Will Heldt nearing a decision

After making two Big Ten visits this month, defensive end Will Heldt is nearing a decision. Last week, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Indiana native toured Purdue and this week he was at Iowa for his official visit with the Hawkeyes.

"We started with all sorts of academic meetings on Friday and then on Saturday we did mostly football based meetings and a player panel," said Heldt. "The meetings that I had with Coach Bell and Coach Ferentz were great and just to get a chance to sit down with them throughout the weekend and chat about all sorts of things was great."

With defensive line coach Kelvin Bell as his lead recruiter and position coach, Heldt spent a lot of one-on-one time with him learning more about the opportunity at Iowa if he decides to become a Hawkeye.

"I talked with Coach Bell the most and the discussion was geared towards how he feels that I could develop well as a player at Iowa and be successful," Heldt said.

Player wise, Heldt was hosted by one of Iowa's top returning defensive linemen and also spent time with some of the younger players on the roster as well.

"My host was Lukas Van Ness and he was great," said Heldt. "I also met a lot of the new mid-year freshmen and I felt I fit in well."

Now, it appears that it is decision time for Heldt as he plans to weigh the pros and cons of each visit and work towards a commitment in the next couple weeks.

"As of right now, I think that the Purdue and Iowa visits are the only two visits that I’m going to be taking," Heldt said. "From here, I feel I’ll be making a decision in the upcoming weeks."

In addition to Iowa and Purdue, Heldt also earned scholarship offers from Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa State, Indiana, Illinois, Duke, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Ohio, Miami-OH, Toledo, and Western Michigan during the recruiting process.