OL Kuempel talks spring visits

Marion, Iowa offensive tackle prospect Andy Kuempel (6-foot-7, 250 pounds) from Linn Mar High School spent his spring break last week checking out several schools, and Kuempel fills us in on his spring travels.

“During my spring break I was able to make stops at Northern Iowa, Iowa State and Iowa,” Andy Kuempel said. “I was glad that I was able to get out and see each program up close."

Kuemple's impression of Iowa State? "I know that they have a very young offensive line back this year, so I was really interested to see how the coaches worked with the offensive linemen. I really enjoyed watching offensive line coach Barney Cotton work with the line, and I also enjoyed getting to talk to him as well. I also had a chance to talk with head coach (Dan) McCarney, and I really liked him as well. Iowa State has an amazing new indoor football facility that is unbeatable. Overall I was really impressed with Iowa State."

Iowa? "The Hawkeyes were really the first school that started recruiting me, so I have some loyalty to Iowa as well as to coach (Reese) Morgan. Coach Morgan has been sending me mail quite a bit, so it was good to finally meet him as well as the rest of the Iowa coaches in person. I was able to see a practice, and I was impressed at the way the coaches run it's practices. Everyone talks about the facilities at Iowa, and I'd have to agree that the facilities are great at Iowa. The weight room for the football players is huge, and I was also impressed with the outdoor practice field that has the new Play-Turf surface. Iowa has a lot to offer and I enjoyed my visit to Iowa City."

Northern Iowa? "UNI has great coaches, and I really enjoyed getting a chance to talk to them in person. The coaches really fired me up with the talks that we had. The UNI Dome is a really impressive facility, especially for a D-1AA school, and Northern Iowa is always in the hunt for the Gateway conference title."

Kuempel, a standout two-sport athlete at Linn Mar High School, has also been seeing more and more football recruiting interest this spring. "The mail has picked up no question. I'm getting mail from the same schools since we last talked (Minnesota, Kansas State, Kansas, Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa) plus Virginia Tech and Michigan are also starting to send mail. My coach also said that Michigan has requested my junior tape."