Preston Ries Commits to Iowa Football

'24 In-State Athlete Chooses the Hawkeyes

Preston Ries announced on Saturday that he was verbally committing to Iowa Football. The Class of 2024 Monticello (IA) High athlete brought the Hawkeyes' pledge total in the cycle to four. 

Ries (6-2, 200) joined three other in-state verbal commits in the Iowa '24 Class. Cody Fox (Winthrop), Cam Buffington (Winfield) and Derek Weisskopf (Williamsburg) already were in the fold. 

The Hawkeyes offered Ries a scholarship during a visit last month, his third stop on campus. He chose them ahead of an offer from Iowa State, where he also visited three times. Nebraska also offered recently. 

"I really like the competitive atmosphere, the coaches and it’s very close to home," Ries told HN about why he chose Iowa. "I’ve known for awhile that’s where I wanted to be. In the last few weeks, when visiting Iowa, my decision was reassured when talking to (linebacker) coach (Seth) Wallace and being on campus. It just felt right." 

Iowa sees Ries as a linebacker, at least for now. Wallace is his lead recruiter. 

"I would say we have built a really good relationship," Ries told HN last month after receiving the Iowa offer.  

Monticello utilized Ries' athletic ability on both sides of the ball last fall. He threw for 2,594 yards and 20 touchdowns as a quarterback, while running for 1,343 yards and 14 more scores. He paced the Panthers with 68.5 tackles (46.0 solo, 18.0 for loss) and 8.5 sacks. He added an interception and handled the team's punting duties.

Ries started all 26 games for a Monticello basketball team that reached the semifinals of the state tournament his past winter. He led the team in scoring (18.1 PPG) and rebounding (7.0 RPG).

In track this spring, Ries has posted his team's top 100 time (12.44) and its third best discus throw (121-11). As a freshman in baseball last summer, he started all 30 of Monitcello's games, leading the squad with 55 total bases while posting a .973 OPS.

The Iowa Print Sports Writers Association tabbed Ries as a second-team all-state pick as a quarterback this past fall. The organization named him to its all-state basketball third team during the winter.

You can watch Ries' sophomore football highlights HERE.