As the kickoff to the 2015 Iowa Football comes closer, during the month of July we will profile a key Hawkeye player each day. We call this series, Key Hawkeyes, as we try to identify and rank the most important players on the roster for the upcoming season.

This will be a ranking based on how important they will be to the Iowa team this season. That ranking is arrived at based on their position on the depth chart, expected and past production, and their importance to the Iowa team.

We move on with our rankings with #21 on our list.

He might be a bit undersized. He might not have the ideal measureable numbers that some look for from a defensive tackle. The bottom line with Nathan Bazata is he has a motor that runs hot all the time and that can take you a long way in the game of college football.

That motor, along with the skilled use of lower body leverage and hand fighting has the Nebraska native at the top of the depth chart at one of the two defensive tackle positions for the Hawkeyes.

A three star prospect out of Howells, NE, Bazata wasn't on the home state schools recruiting radar as far as an offer. It might have been the fact that he stands closer to 6-foot-1, but he was an outstanding high school wrestler in Nebraska and Iowa always looks at that in the recruiting process. He won a state title in wrestling and then won MVP of the Nebraska version of the Shrine Bowl following his senior season, leading many back home to wonder if they missed on him.

It hasn't taken Bazata long to assert himself on the Iowa roster. After redshirting as a freshman, he jumped into the mix at tackle, playing in nine games. While he was behind NFL caliber players on Iowa's depth chart in Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat, he used his first two years to learn and add about 15-20 pounds to his frame.

This year, Trinca-Pasat and Davis are off to chase their NFL dreams and Bazata is in full chase mode for significantly more snaps in the 2015 season. It's probably unrealistic to see Bazata as a heavy workload guy in the middle of the line this season. He will probably be closer to 50 snaps a game, but his high intensity style of play means he will make every one of them count. Iowa is going to need to be strong up the middle this season and new faces like Bazata will need to stuff the line of scrimmage to prevent opponents from opening up running lanes. Much like Mitch King did early on in his career, Bazata will use his quickness and hand fighting to create a pass rush when needed. He will probably have some down moments this season when bigger guards and centers get him, but there's a lot of upside to be had here with this first year starter.

NEXT UP: Local kicker makes good.