Marc Morehouse, CR Gazette –
Score one for Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis and his Texas connections.
When the former University of Texas OC was hired at Iowa in February, he immediately heard from around 20 Texas prep coaches interested in his new ties.
That appears to have helped the Hawkeyes land Corsicana (Texas) Mildred quarterback Nic Shimonek, who committed to the Hawkeyes on Thursday. Shimonek is Iowa’s eighth recruit for the 2013 class. According to Rivals.com, Shimonek (6-4, 205) didn’t have any FBS offers but did have interest from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and SMU. Rivals also lists Davis as Iowa’s primary recruiter for Shimonek.
The Corsicana Daily Sun reported that Shimonek did have an offer from Lamar, an FCS school, and that he’s planning to visit Iowa City this summer.
As a junior, Shimonek completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 2,939 yards, 37 TDs and just three intereceptions, one of which came in “Hail Mary” mode at the end of a game. Mildred finished with a 13-1 record last season.
Davis called Shimonek’s coach today and said Iowa was ready to offer. Shimonek, who has family ties in Iowa, didn’t mess around and pulled the trigger without a visit.
“Iowa has been showing a lot of interest as far as mail and all of that good stuff and then today, when I was on my way to school, I got the news that they had called my head coach and told him they were going to offer,” Shimonek told HawkeyeReport.com. “Obviously I was super excited, so I called coach Davis as soon as I could and verbally accepted.”
Shimonek, who started for Mildred (a Class 2A school) as a sophomore and also started several games as a freshman, is considered as a “pro-style” quarterback, which fits his 6-4, 205-pound frame. Since Iowa started showing serious interest, Shimonek started research on the Hawkeyes and likes Davis’ offense.
“Coach Davis is a real good guy and a good coach, and obviously he’s got a good track record,” Shimonek told HR.com. “Personally, I really like the pro-style offense that they run and the fact they are balanced offensively. Plus they’ve always got those 300-pound linemen. I’m definitely not going to complain about that.”
Shimonek has family in the Des Moines area and his mom, Tresa, also is from Iowa.
Shimonek is Iowa’s eighth recruit for the 2013 class, but will he be the lone QB?
Iowa has seniors in James Vandenberg and John Wienke (who’s probably more of a punter now). In 2013, Jake Ruddock will be a sophomore along with Cody Sokol, who’ll be a junior in ’13 if he redshirts this season (that’s the plan) and C.J. Beathard will be a redshirt freshman. Shimonek would be the fourth QB, unless Iowa takes another in this class.
“I’m just super excited,” Shimonek said. “I wish I could start now actually. I’ve got another year of high school left, but I can’t wait to get up there. I don’t think it’s really dawned on me yet just how big this really is, but as soon as it does, it’s going to be a great feeling.”
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David Kenney, DE, 6-2, 250 Pike High School (Indianapolis, Ind.) ****
Derrick Willies, WR, 6-3, 190 Rock Island (Ill.) High School ***
Delano Hill, FS, 6-1, 190 Cass Tech High School (Detroit, Mich.) ***
Colin Goebel, OL 6-4, 275 Naperville (Ill.) North High School ***
Nathan Bazata, DT, 6-2, 270 Howells (Neb.) High School ***
Brant Gressel, DT, 6-2, 283 Centerville (Ohio) High School ***
John Kenny, LB, 6-2, 210 Caramel (Ind.) High School ***
Nic Shimonek, QB, 6-4, 205 Mildred (Corsicana, Texas) High School (no Rivals.com rating as of yet)
* = Rivals.com’s star rating
