By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A lot can change in a short amount of time when it comes to recruiting.

Four-star safety Dallas Craddieth is an example of that.

Craddieth, a native of Florissant, Mo., announced his commitment to Iowa on Wednesday morning during the first ever early signing period in college football.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Craddieth had previously said he was going to wait until February to make his decision, but didn't see the point in waiting any longer.

"I just felt ready and it felt like the best fit for me," Craddieth said. "(It came down to) just the people there in the program. I really liked the guys there already and really liked the coaching staff."

The Iowa staff's ability to develop professional level defensive backs also played heavily into Craddieth's decision.

The most recent example being junior cornerback Josh Jackson, who was selected as a consensus all-American this season and was named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe award.

"(It played into my decision) a lot," Craddieth said. "It shows that (defensive backs) coach (Phil) Parker is really one of the best in the country at what he does. 

Iowa had been after Craddieth for quite some time, being the second school to offer him a scholarship in March of 2016.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said that he and his staff thought they might have to wait until the February signing day to land Craddieth but we more than happy ot have him signed during the early period.

"We've been working on it," Ferentz said. "(Tight ends coach) LeVar (Woods) is in that area. He's been working on it pretty steadily actually. Probably very recently. We were encouraging that, I guess, but we didn't know if it was going to happen. We're thrilled that it did.

"He's a guy that has good two-way, kind of like you think about Greg Mabin when we looked at him. He's a guy we thought receiver, defensive back, not sure what. We all agreed that Dallas is better on defense.

"He went through another visit, two weeks ago, just felt like, Okay, I'm good. It still took a little coaxing. Glad he decided to come."

Craddieth also had scholarship offers from Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Lousiville, Memphis, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northwestern, Purdue, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.

He is the first player from the state of Missouri and the fourth defensive back to commit to Iowa's 2018 class.

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