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Being a Hawkeye is 'an unbelievable feeling,' says Rastetter

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Guttenberg native Colten Rastetter, wearing jersey number 7, spends his Saturdays kicking for the Iowa Hawkeyes. (Photo submitted)

By Molly Moser

What remains just a dream for many young men has become reality for Clayton Ridge High School graduate Colten Rastetter. His kicking earned him a walk-on spot on the Iowa Hawkeye football team and after red-shirting his freshman year, Rastetter has spent considerable time on the field this season. 

“Growing up my father, Thor Rastetter, got me involved with sports at an early age and encouraged me to stick with them as I reached my high school career. Toward my eighth grade year is when football became my main sport that I wanted to focus on,” Rastetter told The Press. “I asked my parents to take me to football camps at local colleges in Iowa so I could receive a stronger understanding of what it was going to take to play football at the collegiate level.” 

Rastetter says that playing for the Hawkeyes was his childhood dream, as well. “I was not officially going to play for the Hawkeyes until the beginning of my senior year. There was a point that I did not have a clue what I was going to do after high school. Luckily, I received the opportunity to play for the Hawkeyes and represent my hometown community,” said the college sophomore. 

He plans to graduate after the fall semester of 2019 with a double major in business and sports and recreation management, as well as a minor in athletic directing/coaching. He’s still thinking about the path he’ll take after graduation. “I would like to become an athletic director at a high school and stay involved with sports even when my playing days come to an end,” he reflected.

His multi-faceted course of study has resulted in the biggest challenge for the college athlete. “The hardest change was developing a good time management mindset in dealing with football, classwork, and socialization. When planning out a day, football and school take up a majority of my time and the extra time is usually spent doing homework or sleeping – so not much socialization,” said Rastetter.

“During the season our schedule is pretty busy. Our mornings usually start at 5:30 a.m. with lifting, then morning meetings, then practice all before 11 a.m. After the completion of practice, we have time to take our classes between 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Then when classes are over we report back to the facility for evening meetings and dinner. Around 7 p.m. I either head home or head to night class, depending on the night of the week,” Rastetter explained. “During the off-season our schedule is way more flexible. We just have morning lift/condition Monday-Friday and then head to class in the afternoons. Usually, the spring semester is where I try to take more courses due to the amount of extra time I have.”

“Being a part of the Iowa Hawkeyes is an unbelievable feeling. People always ask me to describe the feeling and I have difficulty doing so because it still doesn’t feel real to me,” Rastetter admitted. “Playing in front of 70,000 fans each Saturday is a rush, especially coming from a high school where I played in front of maybe 200 people every Friday night.”

“I would not be where I am today without the support I received from my parents, coaches, teachers, and community members,” said Rastetter, citing the many opportunities he took to lift weights and work on fundamentals during high school. “I am just grateful to be able to represent such a great community. Once an Eagle always an Eagle. GO HAWKS!”

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