The Pipeline · Iowa
Iowa Football Players at NAIA Programs
240 Iowa kids are on NAIA football rosters right now. The high schools feeding them, the programs recruiting them, and the seven-step playbook to put your kid on next year's list.
Save your Iowa-to-NAIA shortlist as you read→240
Iowa Athletes On NAIA Rosters
11
NAIA Programs Recruiting Iowa
156
Iowa High Schools Feeding NAIA
How many Iowa high school football players actually land on NAIA college rosters? Real numbers, not guesses. Right now, 240 Iowa kids play NAIA football across 11 programs, coming out of 156 Iowa high schools. Kyle Monangai went from Don Bosco Prep, overlooked by Power-4 programs, to Rutgers Big Ten captain to the 2025 Chicago Bears. His older brother Kevin walked the same kind of road first, Villanova to the Eagles and Vikings as a player, then the Giants as a coach. Kevin coached his own brother through that road; that is why we built RawRecruit. These counts come from current 2025 NAIA football rosters. Below: the Iowa high schools sending the most kids, the NAIA programs recruiting hardest here, the methodology, and the questions parents ask us most.
“The overlooked majority of HS athletes. The kids and parents nobody is calling first, who still want their kid on a roster like the ones above.
Kevin Monangai, Founder, RawRecruit
Former NFL running back (Eagles, Vikings)
Former NFL coach (Giants)
The Feeders
Top Iowa High Schools Feeding NAIA Football
- 01MOC-Floyd Valley9Players
- 02Sioux Center7Players
- 03Johnston High School6Players
- 04Van Meter High School6Players
- 05Spirit Lake5Players
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See All 25 Iowa HSsThe Destinations
Top NAIA Programs Recruiting Iowa Football
Grand View
85
Iowa Players
Dana Miller
Head Athletic Trainer (FB, CHEER, M/WTEN, XC/TF)
Verified
Northwestern (IA)
70
Iowa Players
Carter Aguilera
Head Athletic Performance Coach
Verified
Dordt
42
Iowa Players
Brandon McCormick
Associate Head Coach / Defensive Coordinator
Verified
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Real Outcome
One Brother, The Same Road
The 240 number above is not theoretical. Kevin's younger brother Kyle ran the same road out of Iowa, walked into Rutgers, captained a Big Ten roster, and got drafted in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
- 01
Don Bosco Prep
Overlooked by Power-4
- 02
Rutgers
Big Ten captain
- 03
2025 NFL Draft
Round 7, Pick #233
- 04
Chicago Bears
Active roster
The Methodology
How We Count
Numbers come from publicly available 2025 NAIA football rosters. We count any current player whose listed home state is Iowa, school by school, season by season. The decision a family makes here is too big to plan around guesses, so we put the rosters in front of you.
The Conversation
Parents Ask Us
- How many Iowa high school football players are currently on NAIA rosters?
- Right now, 240 Iowa kids play NAIA football, spread across 11 programs and sourced from 156 Iowa high schools. Counts come from current 2025 rosters.
- Which NAIA programs recruit the most from Iowa?
- Grand View leads with 85 Iowa players on the current roster, followed by Northwestern (IA) (70) and Dordt (42). The top three are listed above with the head coach for each program when verified. A free account opens the rest of the top ten.
- Which Iowa high schools send the most players to NAIA football?
- MOC-Floyd Valley sits at the top with 9 current NAIA football players, followed by Sioux Center (7), Johnston High School (6), Van Meter High School (6), Spirit Lake (5). The full top 25 is on the page above.
- Is NAIA football a realistic path for a Iowa high school player?
- Yes. With 240 Iowa kids currently on NAIA rosters across 11 programs, the path is busy and well worn. Scholarships at NAIA are partial in football, so families plan around stacking academic aid on top of athletic aid.
- How does RawRecruit count Iowa to NAIA pipeline numbers?
- We pull current 2025 NAIA football rosters from public school athletics sites and count any player whose listed home state is Iowa. Coach names show up only when verified inside our 35-day freshness window.
- What does my kid actually do with this list of high schools and programs?
- The list is the input. The seven-step playbook is the action. Profile your kid's real numbers, build a target list off the programs above, send the email coaches actually read, and run the visit on full information. The full playbook lives at /guides/football/diy-recruiting and was written by Kevin from the same road he walked his brother Kyle through.
- We are not in Iowa. Does the same playbook still apply for our state?
- Yes. The seven-step playbook is sport-specific, not state-specific. The cohort and program list above are the Iowa cut; the work a kid and parent do to reach NAIA coaches is the same in every state. State pipeline pages for the rest of the country roll out next.
- What happens when a coach leaves a NAIA program mid-cycle?
- Coach names on this page only show up when our pipeline has verified them inside the last 35 days. When a head coach leaves, the slot reads as a transition note instead of a stale name; the program count and player numbers stay intact because those come from the roster, not the staff page. The list refreshes monthly.
- Why is RawRecruit giving away the rosters and coach contacts for free?
- Because the data is the easy part. The hard part is keeping a school list current, filtering programs by your kid's real fit, and tracking coach records as staffs turn over every cycle. The free profile saves the work; the paid tiers exist for families who want deeper fit analytics. The free profile is enough for most.
For The Athlete Reading This
240 kids from your state already locked in a NAIA spot. Names. Schools. Real rosters. You think you can't be one of them?
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Keep Digging
- →Iowa Football Players at D-III Programs
- →Texas Football Players at NAIA Programs
- →Florida Football Players at NAIA Programs
- →Kansas Football Players at NAIA Programs
- →Top High Schools Feeding Grand View Football
- →Top High Schools Feeding Dordt Football
- →The Seven-Step Playbook for College Football Recruiting
- →California Football Players at NAIA Programs
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