The optimistic case for Iowa football in 2026 is easy to see. The offense finally looks built for what Tim Lester wants to run, the line brings back plenty of talent from last year’s Joe Moore Award-winning group, and senior running back Kamari Moulton gives the Hawkeyes an experienced lead back to lean on. Add in Tony Diaz, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley transfer who piled up awards as a redshirt freshman, and DJ Vonnahme as the next potential great Iowa tight end, and there’s a real path to this being a dangerous unit.
That’s the part that makes the biggest uncertainty on the roster feel so jarring. Less than 24 hours before the first depth chart of the season, Iowa still doesn’t have a clear answer at quarterback.
Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski are reportedly still going head to head in practice and scrimmages. Brown is said to have had the better camp, while Hecklinski turned in the stronger performance at the Kids Day scrimmage a few weeks ago before his practice work slipped again.
The situation is close enough that Chad Leistikow reported the staff expects to use both quarterbacks for a significant stretch in next weekend’s home opener against Northern Illinois, with the goal of “get the decision right” before the Big Ten opener at Michigan in week 4. Week 4. After all of spring and fall camp, Iowa may still be sorting out the most important position on the field once the games start.
That’s the kind of setup that can turn a promising season sideways fast. If one of them catches fire early, the choice may make itself by week 2.
Kirk Ferentz has always been willing to ride a starter through the highs and lows, sometimes to a fault. But if the staff is still undecided by week 4, it’s hard to picture anything better than an average season.
The real fear is that Brown’s steadier game management wins out in a close early game, he gets the job, and Iowa ends up in a Jake Rudock/CJ Beathard type of situation that wastes what looks like a strong offense on paper.
For now, the guess here is that Hecklinski gets the first snaps. The upside seems too tempting to ignore. Still, this is absolutely a spot that invites concern, or at least serious questioning.
The defense, meanwhile, feels much more like Iowa football usually does under Phil Parker. Year after year, he takes players most people don’t know much about in August and turns them into Big Ten names by the end of the season. There’s a lot of trust there, especially when conference play arrives.
Even so, the defensive line brings the second-biggest concern on the team behind quarterback. There’s talent in that group, but it’s still mostly talent on paper rather than talent proven in games.
Depth is also a real issue because so much of the unit lacks experience. The belief here is that the group will settle in and be fine by the end of the year, but September - and maybe part of October - could include some growing pains while everybody figures things out.
Special teams might be the biggest wild card of all. Iowa lost longtime special teams coach LeVar Woods to Michigan State in the offseason, and the unit now has to replace the place kicker, punter, punt returner and kickoff returner.
That’s a lot to sort out at once for any team, and for Iowa it carries extra weight. In close games, one bad punt or one muffed return can swing everything.
So yes, the ceiling is there. The offense has real promise, and the schedule could still support a double-digit regular season if the right breaks come along.
But the farther you dig, the faster the warning signs show up. There are more question marks here than Iowa is used to carrying into a season, and too many of them are at places that matter most.
That’s the tension with this team. The best-case scenario looks pretty good.
The worst-case scenario shows up quickly too. And for anyone wired like an Iowa pessimist, that means expecting the worst, watching some of it happen, seeing some big things happen anyway, and still finding yourself back the next week, waiting all over again.
In Other News...
Former Hawkeyes Late NFL Move Changed Everything At Cutdown Day
The NFLs roster deadline always creates a sharp divide, and this year it left several former players still waiting for their next opportunity while others quickly found new footing on practice squads. For Iowa fans, though, the big twist came when Kaleb Johnson was moved from Pittsburgh to Green Bay before cutdown day, a late trade that put the former Hawkeye directly on the Packers active roster and changed his immediate path heading into the season.
Johnsons move was only part of a broader picture for Iowa alumni around the league, with several former Hawkeyes landing on 53-man rosters or practice squads for the 2025 season. It was another reminder of how quickly fortunes can shift at the deadline, where one transaction can reshape a players role in a matter of hours and leave the rest of the leagues former college standouts chasing their own opening. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hawkeyes Cut On NFL Roster Day Already Face A New Race
Even after NFL roster cutdown day trimmed every team to 53 players, Iowa still has a sizable footprint around the league. Nearly 40 former Hawkeyes remain on active rosters, a reminder of how often the program keeps sending familiar names into September football, even as the path gets tougher for some of the newest pros trying to stick.
Thirteen former Hawkeyes were waived in the latest wave, and nine of them already found their way onto practice squads, leaving four still unsigned as the next scramble begins. Geno Stone stands out among the group, too, with a strong chance to be on an opening day roster after landing with the Buffalo Bills practice squad, but for the rest of Iowa's cut players the real race now is finding the next opening before the season settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa High School Football Just Took Another Troubling Hit
Another Iowa high school football game has disappeared from the schedule, and this one will not be made up. Meskwaki Settlements varsity matchup with Gladbrook-Reinbeck, set for Sept. 4, was canceled because of low numbers and injury concerns on the Meskwaki side, leaving Gladbrook-Reinbeck to take a forfeit victory on the record.
For a state that has already watched several eight-player programs announce they will not compete in 2026, the latest cancellation is another reminder of how fragile some small-school football schedules have become. When one team cannot safely field enough players, it affects not just a single Friday night but the rhythm of a season, the opponents schedule and the broader picture of where the sport is headed in rural Iowa. [Read more 🡒]