Last week, Iowa offered a scholarship to Romeo McKnight. The Illinois defensive end wasted no time in advancing the relationship.

The Hawkeyes played host to Crystal Lake (IL) Central High standout on Saturday. They left an impression.

"I got to sit down with Coach (Kirk) Ferentz for a while and all the coaches were real nice and genuine. All the facilities were awesome and had a really good talk with the head strength coach, (Chris) Doyle. There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about the visit," McKnight said.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound state wrestling champion toured the campus with assistant Brian Ferentz, the son of the head coach. Then he sat down with the man running the program.

"We just talked about everything; going to college, his kids and football," McKnight said.

Scout.com and 247 rank McKnight as a three-star recruit. Rivals does not have a grade for him.

McKnight also reports scholarship offers from Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo and Western Illinois. He said he’s hearing from Western Michigan, Northern Illinois, Penn State (which visited him last week), Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Iowa entered McKnight’s consciousness as a dominant wrestling program. That sport was brought up during conversations on Saturday.

"(The football coaches) love wrestlers at Iowa. That’s huge for them.  The physicality and the mental toughness that it takes is hard to teach," he said.

McKnight said he missed defensive line coach Reese Morgan, who was attending a wedding during his visit. They were scheduled to talk Tuesday night.

"I’m excited about Iowa and will be back in Iowa City this June. I’m either going to the (recruiting) tailgate or the next weekend I can get out there. I want to meet Coach Morgan and also see a couple more things. I also want to meet with the academic counselors," he said.