Iowa picks up first 2025 commitment
Joey VanWetzinga and his older brother, Rusty, grew up as Iowa fans. Now they will be able to fulfill the dream that most football playing brothers have of eventually playing college football together.
On Saturday, Joey VanWetzinga made it official that he would be joining his brother as a Hawkeye by verbally committing to the Iowa football program.
“I have a long history with Iowa,” he said. “I was an Iowa fan growing up and with my brother already there, I thought it would be really cool to play college football with him.”
His older brother, Rusty, is a walk-on fullback at Iowa entering his freshman year. He has been in Iowa City already working out with the Hawkeye team.
The 6-foot-2 and 255 pound lineman actually contacted Kirk Ferentz a few days ago to let them know he was committing and the Iowa head coach was thrilled with the news.
“He told me he loves the way I play and that I fit with their physical style of football.”
VanWetzinga didn’t know that he was Iowa’s first verbal commitment of the Class of 2025. He laughed and said, “I figured they already had someone committed.”
As far as a position, that somewhat remains up in the air. When VanWetzinga camped at Iowa a few weeks ago, he worked with the defensive lineman. However, most of his recent contact has been with offensive line coach George Barnett.
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“I have kept in touch with Coach Barnett the most and he’s the offensive line coach, but I think there’s still an option to play defensive line.”
Most expect that VanWetzinga will end up playing center, but he’s leaving open the idea of playing defensive tackle as well. One thing he is happy about is that the recruiting process is completed. Now he can focus on football and other sports in his remaining time at Pleasant Valley High School.
“It’s nice to be done with the recruiting process,” he said. “It takes off a lot of stress and now I can work on developing as a player.”
In addition to being an all-state football player, VanWetzinga qualified for state in wrestling and shotput.
