Iowa Football welcomes multi-sport prep athletes into its program. The Hawkeyes boast a strong history with high school wrestlers and track participants. Tristan Wirfs and Tyler Linderbaum are two recent examples.
Grundy Center senior Trent Cakerice also fits the description. He's walking on at Iowa as a member of its 2024 recruiting class.
Cakerice (6-4, 235) finished seventh at the Iowa State High School wrestling tournament earlier this month. He competed at the state meet in the discuss last spring.
In helping the Spartans win their second-consecutive state football championship this past fall, Cakerice dominated with 16.5 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks in earning first-team all-state honors. He's put a lot of time into development.
"A trait that I have that makes me a great fit for the (Iowa) program is hard work," he told HN. "This is something that Iowa's culture lives off of and will definitely help me make a difference."
Wayne State, Northern Iowa and other schools recruited Cakerice. He accepted the Hawkeyes' preferred walk-on (PWO) opportunity last summer.
"The reason I chose Iowa over these colleges was that I knew how great their PWO program is. Iowa has had a ton of success with former walk-ons," he said.
Still undecided on a college major, Cakerice is considering Business and Political Science. Whatever field of study he chooses, he has a plan for tackling academics and athletics.
"My approach to becoming a successful student-athlete will be to work hard and stay humble. Those two things have been a huge factor in my success up to this point, and I will continue to use them at Iowa," he said.
Cakerice is a small-town success story not uncommon in the state. He owes a lot to his community for helping him reach his goals.
"Grundy has helped prepare me for my future by giving me a huge amount of success in my athletic career. Being able to be a four-sport athlete will definitely help me when it comes to athleticism at Iowa," he said.
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