Iowa football recently received a series of holiday cheer as defensive tackle Aaron Graves, defensive end Ethan Hurkett and center Logan Jones announced their respective returns to the Hawkeyes in 2025.
In instances where Iowa players have decisions to make on whether or not the timing is right to jump to the professional ranks, it seems like the Hawkeyes always wind up with more than a couple that feel it’s best to come back to Iowa City.
Graves, Hurkett and Jones are the latest in that category of Hawkeyes, joining recent names like Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta and Jay Higgins to name a few.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz touched on how bringing those types of players back means proven, instant impact performers.
“The obvious first statement is you can’t go out and recruit guys like those guys. Maybe you can, but it’s like I talked about with Jay, you have to wait three or four years to get that from them. Same thing with those guys.
“Those guys didn’t knock it out of the park their first year in terms of everybody knowing who they were. They’ve both been works in progress. They’ve been so consistent since they got here. All the nice things I said about Jay I can say about Ethan and Logan and other guys, too,” Ferentz said.
Ferentz also said that players like Graves, Hurkett and Jones embody who and what the Hawkeyes are.
“They embody, just like I talked about Jay, what we are and who we are. Hurkett in some ways, he’s not Joe Evans exactly, but there’s some parallels, the energy he brings, the tempo he works at, the focus he brings to everything. He’s an unbelievable leader just by his example.
“I can say the same thing about Aaron Graves. Then Logan, same thing. I’m not saying Logan is Linderbaum, but there are a lot of parallels. Wired in, a really good football player. Then everything he does as a human being is so steady. The more guys you have like that around your guys, everybody benefits by having them on the team. Really happy about that,” Ferentz said.
Jones has played in and started 38 games for Iowa over the past three seasons and morphed into the Hawkeyes’ anchor up front offensively.
Defensively, Hurkett and Graves’ returns means Iowa is bringing back its top two tackles for loss and sack artists.
That duo has combined for 87 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, and four quarterback hurries.
The production and leadership that this trio brings back into the fold for Iowa heading into 2025 is gigantic. In an era where many teams are focused upon finding new players via the transfer portal, Iowa continues to develop standout talents and then retain them when others might not.
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