Will Iowa Regret Not Offering Tate Wallace?

First, a bit more about Wallace. At 6-foot-2, 225-pounds, he is regarded as the No. 2 Class of 2027 recruit in Iowa. Not only is he from Iowa, but he is from Iowa City, the home of the Hawkeyes. Wallace’s high school, Regina, is 3.4 miles from Kinnick Stadium.

His first offer came back in October 2024, when Miami-Ohio started the party. His first P4 offer came from Minnesota in May 2025. Other P4 offers then followed from Tennessee, Kansas State, West Virginia, Purdue, Arizona, Wisconsin, Arizona State and most recently, Notre Dame and Nebraska. At the end, Wallace chose the Gophers over the Sun Devils and Badgers.

So why didn’t the Hawkeyes offer a four-star linebacker who can walk to their campus?

The Hawkeyes already have three in-state linebacker commitments: Gavin Stecker, Braylon Bingham and Kyler Van Maanen. Stecker and Bingham both committed in December, which quickly filled the bulk of the position needs for the Hawkeyes. While none of the three are rated higher than Wallace by recruiting services, Iowa’s internal analysis was different.

Iowa was well aware of Wallace. The Hawkeyes have a long history with recruiting Regina High School, signing several players through the years, such as Jack Bostick, Dan Coffin, Daniel Murray, James Slattery and Jackson Naeve. Also, former Hawkeye tight end Marv Cook was the head coach at Regina from 2007-2020. The relationship between the two programs runs deep.

Future discussion regarding Iowa’s decision will solely depend on Wallace’s production at Minnesota. If he doesn’t become an impact player, then all of this will be quickly forgotten, however, if he develops into an All-American, more questions will be asked.

Coach Ferentz is Iowa royalty, but even royalty is capable of making a bad decision. In a couple of years everyone will find out if this was one of those.