By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team has added another player to its 2018 recruiting class.

Two-star linebacker Seth Benson, who was verbally committed to South Dakota State, told Allhawkeyes on Thursday that he would sign a letter of intent with Iowa on Friday, which is the third and final day of the first early signing period for football.

"I am very excited to be a Hawkeye," Benson said. "I think the program is a great fit for me. I’m very excited for my official and then getting started. I couldn’t pass up opportunity that was presented to me. The coaches there care for you on and off the field and will push you to be your best."

Benson received a scholarship offer from Iowa during a recent visit. It was his first offer from a team that competes in the football bowl subdivision.

Benson, a native of Sioux Falls, S.D., came away impressed by the genuine nature of the Iowa coaching staff.

“I was was pretty excited,” Benson said. “Just being an FBS school in the Big Ten I think is pretty cool. Especially because the head coach (Kirk Ferentz) did it so I was pretty excited.

“What stood out was just how genuine they all are. They’re pretty straight forward guys. What you see is what you get. They’re going to push you to be your best and you can just see how much they really care about Iowa and their football program.”

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Benson will join Iowa City West linebacker Dillon Doyle in helping to fill the void left by Iowa's three senior linebackers, one of those being consensus All-American Josey Jewell.

Doyle, who is the son of Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle, signed his letter of intent with the Hawkeyes on Wednesday.

Another potential factor in Benson's decision is that one of Iowa's top targets at linebacker in the class, junior-college recruit, Will Honas, signed a letter of intent with Nebraska on Thursday.

“Obviously, that helps in the recruiting process,” Benson said. “Once you get there it doesn’t really matter, you’ve just got to find a spot and work hard and try to get in that two-deep and eventually start.”

Benson also has scholarship offers from North Dakota, North Dakota State and South Dakota.

Iowa had 15 players sign national letters of itent on Wednesday, with two more – Indianapolis defensive backs D.J. Johnson and Julius Brents – expected to announce their signings at a later date.