It was a busy weekend for Iowa football recruiting, with three Class of 2019 recruits announcing their commitments over the course of Saturday and Sunday.
Defensive end Jalen Hunt, safety Dane Belton and guard Justin Britt upped the Hawkeyes’ number of 2019 verbal commitments to 13. All three are 3-star recruits in the 247Sports Composite.
Jalen Hunt
Iowa landed its second defensive end recruit of the class Saturday in Belleville, Mich., defensive end Jalen Hunt.
Hunt, 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, is ranked No. 44 nationally among strongside defensive ends by 247Sports while Rivals has him listed as a weakside defensive end, ranked 53rd in the country. Overall in Michigan, he’s No. 17 in the 247Sports rankings and No. 25 at Rivals.
I’m 110% positive COMMITTED pic.twitter.com/M0sM6WVEfL
— Jalen Hunt (@jayhunt540) June 23, 2018
Hunt had 20 other offers, according to 247Sports, including Boston College, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
Hunt attends Belleville High School, which also produced safety Kaevon Merriweather, a 2018 Iowa signee. Jake Karchinski of West De Pere, Wis., is the other committed defensive end in this class.
Dane Belton
The Hawkeyes dipped into Florida for the second straight year, securing a verbal commitment from Tampa Jesuit defensive back Dane Belton. Last year, Iowa signed Largo, Fla., wide receiver Calvin Lockett.
Belton, 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, is ranked No. 51 among safeties nationally by 247Sports and No. 97 overall in Florida. Rivals lists Belton as a cornerback, unranked nationally and No. 99 overall in the state.
Ad Mejorem Dei Glorium #Committed #Swarm19 #AMDG pic.twitter.com/v7SGIXbFZI
— GREAT Dane (@dbelton5) June 24, 2018
Like Hunt, Belton had a list of Power Five offers, according to 247Sports, including Georgia Tech, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and West Virginia, plus Central Florida, Cincinnati and Temple, among others.
Belton totaled 34 solo tackles and four interceptions last season for Jesuit, according to MaxPreps. He lists his 40-yard dash time as 4.48 seconds on Hudl.
Justin Britt
Iowa expanded its already strong 2019 offensive line class with a commitment from Justin Britt, a 6-foot-4, 286-pound guard from Indianapolis.
Britt attends Warren Central High School, which brought Iowa 2018 signee Julius Brents, a 3-star safety and one of three commitments from Indianapolis (North Central CB D.J. Johnson, Decatur Central ATH Tyrone Tracy).
Please respect my decisionpic.twitter.com/AaQyo5wC18
— Justin Britt (@brittjus000) June 24, 2018
Britt is Indiana’s No. 7-ranked recruit at 247Sports and Rivals. 247Sports has him No. 17 in the country among offensive guards, while Rivals lists him as an offensive tackle, ranked 48th.
He picked the Hawkeyes over reported offers from Arizona, Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Washington State.
Britt joins a pair of 4-star offensive tackle commits in this class — Norwalk’s Tyler Endres and Holstein’s Ezra Miller — plus 3-star guard Noah Fenske of New Hampton.