Iowa football recruiting: 3-star Arizona DE Devan Kennedy commits to Hawkeyes

Over the past few years, the Iowa Hawkeyes have slowly built and refined their recruiting strategy to take full advantage of the NCAA recruiting calendar. Over the past several years, that has included building relationships early, getting prospects on campus as juniors, and filling a good chunk of the class before the summer starts. That opens the door for a big recruiting weekend, with most of the already committed players taking official visits alongside the remaining top targets.

That cycle, that big recruiting weekend, came last weekend, when the Hawkeyes hosted eleven of their twelve committed players, along with nearly a dozen uncommitted players. One such prospect was Arizona defensive end Devan Kennedy, who attended camp in Iowa City earlier this month.

Despite the camp, Kennedy didn’t earn an offer before deciding to return to Iowa City this weekend. Back on campus, the Hawkeyes jumped on board, and Kennedy wasted little time doing the same, committing to Iowa on Monday.

While this sounds pretty standard for Iowa recruiting stories, the Kennedys’ story is anything but. Although Devan is the son of former Penn State star and St. Louis Rams 1st-round pick Jimmy Kennedy, he didn’t commit to playing football until a year ago.

When he finally decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, Kennedy was a 63,190 lb junior with plenty of athleticism, a 7 foot wingspan and almost no experience. But what he lacked in experience, he made up for in work ethic and coachability. Devan put on 50 pounds of good weight over the last 10 months and went from rookie to big time power five prospect.

There, his recruitment story becomes even less standard as Hawkeye stories go. Despite camping in Iowa City and leaving without an offer, Kennedy was No completely under the radar. His junior film showed his side. His frame is great and his technique is coming. But his combination of size, speed and power is something you can’t coach, and once he started going to camps, it didn’t take long for other schools to take notice.

Before making this weekend’s return visit to Iowa City and earning an offer from the Hawkeyes, Kennedy earned offers State of OregonIllinois and most of all his father’s alma mater: Penn State.

The Hawkeyes don’t often take on the Nittany Lions. It’s incredibly rare for them to beat them due to legacy recruitment. But Phil Parker’s reputation and the draft development of Iowa’s programs sealed the deal for Kennedy, who says he found his home this weekend.

Iowa is home, Kennedy said HawkeyeReport.com. They are known for developing their players on and off the pitch. I trust the staff and love the community in Iowa City.

A product of Phoenixs Brophy Prep, Kennedy is high school teammates with twins Bastia and Case Vanden Bosch, sons of former Nebraska standout Kyle Vanden Bosch. The pair also hold Iowa offers as Levar Woods and the Hawkeyes try to make inroads in Arizona’s fertile recruiting grounds.

As mentioned, Kennedy chose the Hawkeyes over offers from Penn State, Illinois, Oregon State, Nevada, UTEP, Bowling Green, Idaho and others. The addition of Burt brings Iowas class of 2024 to 13 commitments. The class is ranked 30th nationally by On3 (36th by competitors and 32nd by 247 sports). That’s good for 8th in the Big Ten (9th among rivals and per 247 sports).

The question now is how many more of the 10 uncommitted prospects the Hawkeyes will host this weekend will follow Kennedy to Iowa City. Later in the afternoon, Iowa picked up a primary commitment from safety prospect Graham Eben. Notably, Eben is high school teammates with top WR prospect Reece Vander Zee, who the Hawkeyes also host over the weekend.

Early signs are at least half a dozen of these visitors looking to commit. Possibly more. It could be a very busy week for the Hawkeyes on the recruiting trail. This, of course, would put the staff one step ahead again in preparing for the 2025 class.

Welcome to Devan Kennedy!

In front of Kennedy, TWO
Ht: 63
Weight: 240 lbs
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ (Brophy Prep)
Stars: 247 Sports – 3; Competitors – 3