Nick DeJong Returning to Iowa For Sixth Year
Iowa's 2024 offensive line just received a welcome injection of experience -- Nick DeJong announced on Saturday that he will be returning to Iowa for his sixth year next season.
DeJong earned third team All-Big Ten honors from the Big Ten coaches this season and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten by the Big Ten media.
DeJong's decision to return to Iowa for a sixth season was greeted with enthusiasm by several of his teammates:
DeJong played in 11 of Iowa's 13 games in 2023, starting seven times. He started the first four games of the year at left guard, before moving to right guard in the fifth game of the season. Injuries kept him out of action against Purdue and Wisconsin and limited his action against Minnesota and Northwestern as well.
DeJong returned to the starting lineup at left guard against Rutgers, before returning to a rotational role at right guard and right tackle against Illinois and Nebraska. When injury kept Gennings Dunker out of the lineup against Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game, DeJong replaced him as the starting right tackle.
All told, DeJong has played 425 snaps so far this season, sixth-most among Iowa offensive linemen (behind Dunker, Mason Richman, Connor Colby, Rusty Feth, and Logan Jones). He played a similar number of snaps last year in 12 games (487), and played even more as a sophomore in 2021(649 snaps).
Positional versatility has been DeJong's calling card during his Iowa career. In 2021, he started seven games at right tackle before flipping sides and starting two more games at left tackle. In 2022, DeJong started five games at left guard, two at right guard, and one at right tackle. As noted, this year DeJong has also started five games at left guard, one at right guard, and one at right tackle.
Despite his ability to play all across the offensive line, DeJong is best-suited to an interior role, as evidenced by the fact that his forays at tackle the last two seasons have been as a result of injuries.
DeJong's return in 2024 helps fill the void created by the graduation of Rusty Feth (who replaced DeJong at left guard earlier this year and started there eight of the final nine games of the season). It also means that Iowa is set to return four offensive linemen with significant starting experience with DeJong (24 career starts) joining Connor Colby (36), Mason Richman (35), and Logan Jones (25). Right tackle Gennings Dunker also started the first 12 games of 2023 and is set to return in 2024 as well.
The offensive line has been inconsistent for Iowa in recent years, but it made strides this past season (particularly in run-blocking) and had longer stretches of consistency and effectiveness. Iowa's best offensive lines during the Kirk Ferentz Era have tended to be its most experienced lines, with units that have developed strong chemistry and understanding over multiple seasons. Next year's offensive line has gotten a lot of reps together over the past two seasons, which ought to give them an opportunity to take the next step in terms of consistency and performance.