A Pella state champion track and field thrower and All-State football player has been spending his Saturday afternoons as a key member of one of the best NCAA Division I college football teams in the country.

Nick DeJong has taken the majority of snaps at Right Tackle for the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes, just over two years after finishing his career in green and white as a shot put title winner at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

DeJong says the journey has been a bit unexpected, as he came to Iowa as a walk-on and about 45 pounds lighter than he is now. But Nick is finding more confidence each week, especially with the tough road Iowa has been on in the preseason, including wins over previously-ranked Indiana and No. 14 Iowa State. S

“With every game, my confidence is growing more and more,” he says. “After the first game, certainly, it was just a moment of ‘I can do this,’ not that I didn’t think I could, but obviously first start and everything like that, there are a few things I was iffy on, but after that first game I was like, ‘Ok, here we go.”

DeJong is excited for the full Big Ten season to begin and to continue contributing to a team that now has a strong chance to compete for a conference championship and possibly more. Nick was a member of the 2016 state champion Pella football team as a sophomore and was a two-time All-State selection while with the Dutch program.

Hear more from DeJong during a feature about recruiting during this Friday’s Jeromy Dingeman Concrete Football Friday Night Radio Preview show at 4:30 p.m., and the full interview with Nick on next week’s Radio Sports Page, which airs every Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Thursday at 10 a.m. on 92.1 KRLS, and during pregame coverage of Pella vs. Xavier football on October 1st at 6:30 p.m. on the KRLS2 Stream and Pella Dutch Live YouTube Channel.