By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – While some players seek the spotlight during the recruiting process, five-star power forward Xavier Foster is quite the opposite.

Despite being ranked 23^rd overall in the 2020 senior class, and despite holding scholarship offers from blue bloods program such as Kansas and UCLA, Foster keeps things fairly low key, according to his father, DaJuan Foster.

“Part of it is just Xavier and his demeanor,” DaJuan Foster said. “He’s just kind of, he’s really even keel. Like when he got the Kansas offer he was just like it’s another option and that’s one of the things I credit Xavier for is just being so even keel. None of it really matters, I mean it’s cool getting your first offer from Iowa and it’s a school here that you grew up watching.

“But I think it’s just kind of Xavier. Nothing really matters to him until it’s his idea, from a father’s perspective.”

The 6-foot-10, 210-pound Xavier Foster took an official visit to Iowa this past weekend. He was among four recruits who took official visits to Iowa over the weekend. The other three recruits were all members of the 2019 senior class, including New York City point guard Joe Touissant, who committed to Iowa while on his visit.

Also on official visits were five-star forward and Indiana native Trayce Jackson-Davis and four-star forward Patrick McCaffery, who attends Iowa City West and is the son of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

Iowa was the first school to offer Xavier Foster a scholarship and his list of offers just keeps growing with Baylor, Creighton, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri, Rutgers, Southern Cal, Texas A&M and UCLA also having offered the Oskaloosa native.

DaJuan Foster said his son enjoyed to getting to know the Iowa players better during his visit. Xavier Foster has visited the Iowa campus multiple times and attended practices, but his official visit was more about getting to the know the players and coaches on a personal level. 

Freshman forward and fellow Iowa native Joe Wieskamp hosted Foster on the visit. Wieskamp also was highly regarded in high school, but he committed to Iowa as a sophomore at Muscatine High School before his recruitment could really take off.

“I think the thing about the official visit was he got a little more time to spend with the guys,” DaJuan Foster said. “He got to hang out with some of the players, because typically, we come and they kind of do their practice thing and we’ll go to a game or something. He got to hang out with some of the guys after everything was done in some of the down time.

“They just played video games and hung out. Just kid stuff.”

Xavier Foster’s connection to Iowa is deeper than just his Iowa roots and it being his first offer.

His maternal grandfather, Mark Fetter, played football at Iowa and most of his mother’s side of the family graduated from Iowa.

“Kind of by default,” DaJuan Foster said. “My wife’s entire side of the family are Iowa alums. Her dad played football at Iowa, so the Iowa fight song has just been one of those things to get sang at our house on Saturdays.”

Whether or not his connection to Iowa will make a difference in his college choice remains to be seen, however.

“I don’t know how much that’s going to have to do with it,” DaJuan Foster said. “I’ve kind of been the spearhead to his recruiting, but ultimately it’s his decision and we’re going to talk about. But it’s ultimately about the proper fit.”

There is no doubt that Xavier Foster will have a tough decision to make, but his father thinks that his laid-back demeanor can only help.

“I think it helps a lot because it’s just Xavier, it’s just him,” DaJuan Foster said. “It’s refreshing because it’s not like a lot of other kids. And it’s okay to be different, you don’t have to be like everyone else because, in a way, where we are and what he is, he’s different. So just kind of embrace it and be who you are.”