Iowa has officially signed 2024 three-star wide receiver, KJ Parker. The receiver out of Immaculate Conception College Prep in Elmhurst, IL signed his letter of intent this morning.
Parker chose to attend Iowa over offers from multiple schools, including Wisconsin, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Marshall, and multiple MAC schools, including Toledo, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Miami (OH), and Western Michigan.
Parker became very familiar with the roads between Elmhurst and Iowa City during his recruitment; he camped with Iowa three times before finally attending Iowa on a recruiting visit with several other ICCP earlier this spring and making an official visit in late June. Parker received one of the earliest offers among Iowa's 2024 class, getting an offer way back in December 2021.
That early offer helped Parker build strong relationships with the Iowa staff, as Parker told us after his visit in the spring. "The visit was awesome," he said. "I got to really build a foundation for my relationship with Coach (Kirk) Ferentz and Coach (Kelton) Copeland. We got to talk about where I would fit in the offense and how likely it would be for me to play as a freshman."
"They see me as a guy that can almost do it all," he added. "They said they can move me to slot, and put me at wideout sometimes. They see me as very versatile on the field. I want to play in that role. That's basically my role at my high school, and I look forward to playing that same position in college."
Parker's strong connection to the Iowa staff led us to FutureCast him to Iowa back in June, as members of the Go Iowa Awesome premium board know. A week later, Parker's decision to commit to Iowa was solidified during his official visit to Iowa.
"The thing I loved the most about this weekend was the brotherhood experience," he said after the visit. "Everybody was so welcoming. I felt like I was already there for college pretty much. I feel like all the players and coaches gave off that positive energy."
Just a few days after his official visit, Parker made his verbal commitment to Iowa.
As a junior, Parker was a walking big play, hauling in 37 passes for 1,082 yards (long of 91) and 17 touchdowns in 14 games, while also returning punts and kicks on special teams. As a senior, Parker wasn't quite as explosive, catching 40 passes for 742 yards (long of 53) and 6 touchdowns in 10 games. He also had 30 tackles and 4 interceptions on defense.
Parker comes to Iowa with some connections to the program already -- his defensive backs coach at Immaculate Conception was Matt Bowen, a standout defensive back for the Hawkeyes in the late '90s. Bowen join Parker on some of his visits to Iowa City and spoke highly of his time at Iowa during the recruiting process.
Additionally, Parker has already begun making connections with members of the current Iowa roster. "Xavier Nwankpa and I got pretty close within the span of a day," he said after the visit. "We're kind of the same person. We're into the same things -- we listen to the same music, so we relate on a lot of things. I absolutely see us hanging out and being friends when I get on campus."
