Union Knights Football Team

August 28, 2012

Bill Seals
CycloneReport.com (reposted from IowaPreps.com, for subscription to this service to see more about top recruits in state of IA go to www.iowapreps.com)

Talk about it in Off the Record
Switching from wide receiver to quarterback midway through his sophomore season paid dividends for an Iowa prep's team, as it went on to win a state championship. But the move has also paid off in the rising junior's recruitment.

Scheel has offers from ISU, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
LaPorte City Union quarterback Jay Scheel enters his junior campaign with four BCS-level offers in hand - a remarkable feat for a player who has yet to play quarterback an entire season at the varsity level.

"I didn't expect any of it and it's all been a big surprise," said the 6-foot-1, 170-pounder. "It's a huge honor. It's exciting to see what other people think of me. I played quarterback my whole life, but then moved to wide receiver as a sophomore. All of the recruiting interest has helped my career and how encouraged and confident I am to play the position."

An injury to starting quarterback Trev Hadacheck opened the door for Scheel's emergence last fall. He put Union on his back and carried it to a state championship last fall. He completed 80-of-141 passes for 1,334 yards and 12 touchdowns while adding 548 rushing yards.

Scheel carried that momentum over to this summer, where he performed well at numerous camps.

"At some camps I was a little banged up with a tweaked hamstring, which I've had since the track season," Scheel said. "There's still a lot to work on and camps always help that. I had fun at all of the camps and tried to compete."

He's since picked up offers from Iowa State, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, and is getting interest from other regional programs.

"I'm still pretty open on things," Scheel said. "Over the summer I went to a lot of visits to Iowa and Iowa State, plus I went to camps at Minnesota and UNI. I've probably been on more visits to Iowa than Iowa State. I'm a little more comfortable with the coaches at Iowa, but I'm also pretty comfortable with the coaches at Iowa State too."

I-State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham is the lead recruiter for Scheel.

"He's told me a little bit about the offense they're going to run this year," Scheel said. "It helps being recruited by him. He's not been able to call me, and the only way we've been in touch is if he calls my coach and I call him. But I'm sure on September 1st, I'll be hearing from him more."

Messingham is working to get the quarterback on campus a couple times during the fall. Scheel will also watch the Cyclones play in Iowa City and is considering a trip to Wisconsin.

"I definitely plan on going to the Iowa-Iowa State game, and might go up to a Wisconsin game to see what it's like up there," Scheel said. "I'm definitely going to a few games at Iowa State."

Union opened the season with a 45-42 loss to Center Point-Urbana and faces perennial Class 1A power Aplington-Parkersburg on Friday.