Did Hawkeyes Swipe a Player From Under Illinois’ Nose?

(Decatur Herald & Review photo)

Who is Dakota Getz (pictured above)? He’s an Iowa football recruit. He played quarterback at Meridian High School in Macon, Ill.

His other scholarship offer came not from Illinois, but from Western Illinois.

Does this mean it’s a marginal “get” or that the Illinois staff overlooked a good ballplayer in its own territory?

Who knows? Check back in three or maybe even four years.

But Bob Asmussen of the Champaign News-Gazette gave Getz a nice write-up on IlliniHQ.com. The story ends with a funny anecdote about what’s happening to Getz as he plays for Macon’s basketball team:

Getz doesn’t have time to get into trouble. After taking the football team deep into the playoffs, he jumped into basketball. He is the top player on the state’s No. 1 Class 1A team.

Getz has been hearing about his college choice during basketball games. On a recent trip to Decatur St. Teresa, fans shouted “Iowa.”

“Every time I touched the ball,” Getz said.

The link to the story: 

http://www.illinihq.com/news/football/2009/02/14/iowa_getting_overlooked_star_in_getz/

A piece from Justin Conn of the Decatur Herald & Review suggests Getz is more than a mere mortal.

Writes Conn: Maybe Dakota Getz should just get it over with and start wearing a cape — he really is Superman. Maybe Dakota Getz should just get it over with and start wearing a cape — he really is Superman. With his performance in Meridian’s win over St. Teresa in the Okaw Valley Conference Tournament title game, Getz has established himself as a legitimate county basketball player of the year candidate. As far as we at the Herald & Review know off the top of our heads (and I will check to make sure), no one has ever won both football and basketball county player of the year in the same year.

The link:  http://www.herald-review.com/blogs/hrpreps/