Kamari Moulton has spent three seasons building toward this moment, and now the attention is catching up.
The fourth-year Iowa running back has improved every year since arriving on campus, turning a limited debut in 2023-2024 into a breakout 2025 campaign that put him right on the edge of 1,000 rushing yards. He finished with 878 rushing yards last season and led the Hawkeyes in the category, a number that would have been much higher if not for the injury that slowed him down. Now, after being named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List, Moulton is stepping into 2026 with a lot more than just starter status.
That recognition fits the way his career has gone. Moulton came to Iowa as a three-star recruit and has long outperformed that label, developing into the kind of back the Hawkeyes seem to produce so well: undervalued coming in, dependable and dangerous once he gets his chance. He scored two rushing touchdowns in his first season despite appearing in only four games, then kept stacking better production each year after that.
This fall, he’s expected to lead a backfield that goes at least four deep. LJ Phillips, Xavier Williams, and Nathan McNeil could all take snaps, so Moulton won’t be handed every carry. But he remains the projected starter, and Iowa’s offense may lean hard on the ground game early with an unknown starting quarterback.
Moulton’s game gives Iowa plenty to work with. He brings speed, can run through contact, and has the agility to make people miss once he gets into space.
If he stays healthy, the ceiling is obvious. The source material points to last season’s 878 yards as a number that could have easily climbed past 1,000 over a full 13-game slate, and that’s the kind of production that puts him in the conversation for a national award.
The Doak Walker Award goes annually to the best running back in college football, and last year’s winner was Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love, who rushed for 1,392 yards and 18 touchdowns while also adding 280 receiving yards and three receiving scores. Moulton would have to be right there in that neighborhood to make a serious run at it, but the path is clear: stay healthy, stay efficient, and keep doing what he’s done since arriving in Iowa City.
If he gets there, he’d join Shonn Greene in rare company. Greene is the only other Hawkeye to win the award, taking it in 2008.
In Other News...
Iowa's Week 1 Offense Is Taking Shape Around Two Big Battles
Iowas offense offered a more encouraging look in an open practice, with the passing game and the run game both showing clearer definition as the Hawkeyes continue sorting out their Week 1 plans. The structure around the unit is starting to come into focus, with Kamari Moulton positioned to lead the backfield and DJ Vonnahme lined up as the primary tight end, while the offensive line appears set to lean on veterans Kade Pieper and Trevor Lauck, even as Cael Winter pushes for a role at guard.
The bigger questions are still centered on how the Hawkeyes want to distribute the work once the games count. Moulton could share carries with L.J. Phillips Jr., and the way Iowa fills out its receiving group will help define just how much flexibility the offense has early on. If the offense keeps building off the progress shown in practice, the next layer of clarity should come quickly once the staff settles the pecking order. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Fall Camp Opens With Pressure On Three Crucial Position Battles
Fall camp has arrived with Iowa facing the kind of early decisions that tend to shape the rest of a season. Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Tim Lester are sorting through a quarterback competition while also trying to settle how the workload will be divided in the backfield, all against the backdrop of a defense that needs answers up front and in the secondary. It is the familiar August process of figuring out not just who plays, but how this version of the Hawkeyes wants to function.
Special teams is part of the same conversation, only with a little more uncertainty attached. Iowa is breaking in a new returner, punter, kicker and coordinator, which makes that phase of camp worth watching even before the first snap count is finalized. With so many moving pieces, the staff can adjust schemes as the quarterback battle unfolds, but the real challenge may be building enough consistency everywhere else to keep those early growing pains from becoming a bigger issue once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Is Giving Traveling Hawkeyes Fans A Better Road Game Experience
For Iowa fans who make the trek to road games, the program is looking to turn the pregame routine into more of an event. The Hawkeyes are rolling out Hawkeye Huddles, free pep rallies staged before away games that are designed to give traveling supporters a familiar gathering place and a little extra energy before kickoff.
The events will include refreshments, door prizes, entertainment and appearances from team mascots and spirit squads, with fans required to register in advance. Iowa has already laid out a schedule of locations and dates for the 2026 season, making it a small but meaningful attempt to reward the people who follow the Hawkeyes far from home. [Read more 🡒]