Grinnell’s Will Slagle on the radar of major D1 football programs

        Will Slagle is joined by his parents, Don and Jennifer Slagle, after a Grinnell football game last year. Since January, Will has received 12 verbal commits from D1 schools for the class of 2027. He will be a junior this fall at Grinnell. He has yet to decide what school he will attend and play football. (submitted photo).

By J.O. Parker
 
        Grinnell’s Will Slagle is one tough cookie.
      At 6’ 4” and 300-pounds, Slagle is a tough competitor and has the muscle to move a mountain on the offensive and defensive lines for the Tigers.
       His prowess has coaches from major D1 school football programs from across the nation knocking on his front door.
      On 3, one of several recruiting website companies for high school students, has rated Slagle as a Top 3 recruit in the state of Iowa in all position for the 2027 class.
        “I’m ranked number 1 for offensive line and number 5 in Iowa for defensive line,” said Slagle, who enters his junior campaign on the gridiron this fall at Grinnell.
         Other recruiting websites that have ranked Slagle include 247 Sports, Rivals and Prep Redzone.
Slagle has received verbal commits to play football from Iowa State, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Stanford, Arkansas and Auburn.
        Stanford is one of several schools who have sent a representative to Grinnell to meet and visit with the budding football star.
        And he’s made several visits to schools in the Midwest, including Iowa State and Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and others.
        Arizona State, Ohio State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt have also expressed an interest in Slagle, but have not given him a verbal offer.
         All the buzz about Slagle’s future came about thanks in part to J.C. Moreau of Iowa City. Slagle works out with Moreau during the spring months and he helped get his name on the radar.
         “He sent out some of my tapes and got me noticed,” said Slagle.
       Moreau is the founder and sports performance coach and consultant at Strength U, a company that provides sports performance training for youth and high school students. He is the former director of strength and conditioning at the University of Iowa and two other universities.
          Iowa State was the first university to offer Slagle a verbal commit in January. And it just grew from there and soon other schools were taking notice.
        In addition to sending out tapes, Slagle has a Twitter account were coaches can watch tape of him playing online.
        Even though his dad, Don, and uncle, Dean, both played for the Cyclones, Slagle hasn’t announced his decision where he is going to play at this time.
       “I can commit and make my decision official at any time,” he said. “But for now, I’m looking at my options.”
          Slagle said he wants to study agronomy and/or business.
          He is the son of Don and Jennifer Slagle.
          “I love the sport of football,” he said. “Being able to play football at a D1 school is a great opportunity.”

         Will Slagle is joined by his sister, Anna Slagle, after a Grinnell football game last year. On 3, one of several recruiting website companies for high school students has rated Slagle as a Top 3 recruit in the state of Iowa in all position for the 2027 class. He is rated number one offensive line player in the state and the number five player in the state on defense. (submitted photo).