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 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Texas QB picks the Hawkeyes
Corsicana (Texas) Mildred quarterback Nic Shimonek (No. 9) committed to the Hawkeyes on Thursday. (Corsicana Daily Sun)
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
No YouTubes of Shimonek, but you can catch a HUDL highlight reel by following this link.
Here’s an NCSA video:
For heaven’s sake, Marc! I hope there are better photos of him than that!
HA! Good point. I’ll see what I can do.
I think this is one of the more interesting commitments as it gives us the first real insight as to what Davis has in mind for the future, especially in terms of the types of talent he wants in his offense. Fleming to WR also tells me Davis is really searching for speed on the edge… heck, speed at all skill positions.
Excellent point, plus there’s the fact that Davis went to Texas and visited the kid, saw him throw. Plus 2, it’ll be four years before he’s needed. This is an investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme.
Maybe now is the start of the speed and power that I’ve thought Iowa should be going after. It’s always been disappointing that a really good Iowa team gets beat by an average team in a bowl or regular season team because of team speed. Look at Oklahoma, ASU or Arizona over the last few years.
haha…classic Iowa fan post.
Iowa lost to Oklahoma because Oklahoma had superior talent across the board and were not just an average team (Iowa was a 14 point underdog). Iowa lost to Arizona because of mental mistakes not lack of speed. In fact Iowa was probably the faster team. As for the Arizona State example that game was 8 freaking years ago.
Iowa can punch, and that’s why I think the Hawkeyes, under Ferentz, always will be tough to beat.
You’re right on some of the classic speed matchups. I remember writing that going into the ’03 Orange. Mistakes killed Iowa. USC had a speed advantage, but mistakes lost that game.
Nice to see someone other than me address this “speed” silliness……Iowa isn’t getting out run vry often now-a-days. But don’t take my word for it, just follow the Pro days and combine times. Iowa is putting lots and lots of fast, speedy, athletic players in the NFL. As far as this “speed” on the edge thing I/e: WR…..ever since I heard Davis say that I’ve scratched my head. Don’t get me wrong WR is probably the least talented position we’ve had over the last 12 years with some improvement is recent years but I wrote a synopsis on the Hlog questioning it when I heard it and did a little investigating on the oh so fast and talented WR’s Texas has since…………
Texas now has 4 WR in the NFL and I’ve been intrigued by this Texas speed thing since Davis mentioned it in the presser. They currently have 4 WR’s in the NF….. Quan Cosby ran a 4.50 combine time and he is also only 5’9”. James Kirkendoll ran a 4.38 and he too was only 5-10ish @ 174lbs and not a real productive College WR and then John Chiles who ran a 4.42 and also didn’t burn up college and then finally Jordan Shipley who was 5’11” and ran a 4.60 combine time and a 4.52 Pro day….so I’m not sure where all this supposed speed was?!?
So Im interested in thoughts here, because like busabus u can color me skeptical to out and out disagreeable.
Chad
I liked that Davis came out and addressed WR speed this spring. Something we all thought, but it’s different when a coach stands up and says it.
Russ,
On the other hand, IIRC, Iowa has beaten Michigan 3 straight, plus Florida 1 of 2, and Geo Tech and LSU and S. Carolina, so we may not always lose to average teams in bowl games…
Not impressed at all. A lot of throws off his back foot with bad arm action. Looked like a lot of bad defense as well. Definitely a work in progress. I do have to say there is a better looking QB right in Iowa’s back yard.
Does this “better looking QB” go by the name of “Jake”, post comments without a last name and currently on the Iowa roster?
Sorry Jon, I’m talking about a high school recruit in SE Iowa. Read between the lines better.
I’m trying to think who and I’m coming up blank.
I know the SE Polk kid Starcevich is someone Iowa has watched. Maybe there will be a second QB in this class. Iowa will only have four in ’13. And it’s still early on the recruiting clock.
I did read between the lines. It was meant to be a joke! With your first name being the same as a certain Iowa qb, I thought it would be funny.
The half-sidearm motion concerns me. At 6’4″ he can get away with that in high school ball, but the defenders in the Big Ten are better leapers and are taller. They tend to be quicker than the Permian Panthers, the Palo Duro Dons and the Marshall Mavericks. Still, it is a live arm, and he shows some quickness in eluding defenders. Guys like Drew Tate and Nathan Chandler sold me on Texas quarterbacks.
The Palo Duro Dons. I love that. I definitely want to see high-level Texas high school football before I’m done.
I also noticed the sidearm throws, as well as a few across his body. But like Marc said, 4 years til he’ll be needed. Lots of time for Davis to work with him.
Marc, the Dons are a middling west Texas team from near Amarillo (The Palo Duro canyon is nearby) who don’t often make the playoffs, but would likely wipe the floor with the best Iowa high school teams we could put up. Yeah, Texas high school football is THAT intense, and you should definitely get out there to watch the Odessa Bronchos versus the Permian Panthers, or Midland Lee versus the Amarillo Golden Sandstorm (not kidding! That’s the name) God knows where you would fly into. Probably Dallas, then you’d have some driving to do. Friday nights in Texas in Autumn are a whole other sporting world.