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New Hampton's Humpal commits to Hawkeyes

New Hampton's Humpal commits to Hawkeyes

9/20/2002 by Jon Miller of Hawkeye Nation

 

Less than a week after suffering a tough loss at the hands of Iowa State, the Iowa Hawkeyes received some good news in the form of a verbal commitment to their football team.

Mike Humpal (pronounced HUMP-uhl) of New Hampton, Iowa is the fourth prep to verbally commit to Iowa for the 2003 recruiting class.

Humpal plays tailback and linebacker for New Hampton, but his future will start out on the defensive side of the ball at Iowa.

” Iowa offered him earlier this week and he has accepted their offer. You caught this right away. We have people here who we haven’t even had a chance to tell yet,” said Steve Frerichs, 10-year head coach of Chickasaws.

”I think they are looking at him to be a linebacker of some type.”

Frerichs then began to rave on his 6-foot-2, 205-pound star.

He is a terrific young man. He carries a 3.9 grade point average, has been an avid weightlifter for the past four years and was a state champion wrestler at 215-pounds (Humpal beat nationally touted Dane Pape in the semi’s) last year.” Frerichs said.

”He finished 2nd in the 110-high hurdles at the state track meet, and that shows his speed and explosiveness. That is legitimate speed, unlike some of the exaggerated reports of speed. Mike has the proof.”

Iowa has had the proof on Humpal for some time now, as they have had at least one eye on him for the last three years.

”Iowa has known about him since he was a freshman. They got active with him last year and wanted to see film at the end of football season.” Frerichs said.

”His performance on the mat really piqued their interest and then his track performances got them excited as they were able to see and document his skills sets across three different sports.”

”It (their interest) just grew and grew until they decided to offer him a scholarship this week.”

Frerichs said that Iowa assistant Reese Morgan was the coach in charge of recruiting Mike, who is not only track fast, but he is also football fast.

"The lateral movement is there. The thing is, he is not just a football player. When you see him on the wrestling mat, he has extremely good feet and good balance, so there is carry over there, plus his track skills." Frerichs said.

"So not only is he straight ahead fast, but he is just a well-rounded athlete that has other skills"

In his first two games of 2002, Humpal has rushed for more than 200 yards in each contest and he has scored six times on just 32 carries.

So we have established that the Hawkeyes are getting a versatile athlete, but Humpal has the bonus of being a quality individual as well.

”He is a real good leader and a mature young man. I think he is a great kid and I know that he is excited to be a Hawkeye.” Frerichs said.

”Mike also understands the game well and he studies tape. He will watch game film more than any player I have ever known or heard of on this level. For a high school player, that says a lot about his commitment.”

Frerichs also considers Humpal as the perfect teammate.

”He had 765 yards rushing last year, but I had a senior tailback, so I moved Mike to fullback because that is the kind of kid that he is,” said Frerichs. ”He is very cooperative and will do anything for his teammates. He was our best tailback and would have been a 1,000-yard rusher.”

Frerichs said that Northern Iowa and Northern Illinois were very interested and that Iowa State had requested film of Humpal recently. Cyclone coaches were also out to New Hampton last year with regards to an interest in Humpal.

HN.com’s interview with Mike Humpal


Hawkeye NationHawkeye Nation was founded by Jon Miller, and later acquired by Rivals and Sports Illustrated. You can visit them at HawkeyeNation.com

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