West Liberty's Javier Rendon sits on the mat as Williamsburg's Austin Blythe celebrates the 2A state heavyweight championship with his coach Grant Eckenrod last February (Gazette's Cliff Jette).
According to IowaPreps.com and HawkeyeNation.com, the Hawkeyes have offered Williamsburg junior Austin Blythe, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound lineman, for the 2011 recruiting class.
Blythe also is a top-flight wrestler. He finished second in Class 2A as a freshman and claimed the title last season.
In IowaPreps.com’s Luke Feddersen’s story here, it sounds as though Blythe is going to have a tough choice — wrestling or football. Of course, it’s been done at Iowa. Kirk Ferentz has referenced Mark Sindlinger, a former Iowa OL and heavyweight wrestler. Recently, FB Jordan McLaughlin dabbled in wrestling. It’d be an ironman-like grind. And, oh yeah, go to school.
It’s a ways off, February 2011, but this is something to track.
EDIT: K.J. Pilcher, the Gazette’s wrestling writer, talked to Williamsburg wrestling coach Grant Eckenrod. Here’s a link to the story on Crossface Chronicles.
West Liberty's Javier Rendon is pinned by Austin Blythe of Williamsburg during the Class 2A 285 pound championship match at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Saturday, February 21, 2009. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)
Oostendorp did it too.
By: Marc in Des Moines on June 15, 2009
at 1:00 PM
Glad we offered the kid………wouldn’t want another Iowa kid named Blythe going to ISU.
By: Jebus on June 15, 2009
at 1:07 PM
Our wrestling guy, K.J. Pilcher, might have a story later today. He’s got a baseball game to cover.
One thing, Austin is only 16. He’s already 6-3, 280 pounds. K.J., who covered Blythe at the state mats meet the last two years, called him “thick.” Also, he’s soooo young. This is very much an unfinished body, but a terrific start for a D-I OL or DL.
Jebus — That’s what I thought, too! I thought, I remember that name.
By: marcmwm on June 15, 2009
at 1:42 PM
[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWest Liberty’s Javier Rendon sits on the mat as Williamsburg’s Austin Blythe celebrates the 2A state heavyweight championship with his coach Grant Eckenrod last February (Gazette’s Cliff Jette). According to IowaPreps.com and HawkeyeNation.com, the Hawkeyes have offered Williamsburg junior Austin Blythe, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound lineman, for the 2011 recruiting class. Blythe also is a top-flight wrestler. He finished second in Class 2A as a freshman and claimed the title last season. In Iowa [...]
By: Iowa offers Williamsburg junior on June 15, 2009
at 1:44 PM
If he tries to do both (and both Brands and Ferentz are cool with it), I would imagine that it would probably be best that he try to find a football home at DT. That way it would be a lot easier for him to ensure that he makes weight. Maybe he could pull off playing C too …
By: homerHAWKeye777 on June 16, 2009
at 9:23 AM
Homer, great thought. I believe he prefers DL, too.
The limit for NCAA wrestling is 285. He seems to have a real love for wrestling. The kid is 16 and he’s holding a D-I football scholarship and is a major wrestling talent. This is going to be interesting to follow.
By: marcmwm on June 16, 2009
at 10:19 AM
Pretty exciting and rather strange to contemplate that we could have a future rotation at DT that involves Ferguson and Blythe. We’ve only rarely had guys with that sort of size who also had the requisite quickness. Our last 5 who were physically similar either transferred or got injured (Bain, Ewen, Jackson, Kittrell, and Eshareturi).
Heck, it looks like we’re shooting to possibly get another DT in the 2010 class too, especially considering that we just offered Gaston Jr! Let’s hope that Gaston Jr got along well with Hopkins because they both went to the same high school … and Hopkins has also been projected at DT for us. Speaking of Hopkins … I’ll be very curious to track his development. His motor in high school was pretty relentless and he has really good quickness … so I’ll be curious to see how he makes the transition from LB to the DL. From what I understand, the transition from LB to DL for Gaglione had been a little rough (and that’s not including his shoulder injury).
By: homerHAWKeye777 on June 16, 2009
at 1:09 PM