Iowa football players on the rise in 2023
It’s officially game week for the Hawkeyes!
Our long way is over and we can finally focus our attention on football and an upcoming game against Utah State.
As we head into the first week of the season, I thought it might be fun to kind of empty the notebook, so to speak. I’ve been talking to a lot of players and folks around the program this past month or so and wanted to highlight a few folks who are generating a good amount of buzz in camp this year.
Now, some of them won’t come a huge surprise, but it’s always good to read a few positive thoughts about a player to confirm what you believe to be true. So, here are ten Iowa players on the rise this fall.
Again, no one is shocked that a five star player has taking a jump this fall. The cream is certainly rising to the top. As I have written earlier this year, his jump this year might end up mirroring the one made by Cooper DeJean last season.
Everyone that we have talked to is raving about how comfortable he looks on the field this year at safety and his crazy athletic ability and nose for the ball. One thing that is also jumping out is his hitting. He’s been a big time hitter all camp.
It’s almost impossible to fill the leadership void left by Jack Campbell. But, Jay Higgins is doing a terrific job of filling it as much as possible. Campbell wasn’t a loud voice in the room most of the time. He was more of an action guy who leads by example and was positive to all his teammates. Higgins is the same type of leader, but his voice booms in the room. He’s probably not Campbell as a player, but he’s really improved and more importantly, he’s gotten comfortable being a leader on defense.
The biggest development is the big man from Minnesota is healthy. It seemed like every year during fall camp he had some sort of injury and that kept him on the sidelines. This year he’s feeling good and he’s learned to play with a higher motor and better pad level. That combination has some feeling like he might be ready for a breakout season, much like a similar player, Carl Davis, had at this point in his Iowa career.
He’s been one of the really good stories of fall camp on the offensive side of the ball. Iowa knew he had talent, but once he missed spring ball due to a hamstring strain, they weren’t able to get a good feel for where he might be this fall as far as a contributor. He’s a deep threat and a really solid route runner. Anderson will be in the top three rotation at wide receiver this fall.
Much like Black, Vines biggest issue in his Iowa career has been health. Now he’s healthy and he’s had a great fall camp. Every player in the secondary has raved about how good he has been in fall camp and he’s catching everything in sight. Vine is making a lot of plays is a common refrain. Now we will see if that continues during the 2023 season.
It’s going to be interesting to see which true freshman go past the four game mark this season since there aren’t a lot of obvious candidates. But, one player who might is Buie. He’s impressed everyone with his playmaking ability and had made a lot of impressive catches in camp.
Last year was a tough one for Jones. He was learning a new position and at times, it showed. This year he’s much more comfortable and confident and that’s showing up in his performance. There are some in the program who feel like he could be an All Big Ten level center by the time he leaves the program.
We had Cooper DeJean on the Chuck Long podcast and he brought up Castro as the player who has taken a step this fall. Remember that last year he wasn’t even playing Cash. It was DeJean who was the guy there. Right now he’s probably not getting the attention he deserves heading into the season.
He’s even better than advertised. All was coming off back surgery, so that’s always risky, but he just moves different than any other tight end on the Iowa roster. He makes crazy catches out of nowhere in practice and is a very good blocker in the run game.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE
I can’t recall a fall camp where Kirk Ferentz has gone out of his way to sing the praises of a group like he has with the offensive line this fall. He feels like they have taken a step and that’s a good thing. How big of a step will go a long way towards defining the outcome of this season.
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