Redshirt junior Gennings Dunker is returning to the Iowa Hawkeyes for the 2025 season.
Iowa’s mainstay at right tackle over the past two seasons, Dunker confirmed that he would be back in the black and gold for the 2025 campaign after one of the Hawkeyes’ final practices before the Music City Bowl against Missouri on Monday.
Dunker said he never truly considered entering his name into the 2025 NFL draft.
“I was just going to come back and plug into coach Ferentz and coach Barnett,” Dunker said on Thursday.
The 6-foot-5, 316 pound offensive lineman started 10 games for Iowa at right tackle this season before missing the final two regular season games due to injury. Dunker started all 13 games of the 2023 season at right tackle as well.
Dunker said his trust in Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and in Iowa offensive line coach George Barnett were key factors in his decision to return to the Hawkeyes and ignore any possibilities elsewhere that the transfer portal might have presented.
“Yeah, I’ve been trusting him for how long, four years. Even if I had heard certain things about different money options or whatever, I would’ve stuck with him because I’ve trusted him for this long, so why not keep trusting him.
“It’s kind of an honor that I get to play for him, especially playing for coach Ferentz. So, that’s definitely kind of what means the most to me playing next year and even this game,” Dunker said.
A native of Lena, Ill., Dunker was a big part of helping the Hawkeyes to the Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll and in paving the way for junior running back Kaleb Johnson’s breakout season.
Asked where he has improved the most in 2024, Dunker pointed to the fluidity with and trust in his fundamentals.
“The biggest thing I probably learned was just smoothness within blocking, whether it be run or pass blocking. Just being kind of calm with all the fundamentals and smooth through your blocking, if that makes sense. I don’t know if I’m explaining that very well. That’s kind of how I see it, smoothness in your play,” Dunker said.
Dunker knows there’s still plenty of room for growth, though.
“There’s definitely a lot of areas for improvement for me personally. When I’m watching film, I see a lot of things I should have done better and things I want to improve on. That gives me a lot of things to work on for Monday and even next season and spring ball,” Dunker said.
While there is an opportunity to shift over to the left side with longtime starting left tackle Mason Richman moving on after the Music City Bowl, Dunker is planning on staying put on the right side in 2025.
“I’ll probably stay at right tackle just because I don’t know if I can get in a left-handed stance. I don’t know if I’m athletically gifted enough to do that, so I’ll probably just stay on the right side. I don’t want to mess with that,” Dunker said.
Iowa recently received the news that starting center Logan Jones would also be returning for the 2025 season. Jones has started 38 games over the past three seasons.
Iowa starting left guard Beau Stephens is set to return as well after starting 10 games for the Hawkeyes this season. Stephens also started 10 games at right guard in the 2022 campaign.
“Good. It’s pretty exciting. Having a lot of guys that come back and then you have a lot of experience too when guys come back, so it’ll definitely be a good time next year,” Dunker said of the Hawkeyes’ returnees up front.
Dunker and Iowa (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) close their 2024 season against Missouri (9-3, 5-3 SEC) on Monday at 1:30 p.m. CT from Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. The Hawkeyes’ bowl contest will be televised on ESPN.
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