By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Despite being a four-star recruit, the son of a former Iowa football player and living just minutes from the Iowa campus, 2021 defensive end T.J. Bollers doesn’t know where he stands on Iowa’s recruiting radar.

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Tiffin native told AllHawkeyes.com on Tuesday that he is confused by the lack of communication and that he is waiting to see if Iowa reestablishes a steady line of communication.

NCAA rules prohibit coaches from commenting on recruits that have not signed a national letter of intent.

“Really it depends on them,” Bollers said. “Coach Ferentz was at my practice a little bit ago but other than that I’ve had no contact with them. No invites to junior days. Nothing.”

Iowa State was the first to offer Bollers when he was a high school freshman, followed by Iowa a few months later and had stayed in touch with Bollers on a consistent basis until recently.

From then Bollers’ recruitment has soared and has resulted in 17 scholarship offers from Power Five schools, including new offers from Alabama and Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Bollers’ father, Trevor Bollers, played fullback for Hayden Fry at Iowa from 1996-98.

It has long been considered that that connection would give Iowa an advantage in the recruiting process but that may not be the case.

 “There are other places that are putting in effort to come see me and make it to my basketball games instead of saying they would and never coming,” Bollers said.

Iowa currently has seven players committed to its 2021 recruiting class, including five commitments from Iowa.

That class includes three-star West Branch defensive end Jeff Bowie, who committed to Iowa on Jan. 25.