The 38th Annual Iowa Shrine Bowl is this weekend on Saturday. The game is played in Jack Trice Stadium at 7:00 PM. If you don't want to travel to Ames and sit inside Jack Trice, which is perfectly understandable, then you can watch a replay of the game on the Mediacom Connections Channel (MC22) on Sunday at 12:00. The game always features some of the best graduating high schoolers in the state and a large number of current Hawkeyes have played in the game. Last year Jordan Cotton made a good impression on me in the game and 2 years ago James Vandenberg dominated. This year should be no different as 5 future Hawkeyes will be on the field.
On the North squad is two walk-ons: K Mike Meyer from Dubuque-Wahlert, OL Cole Heissel from Gehlen Catholic, and walk-on FB David Ryberg from Xavier. The South features S Tanner Miller from Mid-Prairie, LB James Morris from Solon, and walk-ons QB Blake Haluska from Carroll and OL Tommy Gaul from Dowling.
I am most excited to see Morris play. I watched him play in the State Championship Game and was impressed. It'll be interesting to see how the coaches use him in this game. He played both running back and linebacker (and even some quarterback) for Solon, but will be solely a linebacker at Iowa. He should be the most dominate player on the field Saturday.
So, if you are dying to see some football (other than replays on BTN, which I know are amazing), then be sure to check out this game. And even though it is in Jack Trice, go out to the stadium and have some fun, because it is for a good cause. The game makes a lot of money for the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
UPDATE: I was informed by a reader that I left off a couple of players who will be walking on to the Iowa Football program this year, so I've updated the post.