Iowa football: Omaha linebacker Cole Fisher verbally commits
The Iowa football team landed one recruit Friday but lost out on two others, including a receiver from Texas who had been committed since April.
Linebacker Cole Fisher from Omaha made a verbal commitment to Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz on Friday morning. Fisher picked Iowa over a scholarship offer from Kansas.
He also was hearing from Nebraska and Iowa State, but apparently neither school offered him a scholarship.
Kansas evened the score when receiver JaCorey Shepherd from Mesquite, Texas, backed out of his commitment to Iowa and switched to the Jayhawks, whose offensive coordinator is former Iowa all-America quarterback Chuck Long. Shepherd said recently that he was only “75 to 80 percent” committed to Iowa and indicated that he might explore other options.
Iowa also lost running back Justice Hayes to Notre Dame, with the Grand Blanc, Mich., native committing to the Irish on Friday. Hayes had Iowa among his top schools, along with Michigan State and Northwestern.
He is a cousin of incoming Iowa basketball recruit Devyn Marble.
As for Fisher, his father graduated from Nebraska and his brother, Sean, is a sophomore linebacker at the school.
Cole Fisher reportedly was told by the Nebraska coaches that a scholarship wouldn’t be offered to him because they only planned to sign one linebacker this year. But he told Hawkeye Insider.com on Friday that nothing would change his decision about being a Hawkeye.
“I sat down with my dad this week to talk about my decision,” Fisher told Hawkeye Insider.com. “He got one point through; he asked that if anybody else from around the country offered me, would I pick them over Iowa? I told him that I wouldn’t.”
Fisher tore his anterior cruciate ligament and still is waiting for medical clearance. He told Hawkeye Insider.com that it should happen soon.
Fisher attends Millard North High School, which is the same school from which Iowa middle linebacker Jeff Tarpinian graduated.
Former Iowa offensive lineman Seth Olsen and former cornerback Adam Shada also attended Millard North.
Iowa now is believed to have verbal commitments from at least 11 recruits, all of whom are seniors-to-be in high school. The national signing day for football is the first Wednesday in February.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
