The Iowa Hawkeyes officially landed a commitment from their biggest target—no pun intended—in the 2023 recruiting class. Five-star offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes on Thursday afternoon, spurning his other final choice in the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The 6-foot-7, 330 pound tackle out of Southeast Polk High School in Des Moines, Iowa, followed the path that his old teammate Xavier Nwankpa took in the 2022 cycle, choosing the Hawkeyes instead of some of college football’s traditional heavyweights.
In addition to Alabama, Proctor chose Iowa over offers from schools such as Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and USC.
Nwankpa chose Iowa over offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and USC.
According to 247Sports’ list of Iowa’s all-time football commits, Proctor is the highest-rated commit Iowa has landed since the year 2000 and Nwankpa is No. 10 on that list.
With Proctor’s commitment, Iowa now possesses the nation’s No. 15 class nationally according to 247Sports, the No. 15 class according to Rivals and the No. 16 class according to On3. The Hawkeyes’ class checks in as the Big Ten’s No. 4 class according to 247Sports, On3 and Rivals.
According to ESPN, Proctor is the nation’s No. 6 player in the 2023 class and the No. 2 offensive tackle. Rivals also ranks Proctor as five-star commit, the nation’s No. 14 player overall, and the top offensive tackle.
Meanwhile, On3 and 247Sports both list Proctor as a four-star commit. According to 247Sports, Proctor is the nation’s No. 7 player overall and the top offensive tackle. On3 ranks Proctor as the No. 31 player nationally and the No. 4 offensive tackle. However, he is rated as a five-star commit in both the 247Sports composite rankings and the On3 consensus rankings.
While, yes, there’s the in-state tie here with both, these decisions and simply landing players of this caliber could make the Hawkeyes a more attractive destination to high-profile targets to close the 2023 class, in the coming years and signal an uptick in Iowa’s overall recruiting moving forward.
It’s an exciting time to be an Iowa fan. Naturally, the rest of Iowa’s current 2023 commits were fired up as was the entirety of Hawkeyes Nation. Here’s some of the best social media reactions to Proctor’s decision to commit to the Iowa Hawkeyes.