graves and Logan Lee. A mature kid that loves football and is a monster on the interior of the Chicago Marist defense, Fitzgibbon strikes me as a recruit with the desire to learn, lead and do his job and do it right at Iowa.
From the moment he received the offer from Kelvin Bell, Fitzgibbon had Hawkeye written all over him. A big presence that wreaks havoc in the backfields of Chicago-area Catholic schools everywhere, Ftizgibbon may very well play a mixture of the one-tech and three-tech positions at Iowa, depending on whether he continues to grow in height.
