Iowa has three players on The Athletic’s 2026 Freaks List, and the Hawkeyes landed one of the biggest prizes on Bruce Feldman’s annual rundown.
Offensive lineman Kade Pieper is the headliner, checking in at No. 8 on the 101-player list. Pieper, who started at right guard all last season, is back on the list after coming in at No. 22 in 2025.
Feldman highlighted the 6-foot-3, 298-pound Pieper as a former Nebraska state champion shot putter and noted that he was named a first-team All-American last year by PFF after starting 13 games at right guard in 2025.
He also pointed to the numbers that helped Pieper stand out a year ago and the strength he added this offseason. Last season, Pieper set an Iowa record with a 4.13 short shuttle among offensive guards, posted a 37.4-inch vertical jump and ran the best 10-yard dash at 1.52. This offseason, he set the program record for heaviest squat by a guard at 680 pounds.
The other Iowa names on the list were defensive lineman Kahmari Brown at No. 28 and defensive back Zach Lutmer at No. 38.
Brown arrives at Iowa after a big year at Elon, where he was a second-team FCS All-American and led the CAA program with 16 TFLs, 12 sacks, three forced fumbles and eight QB hurries. Feldman said the 6-foot-2, 258-pound Brown, who was a high school running back in North Carolina, broad-jumped 10-3, vertical-jumped 40.2 inches and was timed at 1.56 in his 10-yard split this offseason.
Lutmer gives Iowa another defensive back on a list that Feldman said reflects the program’s strong history at the position. The 6-foot-1, 203-pound Lutmer was a second-team All-Big Ten pick last season after finishing with 71 tackles, 5.5 TFLs and three interceptions.
Feldman wrote that Lutmer clocked a 3.81-second shuttle time, setting a new record for Hawkeye DBs, and added that the mark would match the fastest shuttle ever recorded at the NFL combine, which Brandin Cooks ran in 2014. Lutmer also posted a 41.9-inch vertical jump and squatted 575 pounds.
Iowa opens the season Saturday, Sept. 5 against Northern Illinois at 3:15 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
At the top of Feldman’s 2026 list is South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor, followed by Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and Oregon defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington. Miami offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, Florida edge Jayden Woods, Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter, Virginia Tech defensive tackle Kemari Copeland, Iowa’s Pieper, California edge Emmanuel Okoye and Texas edge Colin Simmons round out the top 10.
Harbor moved back to No. 1 after ranking third in 2025, becoming the first player in the history of Feldman’s rankings to finish first three times, also doing it in 2023 and 2024. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and 243 pounds with over 35-inch arms and an 82.5-inch wingspan, and last season he caught 30 passes for 618 yards and six touchdowns. Harbor has also run track for South Carolina, with times of 10.1 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 20.20 seconds in the 200-meter dash, though he did not compete in 2025.
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For Iowa, the practical effect is straightforward even if the rule itself is conference-specific. It would close off a path that has occasionally let players test the pro waters and then circle back to college, and it only applies inside the Big Ten for now, not across the SEC, Big 12 or ACC. That means the Hawkeyes and the rest of the league will be operating under a different set of expectations than most of their Power Four counterparts. [Read more 🡒]