John Waggoner had many options when it came to where he’d play football next season, but on Tuesday he decided on Kinnick.

By Adam Hensley
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The state of Iowa’s top prospect in the class of 2018 is a Hawkeye.

Dowling Catholic defensive end John Waggoner, a four-star recruit from West Des Moines, announced his commitment to Iowa on Tuesday via Twitter.

“Excited to announce my commitment to Iowa,’’ Waggoner tweeted. “Can’t thank everyone enough for the support throughout this process. Go Hawks!’’

The decision came after defensive-line coach Reese Morgan met with him on Tuesday.

Waggoner earned an 87 overall rating and a composite score of .8903 according to 247 Sports, listing him as the 20th-best defensive end in his class.

Rivals lists him as the 17th-best defensive end in the 2018 class.

The 6-foot, 245-pound defensive lineman notched 5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for a loss this past season for the Maroons.

Waggoner is Iowa’s top recruit for the 2018 class and the only four-star or better prospect, says 247 Sports.

The Hawkeyes have a total of 15 hard commitments from 2018 prospects, good enough for 247 Sports’ 39th-best recruiting class in the nation and eighth in the Big Ten.

Waggoner joins Tyler Linderbaum and Dillon Doyle as the Hawkeyes’ only 2018 commitments from the state of Iowa.

Waggoner had plenty of offers from major Division-1 schools: Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, and UCLA.