Football: Soehner inks with Iowa State

Dylan Soehner, Prairie Grove senior, talks Wednesday with reporters at Prairie Grove High School after signing a letter of intent to play football for Iowa State.
Dylan Soehner, Prairie Grove senior, talks Wednesday with reporters at Prairie Grove High School after signing a letter of intent to play football for Iowa State.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Thomas Soehner knew his days of tossing his little brother around were over about a year ago.

Thomas, a star prep and college running back, had just graduated from Arkansas Tech, and was celebrating that milestone at a party at home when he attempted to pick his little brother up and throw him into the swimming pool. The elder Soehner brother learned a valuable lesson that day.

"He picked me up off the ground, and I had to ask to be put back down," Thomas said. "That was kind of an emasculating experience. From then on, it was pretty much, he's just bigger than me."

Dylan Soehner, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound senior, enjoyed another coming-of-age day Wednesday when the Prairie Grove tight end/defensive lineman signed a letter of intent to play football at Iowa State. He signed his college pact in front of a large gathering of classmates and family members who had a front-row seat at the school's first Division I football signing.

Prairie Grove football coach Danny Abshier, who led the Tigers to the program's best season last fall, said Soehner had a number of schools courting him, but Iowa State ultimately won the recruiting battle.

"The Iowa State people just really went after him," Abshier said. "There were other schools, too, but the first place he went, they showed him how much they cared and he really felt the love and decided that's where he wanted to be."

Soehner had several schools recruit him as an offensive lineman, which could ultimately be his position. Iowa State wants him at tight end to start his college career. Over the past two seasons at Prairie Grove, in a run-first offense, he had more than 70 catches for more than 1,100 yards.

Soehner took an official visit the Jan. 15 weekend to the Ames, Iowa, campus and came away convinced the Cyclones were a perfect match. He did not take any other official visits.

"I knew after the visit for sure," he said. "The coaches are just great people. They have a great fan base.

"It was my first official, and I got there and I just knew from the minute I got there, this place feels right."

Iowa State, a member of the Big 12 Conference, also has a new coaching staff after Matt Campbell was hired from Toledo to take over the program. Soehner said he connected with tight ends coach Alex Golesh even before Golesh became a coach at Iowa State when he was recruiting Soehner to Illinois.

"Your position coach is who you spend most of your time with," Soehner said. "He's recruited me hard since my sophomore year. He believes in me, and I believe in him, too."

Although Soehner will head to Iowa in the summer after he graduates from Prairie Grove, the close proximity of teams in the Big 12 will make a lot of his games easily accessible to the Soehner family, Thomas said.

"We're just really thankful that he found a place he can call home the next four years," Thomas, who works at the Wal-Mart corporate offices in Bentonville, said. "It's not that far from home, actually, and a lot of their road games are four-five hours away, so we're happy for that."

Dylan, who is currently playing basketball for the Tigers and also plans to play baseball this spring, said he will start hitting the weight room soon in the hopes he can be on the field this fall for the Cyclones.

Sports on 02/04/2016

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