Iowa Junior Makes Pledge

Davenport, Iowa's Ted Bentler is only a junior but he has made his college decision. Bentler will be one of the top Midwest prospects in 2003.

The Hawkeye Nation has to be very excited about what’s happening with their football team in 2002 and they’re also doing extremely well in the Recruiting Wars.

Blue-Chip quarterback Chris Leak has set a December visit. Wide receiver prospects Brandon Tobias and Champ Davis have Iowa high on their list as does New Jersey defensive lineman Turk McBride.

Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz was also delighted to find out that one of the top in-state juniors has decided to play his college football in Iowa City.

“Ted (Bentler) gave coach Ferentz a verbal commitment,” said Davenport (Assumption) head coach Wade King.

“Ted has started for me on the varsity as a sophomore and every game this year as a junior. Offensively we use him as a blocking back. He’s a tremendous blocker. Ted is also the base of our defense.

“Teams run away from him (Bentler) on defense. He does very well at the line of scrimmage. He played linebacker for us last year and this year we moved him to defensive tackle.”

We asked coach King if any other schools were in the hunt for Bentler.

“Basically Ted was torn between Iowa and Iowa State but he liked what was going on at Iowa. He was hoping Notre Dame would have shown more interest.

“Ohio State, Wisconsin and Oklahoma were also actively recruiting him.” King said.