We have many talented athletes in the class of ‘25 here at The School That Leads. Some have already committed to play their sport at very high levels. Three athletes that have committed to play a sport at the collegiate level discussed their different recruitment journeys.
Our first athlete is Tyler Rindels. Rindels has been a multi-sport athlete his whole life. He played basketball, baseball, football, and threw shot and disc. Rindels recently committed to play football at Northern Illinois University, announcing his decision via Instagram. However, Rindels did not always know that he wanted to play football in college.
“Growing up I was really into baseball, and once I got to high school, I just didn’t really like it as much. Then when I played sophomore year football, I started my first game, and that’s when I was like, yeah, I like football a lot more now,” Rindels said.
“Sophomore year was when I realized I wanted to play in college. But I was undersized, so I knew I wouldn’t get the looks that I wanted. So I started training, lifting, and eating a ton. Once senior year hit, and I went to my first college camp, I started getting the looks I wanted,”
That first camp in Ames, Iowa, changed a lot for Tyler. “At camp, I did really well and South Dakota came up to me after the camp. They said, Yeah, we want to give you an offer. After my first D1 offer, I was like, “Yeah, this is sweet.”
Recruiting picked up quickly for Rindels, as he began talking to multiple coaches. When asked if the recruiting process was stressful, Rindels said, “It was really stressful. You don’t know who you are interested in yet, and when all these coaches are texting you, it’s hard to not be rude,”
Nevertheless, Rindels began to narrow down his top schools as the summer before his senior year slowed to a stop. “I had four offers that I was interested in: St Thomas, South Dakota, UNI and Northern Illinois. And, I mean, honestly, it was more between UNI and Northern Illinois,”
Rindels chose Northern Illinois University, located in DeKalb, IL. Rindels made his decision based on a few things. “I wanted to give myself that opportunity to play at a higher level while being close to home. I really like their coaches, the community they got there, and their facilities are amazing,”
Rindels is looking forward to his future with the Huskies, and is “excited to be a part of the program.” When asked what advice he’d give to others going through the recruiting process, Rindels said, “Take your time. Don’t rush yourself. Just go in there, see all your options, and make the decision when you feel it’s right.”
August Palmer is our next commit. Palmer committed to Minnesota State University in June, prior to the ‘25 school year. Palmer has played basketball since she was a little girl, but it wasn’t until she was in middle school that she realized her dream was to play college basketball.
Palmer began her AAU basketball career in fifth grade, and joined All Iowa Attack, a club team based out of Ames, IA, in seventh grade. Palmer dedicated hours upon hours to her craft; whether it was getting shots up alone, or driving two hours to practice in Ames.
Palmer attended West Branch high school her freshman year, and transferred to City High as a sophomore. After her first year at City High, Palmer began thinking about her future plans.
“Recruiting started up sophomore summer. And then, from the beginning of junior year, it just took off. I was getting calls all the time, texts all the time, setting up visits a lot,”
Options were not an issue for the 5’’10 shooting guard. Palmer had looks from many colleges, and received quite a few offers before deciding to commit to Minnesota State the summer after her junior year. “It was difficult for me to narrow down my schools. Location was a big part of my decision. Family is important to me, and now I’m only going five hours away, so my parents can come to home games,”
Minnesota State was appealing to Palmer for reasons other than location, as well. “They won the NCAA championship, they’re really good, and they really wanted me. The players seemed really cool. There’s so much that they do outside of basketball too, which is what makes me super happy,” Palmer is excited and “not that nervous,” for her future at Minnesota State.
Palmer reflected on the recruiting process. “The entire process is really stressful. It’s exhausting, really. I’m glad it’s over.
When asked what advice she would give about recruitment, Palmer said, “When you start visiting colleges, write down things that you like and things that you don’t like about them. That is so key.”
Our last commit is Bobby Bacon. Bacon has always been surrounded by City High, as Bacon’s brothers both played at City High, and Bobby has always “loved City High football.”
That love grew as Bacon began playing quarterback in high school. Bacon learned from City High alum Drew Larson, as Drew started as quarterback for the Little Hawks during Bobby’s Freshman and Sophomore seasons. Larson planned to play quarterback during Bacon’s junior season as well, but his time as quarterback was cut short due to an injury. Therefore, Bobby’s time in the spotlight began much sooner than expected. Bacon said, “Getting the opportunity to play quarterback my junior year opened a lot of doors for recruitment for me,”
As Bacon began to think about recruitment earlier than he had anticipated, he did everything he could to increase his chances of getting a scholarship to play college football.
“I really just went everywhere I could. In the off season, I got invited to some places to come look around and meet coaches, and then they would invite me to camp, and if I performed well at camp they would offer me. After that it just came pretty sudden, like one coach offered, and then it led to like, six others. And so that was pretty cool,”
With many offers on the table, Bacon had quite the decision to make.
“It was difficult to narrow down my schools. I had two division one offers, which I was looking at, but financially, it didn’t really work for me. Those were non scholarship schools. And then I had three division two offers that were all in the same conference, in the Mid- America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, which is the best conference in Division 2 football and so that was kind of tough, because they were all the top three teams in that conference,”
Bacon decided to commit to Pitt State, located in Pittsburg, Kansas. Bacon chose Pitt State due to a few reasons, one of them being that Pitt state was “most active in recruitment.” Another deciding factor for Bacon was the coaches who are “great people” that he “wants to be around for four years.”
Bacon committed to Pitt State before the ‘25 school year, just as his classmates did. Bacon says this decision was due to “not wanting recruiting to bleed into the football season, because recruiting would have been too stressful in season.” Bacon is now focused on his last season with the Little Hawks, and is looking forward to the “big jump” he will make next year as he moves on to the collegiate level.
If Bacon could give one piece of advice to those who may be going through the same process he did it would be, “Try and commit before your senior season so you are able to focus.”
