Onwualu visits Iowa, lands new offer

Iowa has already laid the initial groundwork for their recruitment of St. Paul (Minn.) Cretin-Derham Hall 2013 athlete James Onwualu, but on Sunday the Hawkeyes were tasked with impressing his mother too.

"I brought my mom along this time and gave her a chance to meet with Coach [Kirk] Ferentz, Coach [Eric] Johnson and Coach [Erik] Campbell, and let her see the campus as well," Onwualu said. "I think she liked it a lot. The coaches gave her a great impression. It's one of the first schools she's seen and I think she enjoyed."

Iowa had extended an offer to Onwualu earlier in the process, and he was back in Iowa City for the Hawkeye's junior day.

"I have been there a couple times and I think it was great bringing my mom back there," Onwualu said. "They really stressed that they were not rushing me, but they are confident in giving me time and letting me figure out what I want."

Although the Iowa coaching staff is not pushing Onwualu to make an early decision, the 6-1, 205-pound prospect does not plan on taking more time than he needs to decide on his college future.

"I believe that the ultimate goal is to just pick your school and then prepare for what you need to get done there," Onwualu said. "I think that comes with an early commitment, and that's still what I am planning on doing.

"It most likely will be spring or into summer. Although I want to commit early, I still want to make sure the school I am attending is the school I want to be at for 3-4 years."

Onwualu already has several options to pick from with offers in hand from Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue and Stanford. He added another name to that list on Monday.

"I got Michigan today, which was a big deal for me," Onwualu said. "They are pretty high on my list as well and it was great pulling that one in and talking with Coach [Greg] Mattison for awhile today. I hopefully will be going out to see how it works there in the next couple of weeks."

Michigan, like most of the schools on his list, are recruiting Onwualu as a wide receiver. He will schedule an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor with their coaching staff, and also is looking to make trips to Stanford and Notre Dame in the near future.