Youngest Bohannon brother commits to Hawkeye basketball

The name Bohannon will finally be back on an Iowa jersey.

It ended up playing Division I basketball elsewhere three times in the last decade.

But Linn-Mar senior Jordan Bohannon, the fourth and youngest son of former Hawkeye quarterback Gordy, announced his verbal commitment to Iowa on Friday.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing for my home state (school) and do it with a great group of guys,” Jordan Bohannon said. “I’m looking forward to the future and I can’t wait to be a Hawkeye.”

Bohannon becomes the third in-state commit for Iowa’s 2016 class, joining Dubuque Wahlert’s Cordell Pemsl and Spirit Lake’s Ryan Kreiner on the scholarship list. The Martin Brothers club team product is a 6-foot point guard who led Class 4A in 3-pointers made last season.

"He's a high IQ kid that makes pretty good passes, and it just so happens that he can really shoot the basketball," said Hank Huddleson, coach of Bohannon's Martin Brothers AAU team. "When you combine those things, it makes him a very special point guard."

Coach Fran McCaffery’s staff has now secured five confirmed commitments inside the state of Iowa for the next three seasons. Bohannan, Pemsl and Kreiner all played for the Martin Brothers U-17 team that won the AAU National Championships in Louisville, Ky. in late July.

"I think it says a lot about this class, but I also think it says a lot about Iowa really making a commitment to get those high-level in-state kids," said Linn-Mar coach Chris Robertson. "Coach McCaffery has done a great job getting the program going in the right direction and this does nothing but solidify that."

Gordy Bohannon started for Iowa in the 1982 Rose Bowl and watched his three older sons go other places after all-state basketball careers at Linn-Mar.

Jason was Iowa’s Mr. Basketball in 2006 and wound up as a four-year contributor at Wisconsin.

Zach joined Air Force out of Marion in 2009, but the two-time all-state selection ended up at Wisconsin, too. The tallest of the brothers — a 6-foot-6 forward — ended his career with the Badgers in 2014.

And Matt is entering his senior season at Northern Iowa, sitting fourth in school history for 3-pointers made.

"They're all competitive, but besides the name, they are completely different," Huddleson said. "They've all done different things in the teams they played on for us and for their college teams.

"Jordan has always been able to shoot it at a high percentage. As he's gotten older and stronger, his release has gotten that much quicker."

Jordan is an all-state player like his brothers, but still has to make his own mark at Linn-Mar and in Iowa City.

"The biggest similarity is how hard they all worked, and if you watch Jordan right now do an individual workout, it's amazing," Robertson said. "It's not a high school kid's workout. I think that's been his best attribute, just how hard he works, and I think that's gotten him to the level he's at."

The Lions qualified for the 4A state tournament every season between 2004 and 2012.

They’ve come up short in his three previous varsity campaigns, although Linn-Mar finished 18-5 in 2015 with Bohannon averaging 17.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

"He's always shot it so well, so you think maybe high school-wise, maybe he should play off the ball," Robertson said. "But he's just always been a natural fit playing point guard for us. His ball-handling and ability to get to the basket have improved a lot."

He shot 45.3 percent from the field, 42.3 percent from 3-point range, and 94 percent from the free throw line.

DePaul, Texas Tech, Lehigh and South Dakota State were Bohannon's other offers under consideration.

“Jordan has been trying to figure out whether he was going to visit other schools or have other people come in, but he told me awhile ago that he'd always wanted to play for his home state," Huddleson said. "(Iowa) had watched him, evaluated him and got to see him a bunch this summer, and they decided to move forward. When they called, it was fairly easy for him at that point to say yes."