By JACOB POLACHECK
With the NCAA recruiting dead period extended past the new year, many high school seniors have had to make college decisions with less information than previous classes.
Class of 2021 Iowa commit Payton Sandfort broke down what it’s like to commit amidst a pandemic in a zoom interview with ZAGSBLOG Friday evening.
“It’s a lot of just going with what your gut tells you to do,” he said. “I did a ton of Zoom calls with coaches just like this. I had to go off of what I had seen last fall from my two unofficials to Iowa and a couple other unofficials and one to Utah.
“I had to go with what my gut said and just kind of went with what I felt would be the right fit for me.”
The 6-foot-8, 200-pound small forward from Waukee Senior (IA) High School, chose Iowa over Stanford, Utah and Minnesota, among others.
“From the beginning, I just kind of felt the love from them and how much they really wanted me to come and play for them,” he said. “I thought that was really special.
“In terms of the play style and the culture, I think I was just a great fit, almost a perfect fit just for me. I really couldn’t find much of a better fit for myself.”
Ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 26 small forward and No. 138 overall prospect in the Class of 2021, Sandfort is the first commit in the Hawkeyes’ 2021 class.
“Everybody knows me for my shooting ability. I shoot a lot of threes, make a lot,” he said. “But I think I’m a lot more than that. Last year, I was given a lot of the tough assignments that we had to go up against in AAU and in high school.
“I got almost 10 rebounds a game and I think the part that nobody really knows about me is how I excel in transition and being able to make passes that not really a lot of people can see.”
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