Over the weekend Iowa picked up its eleventh verbal commitment for the 2011 recruiting class. As usual, Coach Johnson broke the news of a new member of the Hawkeye family on Twitter. Then, in an exciting twist it was Marcus Grant, the first player to commit to Iowa this year, who released the name of the latest commit via Twitter: Michael Orloff. Orloff is not ranked by Scout, who erroneously has him as a class of 2012 recruit, and is 2-stars by Rivals.

Orloff in High School

Orloff is a teammate and friend of Grant at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts. Last year, Lawrence Academy went undefeated and won the Independent School League. They finished the season as the Samson/Lorden Bowl champions. Orloff was a big play maker on both sides of the ball. He played quarterback and safety for the Spartans, but has been recruited by Iowa to play linebacker.

Stats:
  • Passing - 61/93 for 1032 yards, 12 TDs, 3 INTs
  • Rushing - 55 rushes for 529 yards, 8 TDs
  • Defense - 72 tackles, 2 INTs

Video!

This video isn't too helpful for evaluating Orloff's potential at linebacker, but as a bonus it also has Grant in it. He does look like a good athlete though and it's good to have a linebacker on board. The 2010 recruiting class was pretty stacked at linebacker, but Iowa lost 2 starters last year (Edds and Angerer) and will likely lose 2 more (Tarpinian and Hunter) this year at the position, so recruits are needed.