COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa. — Last weekend, the Iowa State football coaching staff hosted its first ever Eastern Iowa showcase in Dubuque. On Saturday, the staff headed west to Council Bluffs for the West Iowa/Omaha showcase — and two players really stood out.
York defensive tackle Masry Mapieu and Millard North athlete Daveon Jones, both in the class of 2018, picked up offers from Iowa State following the camp.
“After the camp I stayed back and spoke with a few coaches,” Jones, a 6-foot, 163-pound, prospect that worked mainly with running backs and slot receivers during camp, said about the moment when ISU offered. “The head coach was the one to let me know.”
The offer is Jones’ first as he heads into his junior season with the Mustangs. Camp wasn’t the first time the coaching staff got a chance to see Jones perform.
He had first popped up on the radar after several coaches visited the school this spring to watch skill position players workout, run routes and catch passes.
“I was very shocked but It was exciting,” Jones said. “A huge surprise.”
Jones said he plans to make a visit to Ames during the fall, and he’ll attend just one more camp this summer at Nebraska.
Mapieu, a 6-foot-4-inch, 270-pound prospect, also holds offers from Iowa, South Dakota State and UCF. On film, he looks like a man amongst boys in Nebraska’s Class B — the state’s second largest class.
The big question with his recruiting, like most kids from Nebraska, will likely come down to whether or not he lands an offer from the Big Red — which he hasn’t as of now. He’ll camp in Lincoln on June 17 before taking in a visit the next day.
“After we were done with the camp [Matt Campbell] told us to go talk to our position coaches,” Mapieu said. “[Eli Rasheed] told me, ‘We are going to offer you.’ After that I went to go talk to the head coach and we had some good talks.”
He plans to take a visit to Ames sometime "soon," but doesn’t have any sort of timetable at this point.
