William Gerdes, one of the top high school prospects in Iowa, has a budding relationship with Nebraska.
Nebraska was the first to offer Gerdes, a 2026 forward from Cedar Falls High School, a scholarship in November, and Hail Varsity caught up with him at a recent AAU Tournament in Omaha to discuss his recruitment, for our latest recruiting notebook, presented by Pinnacle Bank.
The connection with Nebraska is with Husker assistant coach Nate Loenser who is a Cedar Falls native.
“Loenser came to one of my school ball tournaments and he invited me to their elite camp,” Gerdes said. “It was good. I got to know all of the coaches. Me and Loenser have a weekly call. We’ve grown our relationship through those calls. We can talk a lot about a lot of stuff because we are both from Cedar Falls and we can make that connection.”
His hometown school of Northern Iowa is involved in his recruitment and Gerdes said he regularly talks to the Panthers staff and assistant PJ Hogan in particular.
Last fall, Gerdes was back in Lincoln for an unofficial visit and to see a Husker football game. The atmosphere in Lincoln impressed him.
“The football game was really fun,” Gerdes said. “You can see the amount of fans that really just love the team and come out and support, so that was really cool.”
Gerdes averaged a team-high 11.7 points and was second on the team in rebounding (4.2 per game) for the Tigers, who made the Class 4A state basketball tournament. He shot 70.3% from the field and 72.3% from the free-throw line.
Northern Iowa and Nebraska aren’t the only schools that have shown interest in Gerdes. He’s taken unofficial visits to Iowa and Iowa State as well.
“I have been to a couple of Iowa games and talked with their assistant coach Matt Gatens a little bit, and I have been to Iowa State for an unofficial to one of their football games” Gerdes said.
At 6-foot-8, Gerdes is an inside-out player that can finish with contact and is a willing passer out of the post with a soft shooting touch.
“Hopefully picking up a couple more offers and improving my game even more,” Gerdes said of what he hopes to get out of his experience playing for Iowa Barnstormers Gold this spring and summer. “I need to get more physical and just improve my all-around game.”
