During the offseason, Iowa football addressed an area they were heavily behind the times with the transfer portal.
The Hawkeyes all but disregarded the rapidly rising transfer portal heading into last season, bringing in just a single addition ahead of the 2022 college football season. While other programs such as USC were constructing complete facelifts with a new availability of talent, Iowa remained steadfast in its decision. They were still going to build a team their own way, rather than diving headfirst into this new trend sweeping the college football world.
So what changed over the year for Iowa to completely reverse its stance on the portal? The world itself according to head coach Kirk Ferentz.
“The answer is what’s changed in our world,” commented Ferentz at Big Ten media days. “We’re living in a very different world as college football coaches than we were three years ago, five years ago, ten years ago.”
It’s a shift that has been very apparent in college sports over recent years as the game starts to operate more like the pros. The introduction of student-athlete compensation through name, image and likeness licensing two years ago fully committed college sports down the path. Whether you like it or not, this is the world we live in now. Smart programs took advantage of the new opportunities right away.
After a 2022 season that didn’t quite go their way, the longest-tenured head coach in college football opted to adapt rather than be left behind by a rapidly changing landscape.
“Now, the way we’re operating is just going to be part of the terrain moving forward unless we see change. We’re just going to try to incorporate our same process, if you will, with it, and there’s also some benefit to it. There’s some advantages to getting guys that have played and competed already at a high level,” Ferentz said.
Despite their resolution to incorporate this new innovation to their team building strategy, Iowa will not abandon their old traditions. They won’t live and die by the portal, but will instead view it as a new wrinkle to the Hawkeye way.
“I think the big thing like all of us, whether it was in recruiting or now looking at the portal, we’re trying to get players to fit with what your program deems to be important. So that was our process and really feel good about it,” Ferentz said.
Iowa used the transfer portal to make significant improvements to their roster ahead of the season. Early in the offseason they brought in former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara to lead the offense. They also brought in one of his top weapons in tight end Erick All. A bit later in the process they managed to add former four-star Ohio State wide receiver Kaleb Brown. Overall, the Hawkeyes brought eight players in through the transfer portal.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Jacob on Twitter: @Jacobkeppen