'We hope he shows them up a bit': Minnesota homecoming 'a little sweeter' for Hooker

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per Hawkeye Central:

Aside from one 40-mile stretch on the northern portion of the Avenue of the Saints, it’s essentially a straight shot from Iowa City to Minneapolis and back.

The first two hours are due north with a slight lean, as Interstate 380 turns into U.S. Highway 218 right near Waterloo. Next is the small detour — 45 minutes west through the Iowa countryside, from Floyd to Rudd to Clear Lake — before finishing up on I-35. Two more hours straight up the compass, and you’re in Twin Cities territory. Just invert the directions and follow the same route on the return trip.

The Hookers know the journey well.

Three-plus years of having a Hawkeye son will do that. From their home in Brooklyn Park, one of Minneapolis’ northern suburbs, there have been numerous Iowa City recruiting visits and Kinnick Stadium stops. Amani Hooker ventures back to his roots when he can, but a full-fledged college football workload slices down those opportunities.

Which makes Saturday’s endeavor even cooler. Now a junior firmly entrenched as Iowa’s starting strong safety, Hooker is making the trip back north for the first time as an established defensive piece. Family and friends will pile into TCF Bank Stadium for the 2:30 p.m. game, helping splatter Hawkeye gold among the Gophers' maroon.

“We’re just happy he has this opportunity and hope he plays well,” says Ray Hooker, Amani’s father. “And yeah, we hope he shows them up a bit.”

More than three years after Hooker’s recruitment wrapped up with an Iowa commitment on June 16, 2015, questions still linger about how Minnesota let him slip away. Saying there’s any bad blood would be exaggerating a bit, but Hooker’s Twin Cities return provides an avenue to rehash how things unfolded.

Recruiting traction began after Hooker’s junior season, when the Park Center High School standout continued to establish himself as one of the state’s most versatile threats. Hooker thrived at defensive back, quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Schools noticed.

FCS offers from South Dakota and Northern Iowa arrived in early April of 2015, while Northern Illinois and New Mexico jumped in toward the end of 2015.

In between, Iowa made a sizable splash.

Linebackers coach Seth Wallace was in the Minneapolis area and caught wind of an explosive athlete down the road, one whose stock was still a bit undiscovered.

A single workout was enough for an offer.

“Coach Wallace sat down and his first thing was, 'Why hasn’t Minnesota offered this kid a scholarship?' Because he looks the part,” said former Park Center coach Paul Strong, who led the Pirates during Hooker’s time there. “And I said, ‘I guess he’s not their type.’”

It’s not that Minnesota was completely absent from Hooker’s recruitment; the Gophers just didn’t pounce with the same authority.

They certainly had chances. The third camp Hooker attended was in his figurative backyard — the Gophers’ team camp in July 2014 — and he later attended two more at Minnesota in January and June 2015.

The last camp was about a month after the Hawkeyes offered and less than two weeks removed from an Iowa City unofficial visit. Hooker had even named Iowa his unofficial leader but was still open to seeing what remained.

If Minnesota was going to make a move, it needed to be soon. The June camp featuring quality area competition seemed like the perfect setting to hop in with an offer.

“Minnesota still had an opportunity,” Ray recalls. “I remember it was (former Minnesota defensive back) coach Jay Swavel, he was doing most of the recruiting in this area. He asked Amani to make sure he gets to one of the camps, and we did that. He got to the camp — I thought he did a great job — and a lot of other people around thought he did a great job.

“And after the camp end, Swavel came over and spoke to Amani and us. They said he thought he did a great job — thought Amani was a great player and a good kid — but they wanted him to come back to one more camp. And this was after Iowa offered. So Amani and I, we looked at each other. we both said ‘OK, we’ll think about that.’ That was the last I had ever heard from Minnesota.”

Within 10 days, Hooker visited Iowa City again and officially joined Kirk Ferentz’s 2016 class. As is the case with numerous Hawkeye commits, Iowa’s early intrigue and steadfast interest were prevailing factors.

Those around Hooker were more than thrilled. But Minnesota’s trepidation was still puzzling. It got to the point where there was no guarantee Hooker would’ve remained in state even if the Gophers had offered. His father said UNI actually had a leg up before any Big Ten interest materialized.

“We were always shocked,” Strong says. “We were scratching our heads like, ‘Wow.’ And then when Iowa came in, (Minnesota) tried to come in the picture. And Amani was like, ‘Nope, you guys had your opportunity — and I moved on.’

“It was a shock for a lot of people in the community. A lot of my Gopher buddies were not too happy. They couldn’t figure it out, either.”

The Hookers always felt Iowa was the better fit, anyway, and their son’s trajectory has morphed belief into reality. Much has changed even in the two years since Amani’s freshman trip back to Minnesota in 2016, when he was a special-teams contributor still finding his way.

Since then, Hooker has hung tough with Saquon Barkley and Allen Lazard. He landed the opening blow last season in one of Iowa’s more iconic recent upsets, housing a J.T. Barrett interception on Ohio State’s first offensive snap. Stability and responsibility have headlined Hooker’s transition into upperclassman status.

“You try to carve out a role for a player that's shown some signs (early on),” Ferentz said this week. “And once you can take ownership of that — if he can expand it — that's a good thing.

“Now, we consider him to be a veteran guy.”

Should Hooker continue his early-season ways Saturday, expect some rowdiness from the family contingent. Amani’s parents, Ray and Janice, will be in attendance, along with his older sisters, Chelsia and Brehana. Big brother Quinton, a former North Dakota basketball star who’s now playing professionally in France, will be cheering on from afar.

Many other familiar faces will dot the Iowa crowd as well. Former high school competitors turned college foes — including Minnesota’s Tyler Johnson (Minneapolis North), Kamal Martin (Burnsville), Phillip Howard (Robbinsdale Cooper), Seth Green (East Ridge) and Carter Coughlin (Eden Prairie) — will only add fuel to Hooker’s homecoming.

Maybe in a different universe, Hooker spends this week prepping for Nate Stanley, Noah Fant and Iowa’s suddenly resurgent passing attack. Perhaps he’s made waves in the Minnesota secondary, consistently thriving as one of P. J. Fleck’s early veteran pieces. Maybe the Hookers never learn the trek between Iowa City and Minneapolis.

But things took a different course. All routes collide Saturday afternoon.

“This is obviously a little sweeter for me,” Hooker said. “So it should be fun.”

https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...tle-sweeter-hawkeyes-amani-hooker/1518543002/

Go Gophers!!
 


Is there a similar article about Ko Kieft?
 

Iowa was Hooker’s only P5 offer. A lot of other schools weren’t convinced either. I’m glad we took Winfield over Hooker.
 

Grades were the main reason he didnt have many offers. Most schools didnt think hed qualify including MN.
 



Grades were the main reason he didnt have many offers. Most schools didnt think hed qualify including MN.

They were willing to take a chance on Jeff Jones with a composite rating of 0.9712 in 2014. FWIH, he was in worst shape academically, I mean just being able to graduate from HS.

The 2016 Minnesota Recruiting Class was talent laden - https://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/Recruits/?Player.Enabled=True&Player.Hometown.State.Key=sa_28&Recruitment.Enabled=False

But, I think you'd bent over backwards and find room for your top instate players. In fairness, the 2016 MN State class was loaded.

They did not offer Amani Hooker the No. 4 player in Minnesota with a composite rating of 0.8645 in 2016. He was not in as bad a shape academically compared to Jeff Jones (which we found out had other issues). But, instead they offered Ko Kieft from Iowa with a composite rating of 0.8037. I don't get what the coaching rationale is.

The No. 1 player was Carter Coughlin. The No. 2 player was Patrick Kasl who was heavy into Wisconsin.

We let JD Spielman (0.8690, and the No. 3 player in Minnesota) get away to Nebraska.

In hindsight, Hooker and Spielman going to rival schools hurt. The Gophers can sure use both. These are big misses for the Kill/Claeys era.

But, in 2018 PJ Fleck let the No.1 rated player in the state David Alston go to Nebraska. He had a composite rating of 0.8721 - https://247sports.com/Season/2018-F...own.State.Key=sa_28&Recruitment.Enabled=False

Other than Alston, PJ FLeck did a great job in securing most of the top players. There was no way Jacob Smith who is Mormon will change his mind about going to BYU. I would have love to see the Gophers offer OT Ronnie Audette. But, we got some great OL recruits from elsewhere in one of the best recrutiing classes ever - https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/Recruits/?Player.Enabled=True&Player.Hometown.State.Key=sa_28&Recruitment.Enabled=False
 
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Too bad for us. Wish him the best (except today). Seems like a good kid we missed out on. It happens. For him though he is getting a chance to play major college football and a degree from a good school. Nothing left to prove to me.
 

Was his brother the basketball player that went on to play in North Dakota? Name escapes me but remember wishing the gophers had gone after him as well.
 



We've got lots more competition for our instate kids now that Iowa State is doing well joining the ranks of Wisconsin and Nebraska.
 









Disagree, and that’s OK.

IIRC, at least 3 of our TDs were right at him. On Green's wildcat run, he bit hard inside and Green ran right around him. He was the closest guy to TJ on his TD, and I believe there was one more.
 

If the recruiting staff has to worry about your grades qualifying you for entrance into the University of Minnesota and you are not a 4 star or higher recruit, it is your fault you were not seriously offered a full scholarship all along. Antoine Winfield Jr. is three times the player and the right move was made.
 

If the recruiting staff has to worry about your grades qualifying you for entrance into the University of Minnesota and you are not a 4 star or higher recruit, it is your fault you were not seriously offered a full scholarship all along. Antoine Winfield Jr. is three times the player and the right move was made.

That is fair. The onus was on him to get his academics in order, and the U was still smarting about Jeff Jones. But, David Alston and JD Spielman I would have loved those guys on the Gophers team. To be clear, there is no guarantee how any homers will do in a Gophers uniform. JD Spielman I can see him being a contributor.
 

IIRC, at least 3 of our TDs were right at him. On Green's wildcat run, he bit hard inside and Green ran right around him. He was the closest guy to TJ on his TD, and I believe there was one more.

So he wasn’t perfect. Most players have good plays/bad plays. He had two passes defensed, is second on the team in tackles, and is a second year starter suggesting he may get better. He’s made some nice plays in other games I’ve watched. You want to talk about Huff, Barber, Cashman or player XYZ this season? They’ve all blown things at times. To say he wouldn’t be accepted by this coaching staff is a big stretch IMO.
 

That is fair. The onus was on him to get his academics in order, and the U was still smarting about Jeff Jones. But, David Alston and JD Spielman I would have loved those guys on the Gophers team. To be clear, there is no guarantee how any homers will do in a Gophers uniform. JD Spielman I can see him being a contributor.

May be understatement of the year. Oh well.
 


Iowa was Hooker’s only P5 offer. A lot of other schools weren’t convinced either. I’m glad we took Winfield over Hooker.

It wasn’t necessarily an either or.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

With the way Iowa has played defense over the years an offer from them is a pretty good indicator the player has a chance to be good. Phil Parker has been pretty good for them. I’m sure there were reasons Claeys didn’t offer.
 




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