Iowa managed to squeeze in one more commit to end its big recruiting week. On Saturday Connor Kornbrath became the fifth overall player to verbally commit to the Hawkeyes and fourth of the week. Kornbrath is a kicker/punter from West Virginia. He is unranked by the major recruiting sites (profiles: Rivals, Scout, and 247Sports), but is ranked 5-stars and the 10th overall punter on KohlsKicking.com.

Kornbrath in High School

Kornbrath attends Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The Indians went 10-2 last year making it to the second round of the playoffs. At 6'7", Kornbrath plays basketball and is good enough to play in college if he hadn't chosen football. At his size he has also been offered the opportunity to play other positions in football, but in an interview with HawkeyeInsider said, "I had the opportunity to go D-I for kicking but I definitely didn't for tight end or something else. I didn't want to risk getting hurt and just stuck to kicker-punter."

Stats:
  • 7 of 12 FGs (made school record 51-yarder and player record 47-yarder), 19 touchbacks on kickoffs

Video:

Initial Thoughts

Kornbrath looks like he has a pretty good leg. In his video his kickoffs were generally 60+ yards and his punts had good hang time . What stood out the most is how fast he gets off his punts. He catches the snap, takes two quick steps, and gets the ball out.

I was initially concerned that this offer to a punter could mean that Jonny Mullings isn't coming along like the coaches hoped. Competition at punter won't hurt though, and even if Mullings wins the job, Kornbrath would only have to ride the bench two years after red-shirting. Though he is coming in as a punter first, kickoff guy second, I think he might have a shot at kickoffs sooner. Mike Meyer will be a junior by the time Kornbrath steps on campus, so Kornbrath wouldn't have to sit long.