For Iowa football, summer workouts are right around the corner. With spring wrapped up, the Hawkeyes will transition into more conditioning and off-field work following 15 practices over the last two months.
Now that spring ball is over and we've addressed the Iowa defense's strengths, we'll take a look back at the three biggest question marks around Phil Parker's defense following the spring.
Linebacker
Not exactly breaking any news here -- Iowa lost two of the best linebackers in program history this offseason. Between the graduation of Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson, the Hawkeyes have two major holes to fill in the middle of the defense. Throw in veteran Kyler Fisher at the leo linebacker spot, and Iowa is set to replace all three starting LBs.
The trio set to replace them haven't played much on defense, though they've been around the program and seen the field on special teams. Jaden Harrell is set to replace Higgins at mike, Karson Sharar will step in for Jackson at the will and former walk-on Jaxon Rexroth will take over at leo.
In the limited snaps he saw against UCLA last season, Harrell struggled. The Iowa defense wasn't playing particularly well against the Bruins on that Friday evening, and injuries to Higgins and then-starting QB, Brendan Sullivan didn't help team morale. Harrell, though he could certainly be serviceable at the position -- and he's earned the belief in his teammates, as seen in the above tweet -- is not Higgins. He has some big shoes to fill.
Sharar on the other hand, though oft-injured and also unproven, has earned some high praise from Jackson and others.
"You can make the argument right now that in our linebacker room — we've had this discussion a couple of times — that he might be the most talented dude in our room right now," Jackson said at the end of the regular season. Of the new trio stepping in, he appears to have the highest upside and received the most belief from the coaching staff. A source indicated out of spring ball that Sharar looked "great."
Thirdly is Rexroth, who was just recently put on scholarship for Iowa. With Fisher missing the Music City Bowl due to an academic issue this last season, Rexroth was inserted into the lineup as the starting leo, and we saw his physical limitations. Caught in pass coverage, Rexroth struggled. A big body that has set weight room records, Rexroth is a net-positive thanks to his experience and abilities in filling gaps defending the run, but opposing offenses will look to expose matchups with him in the passing game.
Behind the trio of seniors seeing their first full-time, meaningful snaps on defense is Jayden Montgomery and Landyn Van Kekerix. Montgomery has impressed the staff and Van Kekerix is a prototypical Iowa developmental player that has gained big time weight since stepping on campus. Both have been fixtures on special teams.
The trio of redshirt-freshmen -- Cam Buffington, Derek Weisskopf and Preston Ries -- have all the potential in the world to continue the trend of elite linebacking corps at Iowa.
Considering the inexperience at all levels, we may see a "linebacker by committee" effort on defense for the Hawkeyes this season. Not only will it give Harrell, Sharar and Rexroth their fair shake at earning their reps, but it will also afford some of the younger LBs to get experience and flash what they could be capable of in the years to come.
Corner
TJ Hall impressed in spring ball, which is great, but that's exactly where he's done so -- spring ball. A tall, lanky corner with an excellent frame, Hall has flashed some good things on the field in-season for the Hawkeyes. His interception against Maryland was a big confidence booster for the Fresno, California native, and he seemingly improved as the season went along, allowing fewer big plays.
However, Hall's mistakes and struggles are more prevalent than his moments of glory. Being forced onto the field as a true freshman against Nebraska aside, Hall didn't see the field much defensively as a sophomore, gave up big plays against Troy in the third game of the season last year, was replaced at times in-game during the year and had his difficulties against Missouri.
He and Deshaun Lee were decent for a good chuck of last season, but neither particularly took their game to the next level. One, or ideally both, need to do reach the next tier of DB play if the Hawkeyes are going to improve significantly against the pass in 2025.
In addition to Lee and Hall, Iowa added South Dakota transfer corner back, Shahid Barros. A two-year starter for the Coyotes, bringing in Barros adds depth to the position, at the very least. A source also indicated that the former FCS defensive back will have a shot to overtake Lee's starting position, while Hall appears to be next in line for CB1 come fall.
With the loss of John Nestor to the portal (who chose Minnesota, of all places), the depth at corner is considerably lessened behind Hall, Lee and Barros. Though Jaylen Watson saw time on the field last season and Rashad Godfrey has shown potential, the group following Iowa's top three corners is a big question mark. Unless one of the second-year corners, Alex Mota, who recently flipped from WR to CB, or freshman like CJ Bell and Jacob Wallace step up in a big way, Iowa fans better hope and pray the top three corners stay healthy.
Secondary Depth
There's not much depth in the DB room, period. Though the starting safety and cash positions appear to be locked up between Xavier Nwankpa, Zach Lutmer and Koen Entringer, there's not much for depth behind them.
In the open spring practice, Lutmer and Entringer received a plethora of snaps, while walk-on safety Kael Kolarik also saw the field quite a bit at free safety in lieu of Nwankpa sitting out due to injury. Otherwise, it was a mixture of Watts McBride and O'Lontae Dean at the safety positions
Kolarik has played in all of Iowa's game over the last two seasons on special teams, but hasn't seen the field defensively. Dean is an early enrollee and McBride hasn't seen the field at all over his two years in Iowa City.
For the sake of filling a massive depth void on the back end of the Iowa defense, the Hawkeyes went out and added transfer safety out of Purdue, Ty Hudkins. The former three-star DB played on special teams in 12 games last season as a true freshman for the Boilermakers and has three years of eligibility remaining.
Ideally, all three of Lutmer, Entringer and Nwankpa stay healthy, and the second-year transfer can burn his redshirt this season, likely playing the four-game maximum to save his three years. Either that, or Kolarik is good enough to see time this season.
Hudkins, who projects to free safety according to BoilerUpload's Dub Jellison, will likely fill in for Nwankpa next season after the former five-star graduates and moves on to the NFL. In the immediate future, though, Hudkins is a depth piece that could see some time on special teams, as a rotational DB or if someone in Iowa's secondary gets hurt.
Blame the 105 roster limit, Iowa's ability to recruit the portal, or pure dumb luck -- depth looks like it could be a major issue for the Hawkeye secondary in 2025.
