Texas receiver Beau Corrales commits to Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa – It took less than two weeks for Beau Corrales to decide Iowa was the place for him to live out his childhood dream of playing college football.
Corrales, a native of Georgetown, Texas, received a scholarship offer from Iowa on Sept. 4 while he was still committed to Texas State.
Corrales announced his de-commitment from Texas State two days later and then made an unofficial visit to Iowa City last weekend where he watched the Hawkeyes crush Iowa State 42-3 in a rare night game at Kinnick Stadium.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Corrales announced his commitment to Iowa via Twitter on Thursday afternoon.
He also had recently received a scholarship offer from Indiana. But Corrales saw enough during his visit to Iowa to know that he wanted to be a Hawkeye. So he figured why wait.
Proud to say I am committing to the University of Iowa ???? pic.twitter.com/5IvgSXMqep
— 1??Beau Corrales5?? (@BEAU_JANGLES12) September 15, 2016
"It feels a little unreal," Corrales said. "It’s a dream that I’ve had since I was a little kid and the fact that it’s becoming reality feels great. It’s going to take a little bit to set in but I’m definitely excited about it."
Corrales cited Iowa’s ability to develop lesser-known players into elite Division I athletes as a main reason for his commitment.
Besides the opportunity to play for a Big Ten school, Corrales saw Iowa as an opportunity to unite with Iowa commits and fellow Texas natives Peyton Mansell and Gavin Holmes, both of whom were friends of Corrales’ before his recruitment to Iowa began.
"A big part of it was the program itself," Corrales said. "I love the fact that they’re able to develop players the way that they do. I’m sure there are plenty of other programs I could say that about but a huge part of it is the opportunity to go play with some of my friends. Iowa has everything that I could want and need and on top of that they have my friends going there. No school can replace that and it’s just an exciting opportunity for me."
Like many of Iowa’s 2017 commits, four-star running back and Texas native Eno Benjamin had a hand in drawing Corrales to Iowa, including trying to set up a trip for all of Iowa’s commits from Texas to visit at the same time.
"Eno had a pretty big influence," Corrales said. "Before I even got the offer he kind of just connected with me a little bit and talked with me. Me and him have just started to become closer friends. We’re trying to plan a visit where we can all visit Iowa at the same time.
"Eno is just a really cool guy and the way he was able to take me in he had just as a big a part in it as Gavin and Peyton."
Corrales is the 17th player to commit to Iowa’s 2017 recruiting class and sixth from Texas.