Ben Kueter announces he'll focus solely on Iowa wrestling for 2024-25 season

Ben Kueter, who intended to play football for Iowa this fall, will focus solely on wrestling for the 2024-25 season, according to a statement Monday.

Over the weekend, after Kueter won the U20 World Team Trials, he said he “intended” on playing football for the Hawkeyes this season. But, he had a change of heart after the weekend.

Citing team and individual goals on the wrestling mat, Kueter is ready to focus on wrestling to chase his dreams.

“First off, I would like to thank Coach Wallace and Coach Ferentz for letting me live out a dream of mine,” Kueter wrote. “Coach Wallace is the reason I chose to play football at Iowa. Secondly, I would like to thank my football brothers for making this last year so enjoyable. I’ve made bonds with those guys that will last a lifetime.

“With that being said, I would like to announce that I will be transitioning to just wrestling for the next 10 months in order to win a World title, NCAA title, and a NCAA team title. To meet these goals will require my full attention for the next 10 months, but this is not the end of my football career. I will start back up in spring ball. Thank you to the best fans in the world and GO HAWKS!”

The good news for the football team is the former four-star linebacker isn’t hanging up the cleats. But, the wrestling aspirations took precedent this cycle.

Kueter wrestled four matches in 2023-24, going 3-1. His only loss was to eventual national champion Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State), losing 9-1.

Otherwise, Kueter beat Minnesota’s Bennet Tabor 503, pinned Northwestern’s Jack Jessen and beat Oklahoma State’s Konner Doucet 5-1.

An elite wrestler and a great football prospect. It’ll be interesting to see if Kueter can do both the entire time.

As a member of the Class of 2023, Kueter was a four-star recruit out of Iowa City (Iowa) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 4 overall prospect in the state, the No. 30 linebacker in the class and the No. 294 overall prospect in the class.