By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Hawkeyes to Host Virtual Coaches Program:
The University of Iowa Department of Athletics and Athletics Development are pleased to present a virtual Hawkeye Events series – Hawkeye Events Live – to replace the annual outreach schedule featuring Hawkeye coaches and student-athletes, along with Herky the Hawk and Iowa Spirit Squads.
In an effort to maintain this nearly 50-year tradition of traveling across the state of Iowa to meet with Hawkeye fans in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hawkeye Events Live series, featuring a question and answer session with coaches, student-athletes, and friends of the program, has been created for this spring and summer.
The weekly series will be hosted by Laura VandeBerg, host of hawkeyesports.com, and broadcast live on the Iowa Hawkeyes Facebook page.
The first show is scheduled for this Friday, May 15th and will feature select Hawkeye senior student-athletes.
Epenesa Officially Inks Rookie Contract:
Former Iowa standout A.J. Epenesa has officially came to terms with the Buffalo Bills on his rookie contract.
Epenesa was selected in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft after leading Iowa with 11.5 sacks this past season.
He finished his career with 26.5 sacks.
The Bills also announced they’ve come to terms with their fifth-round choice Jake Fromm, as well.
MLB Draft to be Five Rounds:
This year’s Major League Baseball draft will just be five rounds, reports have announced.
The five-round draft will begin on June 10th.
Previously, Major League Baseball proposed a 10-round draft to the Player Association, but could not come to terms on an agreement.
Without an agreement, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred implemented the five round draft.
Players who go undrafted can be signed for a maximum of $20,000.
This comes in lieu of Major League Baseball continuing their contraction of Minor League Baseball, as well.
Dates for Pro Soccer in Des Moines Pushed:
The target date for professional men’s soccer in Des Moines has now been pushed back to March of 2023, reports the Des Moines Register.
The Des Moines pro soccer team will compete in the United Soccer League, which is a feeder league to Major League Soccer.
The initial timeline was to have ground broke on a new pitch by this fall and to begin playing in March of 2022.
The stadium will be located just south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway in Des Moines, where land was purchased by the ownership group in December for 7.98 million dollars.
Stadium funding is still a question mark for the club, however the deadline to secure financial backing has also been extended.