Kevin White
Salesmanship was on full display Wednesday by the Iowa Western football staff.
The Reivers entertained prospective student-athletes in their sparkling new Reiver Athletic Performance Center. Part of the afternoon's itinerary was allowing some of their players who are transferring at the semester break to share some of their stories.
Coach Scott Strohmeier said 18 players will soon become midyear transfers, including nine to the Division I level, five to Division II and four more who have yet to decide on a level.
Four players have announced that they are transferring to FBS schools: offensive tackle Anthony McKinney to TCU, along with defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon and linebackers Colton Dinsdale and Nick Anderson to Iowa. Dinsdale and Anderson will join the Hawkeyes as preferred walk-ons.
Nixon, from Kenosha, Wisconsin, originally committed to Iowa out of high school but then didn't qualify academically. The 6-foot-4, 305-pounder stayed true to the Hawkeyes even after perennial championship contender Alabama
made him an offer.
Nixon said he benefited greatly from the detour to Council Bluffs.
"Coming here was one of the best things I ever did with my life,'' he said. "I don't think I would have been ready for Iowa if I didn't come here first. Coming here changed a lot of things in my perspective, and made me get the right mindset, going to a D-I college.''
At 6-0 and 215, Dinsdale played at Gladbrook-Reinbeck in Class A, Iowa's smallest 11-man division. He said he needed two years of junior college ball to continue his growth as a player.
"You have to work your way up, you can't just come in here thinking you're going to be the cream of the crop,'' Dinsdale said. "
Anderson played his high school ball at Waukee. The 6-2, 228-pounder found his niche with the Reivers and now will find out if he can become a Big Ten contributor.
"Out of high school, I had some Division II interest,'' Anderson said. "I decided that I wanted to come here and then see if I could play at a bigger school, and that's exactly what happened.''
Several other players with FBS offers are expected to make their decisions in the next few weeks.
