Iowa walkon Nardo turned down WM scholly.

[Wildcat80]

Tom Nardo DT was Big 10 player of week.

Q. How do you explain for walk-ons like Nardo that come from far away?
COACH FERENTZ: I still can't explain that. I'm glad he came. And if you had given me truth serum when he was here, my thoughts were, why is this guy turning down a scholarship at William & Mary. William & Mary is a great school, great program, Jim Laycock has been there forever. It's a great place.
I was kind of perplexed by the whole thing but for whatever reason, it was in his mind to come here and we are glad he did. He's just worked hard and almost in a non-descript way. And I don't mean that in a bad way or good way, but been kind of very quiet.
And then again, the other factor is when you have three NFL guys like we did a year ago, it's a little tougher to break into the lineup. But that being said, even in August it was not obvious to us that he was a starter; otherwise we would have started him in that first game. It's a real tribute to Tom, his work ethic, his perseverance, and once he got the opportunity, his performance has really been really good.

[DFW HOYA]

Probably for the same reason lineman Greg Isdaner could decline an offer from Georgetown (where his parents attended and his younger brother played on the team) to walk on at West Virginia, where he was named all-Big East three years later: the opportunity to compete at a higher level.

[frozennorth]

Iowa is also known as one of the best schools for development, especially on the defensive side. They might not be bringing in many elite recruits, but they still pump out nfl guys with the best of em.

[J_Wilson]

It works out well for UNI because if someone makes their way to Iowa and washes out, but is still a decent player they can head up the road to Cedar Falls. Case in point Benny Sapp. He just had behavioral issues, didn't really carry over to UNI for some reason.