Tyler Wiegers, as many of the Class of 2014 did this year, announced his college of choice on Twitter.
“Committed to Iowa University! So excited for the future! Thanks to everyone for the support!” he wrote on Dec. 20, 2013, just about six weeks before National Signing Day.
This announcement came a little over a month after Wiegers was tweeting about bringing Big Ten championships to Rutgers, which once owned the third-best Big Ten recruiting class of 2014.
Wiegers was a big sign for Rutgers. It was largely assumed that he would be head coach Kyle Flood’s future signal-caller. He was to be the leader of what was, at the time, a recruiting class that planned to bring the Scarlet Knights back to national prominence.
But things went awry. Not even a year after Mike Rice was fired from his post as Rutgers’ men’s basketball head coach, allegations surfaced that former Rutgers defensive coordinator Dave Cohen had bullied and verbally abused his players.
Wiegers, along with many of his recruiting classmates, decommitted from Rutgers, reopening his recruitment and allowing Iowa back into the mix.
“I’m taking an official visit to Iowa and maybe one or two more,” he told NJ.com on Nov. 17. “And I might take another visit to RU.”
The Detroit Country Day product took his visit on the weekend of the Iowa-Michigan football game — and watched as Iowa closed out the Wolverines, 24-21, in dramatic fashion.
From there, most recruiting experts claimed that Iowa had pinned down Wiegers for good. It was made official on Dec. 20, 2013, giving Iowa the quarterback it had been searching for to add to its 2014 recruiting class.
“It was really a luck-of-the-draw kind of thing,” HawkeyeReport.com recruiting analyst Tom Kakert said. “Iowa was able to flip him later on in the process. … They really liked him.”
With Wiegers, Iowa is getting 6-4, 213-pound pro-style quarterback who puts a lot of zip on his throws. He really impressed scouts and recruiting analysts alike during several camps and combines. He’s able to scramble out of the pocket and is able to make the deep throws.
Wiegers also impressed experts with his supreme accuracy. During his senior year at Detroit Country Day, he completed more than 60-percent of his passes for 22 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions.
“That really led to a team like Iowa offering him,” ESPN recruiting analyst Jared Shanker said. “He looked good his senior year, he looked good in the summer, and I think that’s what made the biggest impact. At the passing camps, he really impressed a lot of people.”
Many recruiting analysts compared Wiegers with quarterbacks that Iowa has recruited in the past. And while there’s a logjam at that position as of now for the Hawkeyes — with the return of both Jake Rudock and C.J. Beathard, in addition to both Cody Sokol and Nic Shimonek — Wiegers is a guy that could possibly shake up the quarterback battle here in a couple of years with the proper development.
“Tyler Wiegers is a prospect I really like,” ESPN Big Ten recruiting reporter Tom VanHaaren wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. “He’s a guy who was a little undervalued throughout the process, a smart kid, good arm and good accuracy. He is definitely a quarterback that fits the offense.”