2020 Recruit Scouting Report: Hunter Dekkers

Well folks, are you bored without football? It’s been years since Iowa State got destroyed in the Camping World Bowl by Notre Dame. I’ve mostly forgotten about it and am ready for next football season! We hopefully have just 23 weeks until South Dakota travels to Ames to play American football.

To make those miserable 23 weeks of no football go a little faster, we at WRNL will breaking down the film of the 23 future Cyclones in the class of 2020.

Next week, Levi will be breaking down the defensive tackle Latrell Bankston, but first I’m gonna talk about Iowa State’s top ranked recruit of the class by 247Sports.

Hunter Dekkers is a quarterback from Hawarden, Iowa and is rated as a four-star by 247sports. He stands at 6’3, 225 pounds with a strong frame, big arm, and even some mobility.

Along with football, Dekkers competed at a high level in 1A baseball and basketball. It’s safe to say that not a lot of four-star athletes come out of 1A schools in Iowa.

Dekkers enters the class with one other quarterback, Aidan Bouman. These two will more than likely compete for the backup to Brock Purdy spot this summer.

Style

After watching Dekkers film, it wasn’t very hard to pinpoint the type of player he is. He is a big quarterback with a big arm and he utilized it very well. Dekkers is going to fit right into the Big 12 air raid-style offense.

Along with his big arm, Dekkers has dime accuracy, allowing him to throw it into tight pockets with precision. His huge arm and accuracy tore apart northwest Iowa, throwing for 10,628 yards in his four year career with 126 touchdowns to just 22 interceptions.

He also has the ability to keep plays alive with his legs, Dekkers has the mobility of Brock Purdy, but his legs are tree trunks and he has more overall body strength than Brock.

Dekkers is listed as a dual-threat quarterback by 247, but the more I watch him, I see more of a pro-style with the ability of keeping plays alive with his legs. With the offense we saw this year, it seems that Coach Matt Campbell and Tom Manning want to be more conservative with quarterbacks in the pocket so I would expect to see Dekkers in more of a traditional role.

Film

All highlights courtesy of Hudl.com

Dekkers shows here exactly why he is listed as a dual-threat quarterback. First off, this is an empty backfield with five receivers going down-field, He doesn’t get a whole lot of help from his line and he’s forced outside the pocket where he makes a defender look stupid and throws him to the ground. He then rolls back the other way, throws a ball almost 60 yards in the air across his body ON THE MONEY. On top of all that, he made the throw with a linebacker charging at him.

This play is elusive, powerful, and it was probably the best play I saw on all of Dekkers film. These are the types of plays that keep teams in football games or even win them. Dekkers is the type of quarterback that won’t be brought be down by just one defender.

INJECT THIS PLAY INTO MY VEINS.

This is a pretty simple, but effective play. They have trips rights and a single receiver on the left in single coverage with a safety in the middle. Dekkers took a look at the right side of the field even though the eventual receiver was more than likely the primary route, this kept the safety accountable so Dekkers was able to fire a dart for a touchdown. This play has it all: the smarts, footwork, power, and accuracy.

Hunter shows off his arm and footwork on this play. It’s just a three-man rush, but the defense manages to get pressure on him. Instead of panicking and forcing an early throw, Dekkers takes a step back and throws a strike through double coverage.

I love Brock Purdy, but one huge criticism I have of him was his bad habit of throwing off of his back foot in situations like this. To see Dekkers step up and make a throw like this is a good sign for the future. (And yes I know a big reason Purdy did that was because he was hurt.)

This is another play where Dekkers shows off his elusiveness and his ability to keep plays alive with legs. He shakes a defender, rolls out of the pocket which was cool and all, but the most impressive part of this play is the throw. While rolling left, Dekkers fired it on target while the receiver was leaning out of bounds. When the receiver is along the sideline, the quarterback has a small window to hit, and Dekkers consistently hits that short window with ease.

There isn’t a whole lot that is unique with this play. Dekkers gets pretty good protection, moves up in the pocket and drops a dime. This is a pretty standard highlight and the reason I chose it was because I wanted to marvel over this guy’s amazing arm a little bit longer.

Player Comparison

JT Barrett is very comparable as a quarterback in terms of style and size in my opinion. Barrett was one of the best college quarterbacks we saw this past decade as he led Ohio State to countless wins. He’s now in the XFL, and is the face of the league. From a pure physical standpoint, Dekkers and Barrett are nearly identical as you can see below.

From a talent and stylistic point of view, they are also pretty comparable. Both players have big arms, are capable of making plays with their feet, and they both display a cool personality in the pocket.

This a throw that Barrett makes with pressure in the pocket, he is aware of it and makes a quick step up in the pocket to complete a first down. I saw this type of throw numerous times while watching Dekkers.

If he’s anything like Barrett was in college, Iowa State fans are in for a treat.

Scheme

Every quarterback has a different identity, so every fit will be a bit different, but for the most part Dekkers would fit like a glove. He throws a good deep ball with accuracy, is mobile, and has the ability to break plays loose. The only caveat is that he is a lefty so the offense would have to adjust to that, but as we’ve seen in football forever, that’s not a big deal.

Dekkers likes to throw downfield with his big arm, which fits with Iowa State’s 2018 offense more than what we saw in 2019, mainly because the personnel that Iowa State had with Hakeem Butler fit better than what they had at receiver in 2019. By the time Dekkers is in the offense, Sean Shaw Jr., Tarique Milton and Joe Scates will be upperclassmen, a long with a number of other players who have the talent to thrive in deep ball opportunities.

Final Verdict

There is a reason that Dekkers is a four-star, and it’s because of his huge arm, accuracy and his collectiveness in the pocket. Every recruit is a project when they join the team, but Dekkers has the potential and the talent to be one of the best starting quarterbacks in the Big 12.

As a bonus, he’ll be able to learn behind Brock Purdy for one or two years which is a great opportunity for any player. With the departure of Re-Al Mitchell, Dekkers will be competing with fellow class of 2020 quarterback Aidan Bouman, who will be covered by Aiden Wyatt in two weeks, for the backup spot.

Overall, I think that Dekkers will be the starting quarterback for Iowa State in either his sophomore or junior season. He should be a really nice player for Matt Campbell, and he’s going to look great in the cardinal and gold.