Down to the wire

The horse race that is college football recruiting has turned for home and is headed to the finish line.

With signing day coming up on Feb. 4, every college program in the country is trying to put the finishing touches on their recruiting efforts for the Class of 2015. That includes Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes, who currently stand at 17 verbal commitments.

Iowa is expected to round out its class at around 19 or 20 prospects, so the Hawks are looking to land a couple more players in the next two weeks.

Based on upcoming visitors who are expected to be in Iowa City the next two weekends, the focus is on the defensive side of the football. In addition to hosting 10 of its committed prospects this weekend, Iowa also will be hosting at least three uncommitted players.

Leading that list will be four-star defensive tackle Darrion Daniels from Dallas. The 6-foot-4 and 285 pound tackle has made official visits to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Iowa will be his fourth official visit and he has built a very solid relationship with Iowa assistant LeVar Woods, who recruits the Texas area for the Hawkeyes. Daniels said he also is considering Baylor and Missouri for a potential final visit before he makes his decision.

The Hawkeyes also will be hosting a former Oregon State commitment from the Lone Star state this weekend. Angelo Garbutt originally committed to Oregon State in August, but after its coaching change, he has opened his recruitment back up. The 6-2, 210-pound three-star linebacker still is considering the Beavers. In addition to Iowa, he will visit Nebraska the following weekend. Nebraska is, of course, where former Oregon State coach Mike Riley landed last month.

The final visitor this weekend is two-star linebacker Jake Whalen from Wausau, Wis. Iowa has been recruiting the 6-1, 220-pounder for quite a while and recently extended a scholarship offer. While Iowa is recruiting Whalen as a linebacker, new Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst has jumped into the fray this past week with an offer as well. The Badgers are extending a gray-shirt opportunity to Whalen, which means he would join the program as a scholarship athlete in January of 2016. Wisconsin is recruiting Whalen as a fullback and he will make his official visit there next weekend.

On the weekend of Jan. 30, Iowa will have at least two and perhaps three official visitors, pending more names being added at the last minute. Leading the list is three-star running back Titus Booker from Greyslake, Ill. The 6-0, 185-pounder has been committed to the Badgers since late November after originally committing to Indiana in July. Now with the coaching change in Madison, Booker is looking around again. He will visit Kentucky this weekend and then Iowa for his final official visit.

Michigan linebacker Michael Ojemudia also is scheduled to be on campus Jan. 30. The 6-2, 190-pound two-star prospect has verbally committed to Eastern Michigan, but he is looking at a pair of Big Ten schools late in the recruiting process. Ojemudia will visit Indiana this weekend and then he will make his trip to Iowa City. Neither Iowa nor Indiana have officially extended a scholarship offer at this point.

Another name to watch for a visit next weekend is three-star defensive end DaiShon Neal from Omaha. The 6-7, 245-pound Neal still has verbally committed to his home state school, but with the coaching change he is entertaining interest from several programs. Neal made an official visit to Oklahoma last weekend and will make his official to Nebraska this weekend. He could potentially visit Iowa or Oregon the following weekend, with the potential for a midweek visit to Iowa and then a trip to Oregon over the weekend.

3 ON CAMPUS

One of the growing trends in college football is for prospects to graduate at semester and enroll early in college. It makes sense for some prospects, especially those who could potentially see early playing time. While it's not likely that it would be the case at Iowa, the Hawkeyes did welcome 2015 prospects James Daniels, Brady Reiff and Brett Waechter to campus this week when classes started.

Daniels is a four-star prospect on the offensive line and the brother of current Hawkeye, LeShun Daniels. Reiff is the younger brother of former Hawkeye standout and current Detroit Lion offensive lineman Riley Reiff. The younger Reiff will start out on the defensive line for Iowa. Waechter is recovering from shoulder surgery and will continue his rehab process in Iowa City.

Enrolling early gives all three players the opportunity to participate in spring practice and begin the learning process of what it takes to play college football.

JUNIOR DAY

While the Iowa coaches are trying to put the finishing touches on the Class of 2015, they also are hard at work on prospects for the 2016 and '17 classes. This past weekend, Iowa hosted 60 prospects from around the Midwest for their first junior day of the new year.

This was an important first step for the upcoming classes and it allowed Iowa to host its first events in the new football operations center they officially moved into last month. According to Josh Helmoldt, Rivals.com's Midwest recruiting analyst, the feedback he received privately from at least one parent of a prospect who visited this past weekend was extremely positive.

It's going to be very interesting to see how much of an impact the new facilities have on recruiting in the next two classes.

One of the visitors this past weekend was Iowa's first commit in 2016, quarterback Nathan Stanley. The Wisconsin native verbally committed to Iowa in early November. One of the interesting developments since then is Stanley's other offer at the time was from Pittsburgh, where new Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst was employed. Chryst has extended an offer to Stanley, but after his visit to Iowa, he reaffirmed his commitment to the Hawkeyes.