Iowa lands commitment from in-state star Dawson Youngblut

The Iowa men’s wrestling program has added a second commit to its 2027 recruiting class – and in Dawson Youngblut the Hawkeyes have got themselves another good one.

The news arrived early Friday morning, as Youngblut announced his commitment on Instagram.

In so doing, the two-time Iowa state champion brings not only a premier homegrown recruit to Iowa City, but one of the more highly regarded junior prospects in America.

Per FloWrestling’s latest Class of 2027 High School Big Board, Youngblut checks in as the #29 overall prospect in the country.

If that ranking were to hold through his graduation, he’d become Iowa’s highest-ranked in-state recruit since Ben Kueter (#2) and Ryder Block (#22) in 2023.

Youngblut’s pledge comes off the heels of a busy fall during which he took visits to each of Cornell, North Carolina State, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Nebraska – in addition to the Hawkeyes.

That trip to Iowa City came about a month ago during the Iowa/Indiana football weekend.

There, Youngblut was among a plethora of highly ranked wrestling recruits on the field at Kinnick Stadium.

27 days later, he’s a Hawkeye.

What he brings

I mentioned earlier that Youngblut – who wrestles for the powerhouse Don Bosco program located ~70 miles from Iowa City – already has a pair of state titles to his name.

That puts him on track to join a select group of Iowa high school wrestlers to ever win four.

As a freshman at 132 pounds, Youngblut followed Round of 16 and quarterfinal pins with a pair of two-point decisions to earn his first-ever spot atop the podium.

A year later (at 138), he dominated his Class 1A bracket to the tune of three-consecutive 15-0 technical falls, plus another – of the 20-5 variety – in the final.

But these days on the recruiting circuit you’ve got to prove yourself on a national stage as well.

A breakout Fargo performance in the summer of 2024 was one such instance, as Youngblut placed top five in both disciplines of the 16U division (freestyle/Greco-Roman) – including a runner-up Greco finish.

One could argue, however, that his most promising showing to date was also his most recent one.

Last weekend, Youngblut trekked to Greensboro, North Carolina for the annual Super 32 Challenge – home to quite possibly the nation’s toughest high school folkstyle tournament.

There, he took sixth at 138 pounds – including a run to the quarterfinals where he fell to second-ranked Tyler Dekraker (a 2026 Minnesota commit) in a competitive 8-4 match.

Along the way, Youngblut also notched wins over the #7 and #19 ranked 138-pounders in America.

That result – in addition to his prior accolades – lends credence to the belief that this talented high school junior could be a real factor at the next level, too.

Future fit + Class of 2027 momentum

While Youngblut won’t arrive on campus until the fall of 2027, it’s never too early to look ahead.

A 132/138-pounder during his first two years of high school, one would presume he’ll slot in at one of the middleweights as a collegian – perhaps in 141/149 range.

That’d sure be beneficial for his future team.

At present, Iowa stands to graduate most of its top options from 141-165 pounds by the time the 2027 season arrives. And until the past few weeks, it didn’t have a bunch of blue-chip recruits lining up to replace them.

Now, Youngblut joins fellow 2027 commit Sonny Amato (ranked #4 nationally at 150 pounds) as top 30 prospects in their class who’ve pledged to the Hawkeyes this October.

And Iowa isn’t done pursuing 2027 recruits in that weight range either, not to mention some other elite prospects on the lighter/heavier ends of the spectrum.

A chunk of the official visitors from the aforementioned Iowa/Indiana weekend tells the story:

• #11 Israel Borge (Utah)
• #13 Jesse Grajeda (California)
• #29 Dawson Youngblut (Iowa) *committed*
• #30 Sonny Amato (New Jersey) *committed*
• #48 Rocco Cassioppi (Illinois)
• Bruno Cassioppi (Illinois)

All six of them are currently ranked at weight classes between 138-157 pounds.

So too, is #3 Joe Bachmann (138), who’s set to officially visit Iowa City this coming weekend according to a report from IA Wrestle’s Ross Bartachek.

He’ll be joined by #8 Paul Kenny (126) – and perhaps their highly-touted younger brothers (both 2028 prospects) as well.

Long story short, the Iowa coaching staff will be hoping today’s Dawson Youngblut commitment (and Sonny Amato’s before him) is just the start of an avalanche of recruiting momentum for the program in the days/weeks to come.