Despite his stat-sheet stuffing numbers at a high school that had produced talent to the college level before, the offers from big-time programs were not flocking in for Stone.

“I was at my wits’ end,” Cowart said. “I could not believe the lack of attention that he was receiving from local schools and regional schools. He was one of the handful of best players in the state of Pennsylvania the year he came out. I mean him and five other guys at the skill positions. You could throw him into a hat, and they were all that good.”

Most of the programs interested in Stone were recruiting him as a defensive back, although some offered the playmaker an opportunity to stay on the offensive side of the ball, including at quarterback.

“Navy offered me as a safety, but they also told me I could be a quarterback or a running back in the triple option,” Stone said. “At first it was something I thought about, attending the Naval Academy. I looked into it. Later on, when I got into my recruitment, I kind of fell off from it.”

Now, as a permanent defensive player for Iowa, Stone has limited opportunities to touch the ball.

Stone is satisfied with leading the Iowa defense, but he’s always looking for a way to get the ball in his hands.

“Every time I’m back there for a punt, I’m hoping I get a return,” Stone said, smiling. “I love having the ball in my hands, I love trying to make plays. But I’m a defensive player, and I’m happy being on my side of the ball.”

Not finding the type of attention he expected from large schools, Stone grew frustrated. He was content with ending his recruitment and following through on his commitment to Kent State.

Then, very late in the recruiting process, Iowa entered the picture.

“At this point, Geno was nothing short of fed up,” Cowart said. “It wasn’t as if Geno was like, ‘I don’t want anything to do with Iowa.’ He was more like, ‘I don’t want anything to do with recruiting at all anymore.’ Definitely with his mother’s help, and some of our coaches, we had some war room meetings with Geno. We just said, ‘You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your family to go and give this a legitimate, serious look.’”

It all came down to Stone’s mother, Erin.She pushed her son to explore becoming a Hawkeye, letting him know she was behind him all the way.

“It was a decision between me and my mom, really just waiting for her to basically tell me she was OK with me leaving,” Stone said. “I really wanted to stay close to home with my family. But she always told me she didn’t want me to regret anything, so I ended up coming to visit [Iowa], and I fell in love with the place.”

Not only did Stone fall in love with Iowa, but the Hawkeyes also fell in love with him.

Under head coach Kirk Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have had remarkably good fortune as far as bringing in under-recruited defensive backs. Micah Hyde, Desmond King, Josh Jackson, and Amani Hooker all made first-team All-Big Ten while at Iowa despite having no Power 5 offers outside of the one they got from the Hawkeyes.

“We just saw that he’s a good football player,” Ferentz said. “Maybe he’s not tall enough, not quite tall enough or quite fast enough but he plays good football. I hate to use the word “instinct,” because that makes it sound like the guy doesn’t work at it. He works at it.

“There’s instinct that — guys tend to study and get an edge from being smart players. He was a quarterback and that probably helps a little bit, too. He’s just a good all-around football player that maybe other people thought was not quite, but we thought he was pretty good.”

Stone signed his letter of intent on Feb. 1, 2017, putting an end to a long recruiting process.

It wasn’t the school Stone may have thought of at first, but Iowa saw the type of player he was and the type of player he could be.

In the end, his mom knew best.

“His mother was so spectacular,” Cowart said. “As far as saying, ‘Whatever I need to do. If I need to take him on a 10-hour drive in the middle of the night, I’ll do it.’ And they did. That’s how he ended up at Iowa.”