Iowa’s recent recruiting history hasn’t been built on splashy five-star hauls. It’s been built on getting the right guys, then squeezing every ounce out of them once they arrive in Iowa City.
That formula is on display again as summer workouts roll on and the 2026 class settles into the program. Iowa brought in 18 newcomers in that group, including seven blue-chip prospects and five four-stars. Even more telling, 28 percent of those players are from Iowa, another sign of how firmly the Hawkeyes continue to own the state on the recruiting trail.
Looking back over the last five cycles, three names stand out as the biggest recruiting wins.
Cooper DeJean sits at the top of the list, and for good reason. The former OABCIG standout in Ida Grove, Iowa, came in as a four-star athlete and one of the state’s best prospects.
Iowa used him all over the field in high school, and that versatility carried over once he got to campus. He settled in as a return specialist and defensive back, then took off from there.
In 2022, DeJean recorded five interceptions and three return touchdowns. The next year, he was named Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year and Return Specialist of the Year.
Iowa won 32 games during his time in the program, including the 2022 TransPerfect Music City Bowl. After a leg injury cut short the final half of his 2023 regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles took him with the No. 40 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Kaleb Johnson is next, and his rise was just as impressive in a different way. A three-star recruit from Hamilton, Ohio, Johnson arrived without much fanfare as a prospect ranked No. 11 in Ohio, No. 32 among running backs and No. 421 overall.
Then he turned into the centerpiece of Iowa’s ground game. His 2024-2025 season was the one that defined his college career: 1,537 total rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns, enough to pass Shonn Greene for the most rushing touchdowns in Iowa program history.
Even with Johnson carrying the load, Iowa finished 8-5 and fell 27-24 to Missouri in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. Johnson’s strong finish carried him into the 2025 NFL Draft, where the Pittsburgh Steelers made him a third-round pick.
Gennings Dunker rounds out the group, and his story is a classic Iowa development win. The offensive lineman from Lena, Illinois, entered as a three-star recruit and was not exactly a headline-grabber on the national circuit.
Iowa saw more than most programs did. Dunker redshirted in 2021, then became a fixture up front and eventually helped anchor the line that won the Joe Moore Award last season.
He started all 13 games at offensive tackle last year and reached 38 career starts. After a strong college run, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him No. 96 overall in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Dunker was also part of a deep 2021 class that finished in the top five in the Big Ten, another reminder that Iowa’s best recruiting wins often come from identifying players who fit the program and then letting the results speak for themselves.
In Other News...
An Iconic Part Of The Kinnick View Is Disappearing
A familiar piece of the Kinnick Stadium skyline started coming down July 10, as the University of Iowa began removing the Hawkins Drive water tower that has stood near the stadium since 1960. For generations of Hawkeye fans, it has been part of the view on game day, a landmark as recognizable as the stadium itself, even if most people never gave it a second thought until now.
The tower is being cleared to make room for a new adult inpatient tower for the Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital, and a newer water tower already built in March is handling campus needs with a much larger capacity. Removal work is scheduled around weekends through the end of August, and Iowa expects any traffic issues to be gone before the Sept. 5 opener against Northern Illinois, but the loss of that old silhouette will still mark a noticeable change around the stadium. [Read more 🡒]
Why Landing Jaidyn Coon Feels Even Bigger For Iowa Now
Jaidyn Coons arrival gives Iowa a little more juice in a recruiting class that already had some promise. The four-star guard from Storm Lake is Iowas Mr. Basketball and one of the states most accomplished prep players, and his commitment adds another in-state name to a class that also includes Ethan Harris. For a program trying to establish a new identity under Ben McCollum, landing a player with Coons athleticism and defensive versatility matters well beyond the usual hometown buzz.
Coons path to Iowa also made the fit feel timely. After first committing elsewhere, he reopened his recruitment and took an official visit to Iowa before choosing the Hawkeyes, a sequence that gave McCollums staff a real chance to make its case. What Iowa is getting is not just a scorer, but a flexible piece who can help in a lot of ways, and the bigger question now is how quickly that kind of skill set can be translated into a role that matches what this staff wants to build. [Read more 🡒]
Gable Mitchell Just Gave Iowa Fans Another Reason To Pay Attention
The 2026 MLB draft gave Iowa baseball another reminder of how much talent has been moving through the state, with several high school products hearing their names called over the July 11-12 event. Gable Mitchell was among the headliners, going to the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth round, while Kaleb LaFavor landed with the Boston Red Sox in the 10th and Caleb Klein followed to the Atlanta Braves in the 15th.
The list kept growing from there, with Sam George going to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 19th round, Nate Smithburg heading to the Tampa Bay Rays in the 18th, and Kooper Schulte closing it out with the New York Mets in the 20th. For Iowa fans, it was the kind of draft showing that underscores how many in-state names are now on the radar of pro teams, and Mitchells selection gave the group an especially notable lead story. [Read more 🡒]