Devan Van Ness commits to Iowa’s 2024 recruiting class as preferred walk-on
He is younger brother of former Iowa DE Lukas Van Ness
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team benefitted greatly when it landed Lukas Van Ness as a defensive end recruit.
He would go on to become a force for the Hawkeyes, and a first-round selection by the Green Bay Packers in the 2023 NFL draft after just three seasons in the program, and after having not started a single game in college.
His younger brother, outside linebacker Devan Van Ness, now also wants to be a Hawkeye, and is willing to start his career as a preferred walk-on.
Devan Van Ness, who is from Barrington, Illinois, announced his commitment to Iowa via X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday afternoon.
“Excited to get to work,” Devan Van Ness said in his statement.
Devan Van Ness is listed at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, so he isn’t nearly as big as his brother was when he came to Iowa with a scholarship.
However, Lukas Van Ness was sort of a late bloomer as a recruit.
Veteran recruiting analyst Tom Lemming was among the first talent evaluators that saw Lukas Van Ness’ potential.
Lemming started promoting Lukas Van Ness as a Power Five recruit, and before long, schools such as Iowa and Northwestern had offered him a scholarship.
Devan Van Ness doesn’t have any Power Five scholarship offers, but he now has an opportunity with a Power Five program that has a long-standing tradition of turning walk-ons into key players under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
Illinois also offered Devan Van Ness a chance to be a preferred walk-on, but he chose to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
“The Van Ness family, they put on more weight and strength as they go along,” Lemming said. “It’s a great, preferred walk-on type of a guy to bring in.”
Devan Van Ness earned Class 8A first-team all-state and all-conference honors this past season.
He finished his senior season with 16 sacks and 30 tackles for loss.