Two Big Ten programs present walk-on offers to Neenah's Jack Van Dyke

Within a span of two days last week, Neenah (WI) native Jack Van Dyke went from no offers to two from Big Ten West division programs.

On June 26, Van Dyke, a specialist in the 2020 class, tweeted that he received a preferred walk-on opportunity from his home-state program, Wisconsin. A couple of days later, he declared that Iowa presented the same offer to him.

“I mean, it’s crazy. Just the feeling to have two huge programs believe in you and trust in you that you're a good player and person is just amazing," Van Dyke told BadgerBlitz.com on Wednesday. "Especially Wisconsin being my first [offer]. It’s been a dream of mine to play there the past couple years. Then to have Iowa on top of that, it’s a crazy feeling. It’s hard to explain.”

On June 23, Van Dyke participated in Wisconsin's second specialist camp of the month. A day later, he spoke with special teams analyst Taylor Mehlhaff and was informed they were choosing to offer him but had to "go through all academic stuff and everything like that."

Two days after that, he was extended the preferred walk-on spot.

“[He] just said that with the way that I’ve acted in my high school career - and how I’ve done so well in school and stuff like that - and my performance in camp, he said he felt fine with giving me the PWO so early. The whole coaching staff was super excited to have me.”

The emotions of receiving his first offer included "a big sigh of relief" for Van Dyke, who is rated a five-star kicker and punter, according to Kohl's Kicking. It also meant a lot to his family.

"I was just so happy to have finally gotten my first offer because I just worked so hard in the past year," Van Dyke said. "My family was on the phone, too. My dad, I think, teared up a little bit just because he was so excited and my mom couldn’t really talk, so that just made me happy, too, because I knew that I made them proud.”

Two days later a conversation with Iowa special teams coach LeVar Woods resulted in his second preferred walk-on offer. Just days prior to Wisconsin's June 23rd session, Van Dyke participated in the Hawkeyes' camp as a punter.

According to Van Dyke, Woods said he was "super happy with how I handled their camp, and he said that I did super well and that he was excited about me because I didn't kick at Iowa.”

“I just punted, and then at Wisconsin, I won the kickoff/field goal competition and did well in my kickoff competition. LeVar talked to me about how he didn’t know that I could kick as well, so then I think he said that he just pulled the trigger on me because I was good at punting at their camp."

Rated the No. 19 kicker and No. 16 punter in the nation by Kohl's Kicking, Van Dyke said both Big Ten schools are looking at him to mainly handle punts or kickoffs.

"I know Iowa needs a punter. They’re going to need a punter in the next couple years so I think that’s what they wanted me ideally for," Van Dyke said. "Then Wisconsin, they’re losing a bunch of people in the next couple years. I think Wisconsin is a little bit more open but both [special teams coach Chris] Haering and Taylor Mehlhaff told me that they wanted me to punt for them, mainly. But they also said that it’s pretty open with how many guys they’re losing.”

According to Van Dyke, South Dakota and North Dakota State are two schools that are still potentially talking about an offer, and he has camped at Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

Right now, however, the two schools that presented him offers currently stand out. For that matter, a decision could be coming shortly from the 6-foot-5, 185-pound in-state product.

"I’d definitely say Wisconsin and Iowa are my one and two, for sure," Van Dyke said, "just because they’ve actually reached out and given me this opportunity. Because I think every other school that hasn’t given me an offer is, I guess, waiting a little bit. That makes sense because it is still really early to offer specialists, but I don’t know.

"I think I’m going to try to make a decision in the next couple of weeks just because of these early opportunities, and I’d just like to take one.”