Riley McMinn of Rochester High School (Illinois) became the 10th verbal commitment for the Iowa Hawkeyes last weekend, Hawkeye Insider reported.

McMinn is a 6-foot-7, 220 pound DE. He’s ranked three stars by both Scout and Rivals.

If he bulks up over his senior year and his first years of college, we could soon see a monster breathing down the necks of Big Ten quarterbacks. Once McMinn is officially a Hawkeye, he will have two inches on the next biggest defensive players–d-linemen Christian Ballard, Carl Davis and Mike Hardy–who are all 6-foot-5.

Can’t wait to see how this young man develops.

According to HI, McMinn took the Hawkeyes over Boston College and offers from a plethora of teams, including several Big Ten foes.

Also of note is that McMinn is only the second commit who plays defense.

Here’s the full Hawkeye Insider article (no login needed!).

According to David Krider of Maxpreps.com, the Iowa Hawkeyes are the biggest sleeper team that may still have a chance at signing offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson.

That’s all I want to say on the topic.

If he comes — great. If not, I’ll try to muster up some fake disappointment.

I’m finished with the drama. Finished.

The big guy will make his decision Wednesday.

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Bleacherreport.com — Could Seantrel Henderson be a bust?

Iowa City Press-Citizen – The Iowa Hawkeyes picked up Ohio safety Anthony Hitchens who waited and waited and waited for an offer from Iowa. There’s no longer a void at safety after David Cato announced his transfer. See, it all works out in the end.

Rivals — No need to worry Hawkeye fans, Marcus Coker is still planning on signing with the Hawkeyes.

Here’s what Coker says about himself according to Scout.com:

“I can run downhill. I don’t waste movements and have football smarts. I’m a big bruising back and play with a lot of power.

“I want to improve my agility. And make people miss more.”

That sounds exactly like the kind of back that will fit right in at Iowa.

Rivals — Linn Mar’s (Marion, Iowa) David Parry enjoyed an Iowa visit this weekend. He has an offer to walk on. Perry’s is also highly interested in Stanford University, according to Rivals.

Rivals — While the Hawkeyes may be out of the running for Seantrel Henderson, his former teammate QB Mark Alt returned home from an offical visit to Iowa with a scholarship offer. Alt previously committed to Minnesota to play hockey. He is a one-star QB, according to Scout.

Scout — Ohio native TE Ray Hamilton is a big guy at 6-foot-5 220 pounds. He is a three-star recruit according to Scout. And he now holds an offer from Iowa for 2011.

Scout — Ellis Jordan and John Chelf have decided to walk-on at Iowa to join their former Iowa City High teammate A.J. Derby. The two were key players in Iowa City High’s 2009 4A State Championship team.

Jordan is a running back who passed up numerous Division II offers and Chelf a wide receiver who passed up an offer from Minnesota State and the opportunity to walk on at Iowa State to join the Hawkeyes.

You know who else was a walk-on at Iowa and also an Iowa native? Dallas Clark. He’s playing for his second Super Bowl Ring with the Colts.

All is not quiet on the Seantrel Henderson front.

First, according to Henderson’s father, Sean Henderson, Pete Carrol’s hike out of USC to Seattle for his NFL dreams hasn’t changed the Trojans’ standing in the Seantrel Sweepstakes.

For the full story: GameFaceMN

Second, and perhaps more importantly, Henderson’s father announced that his son will decide which college to attend on Feb. 3. Henderson’s decision will be announced live on Tom Lemming’s show on CBS College Sports.

Hey, Mediacom, why don’t you pick that up just for Feb. 3? That would be nice. Thanks!

In other news, Henderson is also looking to raise his ACT score from 17 to 19.

Full story: TwinCities.com (Pioneer Press)

Future Iowa Hawkeyes Andrew Donnal, C.J. Fiedorowicz and A.J. Derby along with prospective recruit Seantrel Henderson will take the field for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl tomorrow at Noon CST in San Antonio Texas.

Donnal, a four-star, 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive tackle out of Ohio and Fiedorowicz, one of the top TE prospects in the country, will be lining up for the East while fellow OT Henderson (6–foot-8, 300 pounds) and Iowa City High QB A.J. Derby will battle it out from the opposing sideline for the West.

Henderson was named the West’s MVP on Thursday

The bowl game, which features some of the nation’s top high school prospects, is celebrating it’s ten-year anniversary and will take place in San Antonio’s Alamo Dome.

NBC will broadcast the game live, so check your local listings and all that fun stuff.

Just a quick update here on Seantrel Henderson.

It appears the Iowa Hawkeyes still have a decent chance at landing one of the nation’s top high school prospects.

Both Rivals.com and Scout.com include Iowa among the top schools in which Henderson is interested.

If site placement means anything on Rivals or Scout, the Hawkeyes are right where they want to be in the recruitment race. Both sites have Iowa listed second–behind Florida–on Henderson’s list of schools.

Miami, which earned Henderson’s final official visit scheduled for Jan. 29, is listed third.

That’s good news but Henderson was rather reserved in an interview with GopherHole.com when asked what he enjoyed about his visit to the University of Iowa. The site quotes Henderson as saying he wasn’t sure about Iowa because he only got to see the game against Minnesota and not much else.

The interview also suggests Henderson may be looking for a metropolitan campus—something he wouldn’t exactly find in Iowa City.

Updates on Henderson will come as I get them. Stay tuned.

We’ve got some good news and bad news this morning for Iowa Hawkeyes recruiting coming from the Iowa City Press-Citizen

Let’s start with the good, shall we?

The Hawkeyes stole Michigan prep receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley from the grasp of Bowling Green over the weekend.

Martin-Manley is a big dude—6-foot-1 and 190 lbs—who will add some size to the Hawkeyes’ receiving corps.

Martin-Manley decided to switch to Iowa after the Hawkeyes put on a strong showing during the season. According to the Press-Citizen, he admitted he didn’t know much about the Hawks prior to this year.

Central Michigan and Illinois also had interest in Martin-Manley.

Now for the bad news…well, it isn’t horrible.

However, the Hawkeyes lost Harlan H.S. prep defensive end Matt Hoch to the Missouri Tigers.

Hoch will be playing with his brother who starts on the Mizzou o-line.

Good luck, Matt. Make Iowa proud and all that. Oh, wait….

Iowa won’t need him anyway because ADRIAN CLAYBORN IS STAYING!

Hopefully Bryan Bulaga and Amari Spievey make the same decision—the right one.

Seantrel Henderson, Minnesota AP’s All-State Player of the Year, has included Iowa in his top eight schools, according to ESPN.

Henderson took an unofficial visit earlier in the year to the University of Iowa with a teammate who  claims the two enjoyed their trip.

Henderson remains unclear as to what school he will travel to for his fifth and final allowed “official” visit. Many—including ESPN—speculate that it could go to Oklahoma. Henderson and those close to him have said that other options remain open.

ESPN gives Iowa and Miami (FL) shots at overtaking Oklahoma’s scheduled slot.

For now, a lot of attention has been given to Notre Dame with the rocky territory that is the Irish coaching situation. It sure would be a shame if Notre Dame were to upset Henderson with its selection at head coach and send him to say…Iowa.

Henderson, ESPN’s No. 4-ranked recruit in the nation, could be Iowa’s first five-star recruit—and could be Iowa’s only shot at picking one up this year.

It may not be likely for the Hawkeyes to remain in the picture but what are your thoughts?

Can the Hawkeyes pick up Henderson?